1900/1950/1950t-1955 stories

swindave · Nov 29, 2020

any one have, had or used one of these olivers?
i know they were a big tractor in their time,
i knew of a farmer who had two 1950 row crop, wide front, tractor
and you could hear those detroit diesel from a long way away!
and they farmed big, and really liked the 1950s!they ever used it in local tractor pulls in the 70s
which models sold the most? im guessing the 1900 sold the least and 1955 the most?
heard some bad stories about the 1955 engines?

good bad or ugly?
thanks for your stories!

ziffel · Nov 29, 2020

I had a 1950T come into the shop with a rod out. Went thru the engine and it was parked out in a field the night his machine shed burnt destroying his fully restored 88 Diesel. He is still angry. The story at the time was the turbo raised the horse power too high. It was hard to keep the engines together. It had a Waukesha 5.1. When we pulled the hydraulics a year later we found teeth missing from both the large gears.

RCP · Nov 29, 2020

It sounds like you might be from Lawrence County Pa.

Donald Lehman · Nov 29, 2020

I have a 1955 4wd. Bought it new. They would outperform anything in their class, including the 2-105. Until the motor gave up, which was frequently. The first thing you did was rebuild the thing. Smart people put a 5.9 Cummins in them the second time they gave up the ghost. I wasn't one of the smart ones. It is an early one with the farmers cab. Build card said July 1972. Anybody wanna buy it? I'm getting too old to spend the kind of money it would take to put a Cummins in it.

NYOlivers · Nov 29, 2020

I maybe intrested in buying your tractor. What is your lication? Send me a email if your serious about selling it. [email protected]
Thanks

super99 · Nov 29, 2020

I heard a story years ago about a 1950 GM with front wheel assist. The levee on the Mississippi broke in 65 and flooded a large bottom land area. When the water went down and it dried up enough to clean up, several large trees were left on one farmers fields. They were pulling them off with a D7 Cat. There was one big tree that the 7 couldn't move. Ernie hooked his 1950 onto it and pulled it out of the field, no problem.

CDN 400 · Nov 30, 2020

Mr.Lehman are you serious about selling? If so what would you ask for it. Thx

Donald Lehman · Nov 30, 2020

1950-T story. Sold 1950-T to a feller. His buddy bled JD green and bought a 4320. Said buddy got stuck chopping corn and asked if Oliver guy would bring his 1950T to pull him out. 1950-T guy, being a bit of a blowhard and wanting to rub it in that the JD guy was stuck, Exclaims loudly: "Good God man, you ain't stuck! Unhook that piece of crap and let me show you what a real tractor can do! He backs in, hooks up, and hauls the chopper and wagon out unassisted.

1950-T story. When we demonstrated the T to above farmer, we were hooked up to a JD 38 chopper with a 2 row head. The T would fill the throat of the chopper with power left over for more. Went the length of the field,came back and around the second time to fill the wagon. There was a (what I considered) a minor wet spot on the return side. Farmer told me later that he had tried a 4320 the day before and the 4320 would not pull the wagon through the wet spot the second time around. So he had an idea he could pull that stuck chopper and wagon out before hand. smile.

1955 story. Cut a bunch of hemlock logs to go to the sawmill. Green hemlock is HEAVY. Loaded log truck to the barely under 13 feet legal height. Log truck didn't have enough power to get back over the hill leading out to the highway. Could barely get 1/3 of the way up the hill before running out of power. Asked him what was his top speed in 1st gear, and figured 3rd gear was a good match, hooked on with the 1955 and hauled him up over the hill. Used just enough throttle to make the 55 come onto the governor so the turbo just screamed in the quiet night air, and the trees echoed it nicely. Trucker was suitably impressed. Have to admit, I was showing off a bit.

Hay maker2 · Nov 30, 2020

(quoted from post at 03:02:31 11/30/20) I heard a story years ago about a 1950 GM with front wheel assist. The levee on the Mississippi broke in 65 and flooded a large bottom land area. When the water went down and it dried up enough to clean up, several large trees were left on one farmers fields. They were pulling them off with a D7 Cat. There was one big tree that the 7 couldn't move. Ernie hooked his 1950 onto it and pulled it out of the field, no problem.

So your telling me that a Cat D7 that probably weights 20,000+ pounds, on tracks could not move the big tree, but the Oliver 1950 that weights about 12,000 pounds, that sets on four tires and have NO differential lock moved the tree?

NYOlivers · Nov 30, 2020

I like the story about the T! Are you serious about selling the 1955?

Hay maker2 · Nov 30, 2020

(quoted from post at 18:07:38 11/30/20) 1950-T story. Sold 1950-T to a feller. His buddy bled JD green and bought a 4320. Said buddy got stuck chopping corn and asked if Oliver guy would bring his 1950T to pull him out. 1950-T guy, being a bit of a blowhard and wanting to rub it in that the JD guy was stuck, Exclaims loudly: "Good God man, you ain't stuck! Unhook that piece of crap and let me show you what a real tractor can do! He backs in, hooks up, and hauls the chopper and wagon out unassisted.

1950-T story. When we demonstrated the T to above farmer, we were hooked up to a JD 38 chopper with a 2 row head. The T would fill the throat of the chopper with power left over for more. Went the length of the field,came back and around the second time to fill the wagon. There was a (what I considered) a minor wet spot on the return side. Farmer told me later that he had tried a 4320 the day before and the 4320 would not pull the wagon through the wet spot the second time around. So he had an idea he could pull that stuck chopper and wagon out before hand. smile.

1955 story. Cut a bunch of hemlock logs to go to the sawmill. Green hemlock is HEAVY. Loaded log truck to the barely under 13 feet legal height. Log truck didn't have enough power to get back over the hill leading out to the highway. Could barely get 1/3 of the way up the hill before running out of power. Asked him what was his top speed in 1st gear, and figured 3rd gear was a good match, hooked on with the 1955 and hauled him up over the hill. Used just enough throttle to make the 55 come onto the governor so the turbo just screamed in the quiet night air, and the trees echoed it nicely. Trucker was suitably impressed. Have to admit, I was showing off a bit.

I'm not trying to be bias here, but the 1950T and the 4320 are similar class tractors. The 4320 could not pull the chopper and wagon through the wet spot, but the 1950T did? Seem to me that the 4320 has a differential lock which would put more traction to the ground then that of the 1950T with out a differential lock.

Oliver 500 Wa · Nov 30, 2020

One does have to keep in mind that these are stories. As with most stories events are often "modified" to suit the storyteller.

Donald Lehman · Nov 30, 2020

E-mail not going through. Call me 3153774088. Lowville NY area.

Donald Lehman · Nov 30, 2020

Email not going through. Call me 3153774088. Lowville NY area.

Donald Lehman · Nov 30, 2020

I was driving the 1950 -T when we were chopping. Cannot verify whether or not the 4320 would not other than there was evidence of a tractor being towed through the wet spot. We had a 4010 and a 4020 on our own farm, and I can verify neither one of them were worth a hoot on wet ground. I always believed that the weight of the forward fuel tank and the front end design had something to do with it.

Donald Lehman · Nov 30, 2020

My 1955 weighed just short of 17,000 (16,800)lbs when properly weighted to pull at it's best. My neighbor's 2-105 weighed slightly over 17,000. I expect a properly weighted 1950 would weigh about the same. With the judicious use of the brakes you could do anything you could do with a differential lock.

NY_JD4240 · Nov 30, 2020

I have to believe that the heavy cast iron tub under them Oliver's and that a lot of them had the front axle sticking way out would weight a lot more than the Deere forward fuel tank and front axle.

When I hear demonstrate I assume that you were selling Oliver's new? I must question if you were demonstrating a 1950-T which was made between 1967 - 1969 against a 4320 which was made from 1971 - 1972. Maybe you were demonstrating against a 4010 and then everything makes sense.

MikeO-WI · Dec 2, 2020

My dad would normally use an Oliver 2150 to pull a 4 row potato planter in some sandy hills on our farm. It would work some with the planter fully loaded but it would do the job, granted the rows may not have been straight on the hills. For some reason, the 2150 was out of action one year and our next biggest tractor was the Oliver 1950. We hooked it on but anticipated some issues since the tractor appeared to be a little lighter than our 2150. I had convinced my dad to purchase a MF weight transfer hitch a year before. We installed than on the 1950 and figured out a sweet spot to make it work when needed. I was there when he tried it with the hired man. When he hit the hills, he shifted it into low on the two speed and had it screaming. I don't think I ever saw that tractor smoke that hard before, but it did the job. The planter kept moving and once the hill was done, he shifted back to direct and was able to release the transfer hitch. Sure wish I had something to record that sight that day. The little Detroit really impressed.

rrman61 · Dec 2, 2020

Ran 3 1950 diesel FWA tractors with R-2’s and 23.1-34’s on the rear.not a high horsepower tractor but a high traction/great mud tractor.don’t know about a d-7 but these tractors would go where a d-6 could not go and pulled stuck d-6’s out more than once

dnd · Dec 3, 2020

Heres a story about my 1900. In Western Wisconsin we have a pull on dirt Friday night at our show. Its usually the first weekend in August. Anyway at the end of the pull they usually have an exhibition pull as one of our members brings a Cat 60 to the show every year and it makes him smile if he can pull the Cat at the end of the night. So on this weekend we were featuring Oliver and I had our 1900 up there. My 1900 has a standard front end only had the starter and one addition weight in front but the rear there are some very large weights on the inside. There is no fluid in the rear tires. Anyway the Cat pulls first and the sled causes him to spin out. Then I hook up go right pass were the Cat spots, the sled drops its anchor and I go out the end with no problem.
I was totally impressed with how this tractor pulled.

1900/1950/1950t-1955 stories

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