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Old tractors....

D

DeltaRed

Well-known Member
Lot of guys these days all seem to talk about restoreing showtractors and of makeing 'pullers'.Doesnt anyone still use em or 'farm' with them anymore?
 
My newest is a `65 4020, all of mine work for a living. There is a tractor club in my town, I have talked to a few folks in it and almost none of them have ever done an honest days work on a tractor, much less with there restored babys. I guess I`m biased towards things that do what they were built to do.
 
All of mine are 40,50,60,and 70 years oid.all still
work in their everyday(dirty,greasy)working clothes.
 
Good evening! I don't know where your located but in my part of the world(central illinois)anything less than 150 horespower and pre 1980's is classified as a chore tractor/show tractor nowadays. A 2wd tractor is just no longer a working row crop tractor in our part of the world, its been replaced by MFWD and big articulated 4wd's that can pull 35 to 60 foot implements at 6.5 to 8.0 mph. Alot of the older tractors cannot be upgraded to run auto steer which in my book is one of the greatest inventions as the air condiotioned cabs! My generation(I'm 36 yrs old)is now starting to take interest in the hobby of collecting/restoring tractors and think our age group have more interest in the power house tractors of the 1970-1980's which is why your seeing alot newer tractors being restored today. Hope I helped answer your question!? Luke
 
In defense of people with old vehicles not in everyday use, parts availability is always a worry.
Years ago my brother and I bought a 32 Hupp "I" sedan (a big one). We did drive it some, mostly for special occasions, as even then the Hupp Club mostly just shook its head, so to speak, on parts, and wished us luck.
Replacing engine, trans etc parts would've been beyond our means, so it mostly just sat.
 
I'm in Western Colorado.This very promenant JD country.I run IH.1256;826hydro;706turbo;SM;SH;SC are my primary tractors.I farm a couple hundred acres or so furrow irrigated ground and do custom work.All my neighbors run lots newer and sometimes bigger.
 
Sure, my Ford 2000 and Ford 861 have been restored and are still working..

Kind of like their owner, which is older then the tractors..

When you stop and think about it, makes total economic sense ....

Marc
 
We got a 6400, 4240, an 806, a 2520 and a JD 'B'. Even the B works, just to keep her lubed up. The 806 is 47, the 2520 is 42. The B is my age- 64. The newer ones are neat, and easier to use. But I only farm 300 acres, and can't afford new iron, so new paint is a lot cheaper.
 
I load round bales with a JD620 and JD45 loader I added a cylinder and bale spear to. Working on a Farmall M to replace one I lost in a fire. Reringing a MF85 I use to mow hay. I spread the wheels out as far as they will go to straddle the swath. Use a JD4320 for primary field work. MF265 for most anything along with its brother a MF175. and various others. I call us Ancestorfarms with two farms being centennial, but considered Colorblind Acres. If it runs it is used.
 
Delta, In our case restore is too strong of description of what we do; the 1st tractor we ever did was what I would call a full rstoration on a "47 2N Ford, about 10 minutes after we backed it out of the shop and took pics Dad had it on a hog working on his 40 acre gentlemsn/horse/hobby farm. I decided right then and there that it would never go to that level again, so now we do what I term refurbish: they look good when we are done, but usually spend a year or two getting 100% mechanically correct before beautification. We have 4 IHs, 5 JDs, 2 Fords, and an AC. Any one of which might get loaded and taken to a strictly stock division 1 type pull, a show, a plow day etc. we are not a bit embarrassed to do anyone of the above with any of the tractors beautified or not, and everyone of "em gets used around the place for what ever job is appropriate. The "52 CJ3A on the other hand is in the midst of a full frame off resto and will never work again accept for fun. The "55 R200 International ex fire truck will get a resto and haul some tractors in parades.
For the most part we go for originality and functionality but try to keep "em straight and appealing. having said that...a Super C with a 153 engine, special gears, 38" cuts and some other tweaks is deffinately on the horizon for strictly pulling...of course I don"t feel quite so badly about altering a Super C as much as I love "em because they are fairly plentiful.
 
I'd love to tear down and turn my old 960 ford into a new one some day but the problem is I don't have the time these days and she doesn't set still long enough. The barn where I keep my feed wagon parked has some pretty low doors. If it's real muddy the truck will not pull the wagon out with out make'n a mess and all the other tractors won't fit under the doors. I'll have to get another little tractor to ever be able to fix her up. I am afraid if I ever started I wouldn't get it done before spring, set'n and plow'n 'baccer just wouldn't feel right with any thing else, and she's the only one set out wide enough for the tobacco patch.

Dave
 
I use my AC Model M crawlers in my discing business. I have a few of them. They were made in the late 30's. They just keep going, and going. Stan
 
Not to be crotchety or anything, but autosteer in a air-conditioned cab seems to miss the point of why I`m farming for a living. I enjoy spending the day in the sun and the fresh air, and actually having to think about what I`m doing. If I wanted to space out in a sealed cab, I`d still be trucking, more money in it, anyhow.

And I`m 26, so I must be the exception in my generation.
 
(quoted from post at 22:22:55 02/20/12) Lot of guys these days all seem to talk about restoreing showtractors and of makeing 'pullers'.Doesnt anyone still use em or 'farm' with them anymore?
Click to expand...

I have several fulltime farmers in town here, neat to see how they think in terms of equipment. Seems that there is something more than meets the eye... Lady across the street has 3 big Steyr 115-130HP that she bought new over the last 3 years, a Fendt multi (?) tractor in about 95HP that hermom and dad uses mostly for spraying and some kultivating and pretty much just as a pickup because of the dump bed. Then a smaller version (30 HP) of the same thing with the loader on it for tidying up.

Guy across the street on the other corner does just as much + several acres of potatoes and hay with a 2140 JD, a little tractor like my old one, a Fendt 55HP for a loader and spreading poop......

Seems like a subsidy and image thing around here but I don't know....

However, for my little bit of stuff I do, stepping up a couple years to the next generation of my little red tractor has just tickled me to death.....
 
I make my living farming, and I don'tcare what age the tractor is. So long as it has the right combo of size weight and power. We run Case IH and Ford. Now with all the buyouts , we only have to go to one dealer for parts. Lucky for me the former IH dealer now CaseIH, is the closest,about ten milesaway. Things like auto steer, might mean a lot to the cash crop crowd , but mean little to the livestock farmer who grows hay,grain,and corn for silage in rotation. Bruce
 
Good Post, I think it"s the attitude of some
folks who ever has the most toys win or the
bigger dedt.

Just about everything we use to make a living
is 40 to 60 years old, that way I can still
work on them... We were talking not long ago
what if external_link comes out with a Goverment deal
like the Cash for Clunkers but with Tractors?
None of us would be able farm anymore??
 

I have some for each classification. My two modern ones are for work only along with one of my oldest. I have two old ones that are used only as pullers, and two old ones in the process of restoration.
 
I do for sure the newest one I am running now is a 1977 Case 970, the newest combine is a 1969 Case 1660, I farm 800 acres of wheat, barley and hay, these are all shots from last year cnt
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We (my dad and I) have a small farm down in SE Alabama, raising a few cattle, wife has quite a few goats. We plant maybe 15 acres of corn each yr and have about 15 acres of hay to make in the summer. Also have a second "place" we keep bushhogged (about 10 acres) during the summer. We use the following equipment, none of which is "restored".
584 IH, planting and cultivating
986 IH, chiesel and discing, run the hay roller.
Ford 4000, 3 bottom plow, anything else.
Ford 641 and early 2000, bush hog
Super M, NI corn puller
300 Utility,1st tractor i ever drove, hay hauler
Just bought a Super C, hope to get the 2 row cultivator working to plow garden and corn.
I greatly enjoy USING these tractors, may get into restoring later on. Tractors seem to run better when being used.
D Sellers
 
Yup, work the snot out of them. I may clean them up and paint them a little...but they all work as they were meant to.
 
The problem is - when people hear about (or see) an old tractor freshly restored and painted, they automatically ASSUME it's just for show. There are a LOT of "double duty" machines out there - ones who work, but look good doing it.
 
A freind Tills with a Big CasiIH 4X4, plants with a CaseIH Magnum and uses an IH 856 as a yard tractor and for snow blowing. He has a 706 Farmall that rakes hay and runs augers. He also has an H that sets. The H runs but he really has nothing that the tractor will run.

BIL has a 185 HP MFA Allis and a 1586 that he does tilliage and silage with. A IH 1066 that gets used on a loader and silage blower, 826 IH that runs his haybine and pulls wagons.

Big part of the problem with using older tractors like a IH M is finding implements in good shape that you can get parts for. We do have a guy that runs a small haybine behind an M and bales with it.......bout 15 acres a year making hay for his wifes horses.

Rick
 
My tiny farm doesn't need anything newer than my '48 JD D, '44 JD B, & '41 JD A. They are all mechanically 100% and cosmetically about 50% on a good day and after a bath. The drawback to using them is finding working implements of a size they can pull. High scrap prices have cleaned out a lot of fencerows around here. Fortunately I bought all of that stuff years ago when I could. More people stop to watch me run beans with my D and Allis 60 combine than stop to watch my neighbors 4 X 4 and 40' chisel plow. My '37 JD B,'40 JD H and '48 Allis B that are restored have probably spent their last day in the field, but you never know! So I guess I have some of each.
 
I'd say 80% of the hours I spend on a tractor is on an old one puttering around the farm . Newest tractor on the farm is a 1989 model that performs only fieldwork duty. Jim
 
No show tractors here - all workers. Newest is a '89 TW35. Others are '80 4600, '77 7600, '75 7000, and '53 Jubilee. Dairy farm with 345 crop acres.
 
Yea , we do with the newest being a 74 1066 a 64 806, a 64 706 a J D A not sure of her birthday and a J D 720 D . Then there is John boy that has a H a J D B a J D 50 both of witch were bought new on the farm a Farmall 460gas bought new, a 400 that has been in the neighborhood all it's life and 64 806 that he is second owner on and a 966 and a J D 55 combine bought new and still looks good and works good. Vernon has a S/MTA that his grand dad bought new and a 1950 T a 2255 and a repowered 1855 . Then there is Billy with two S/Mta's one was bought new on the farm and a second one i found him a WD45 bought new and a late 8 N bought new with all the equipment to go with it and a 1066 . I have a 1486 a 806 D a S/MTA a 53 S/H . One of these day's i will finish up working on the 14. Only thing i have that was restored as they call it today was the M/TA . It got a bath and a a pint job , one head lite fixed and the brakes and a new set of rear tires and a new seat . Repairs to date on the M/TA is Cam cam gears and last summer changed it over to twelve volt and a carb rebuild. I gave up on trying to have nice shinny tractors for myself , Each time i got one all fixed up and painted someone would stop by and buy it , no matter what price it put on them. I bought a nice 806 Diesel off a farmer out in In. brought it home spent two days pressure washing it a week working on it then painting it with a SHOW paint job as this one i was going to keep . One day in late Oct . i pulled it out of the shop to get a tractor in to work on and while i was working on tis other tractor tis guy i had never seen before comes in and start asking me about the 806 and if it was for sale . Told him no about a dozen times and he would not let up , Finally i pulled a price off the top of my head that i figured would have him tuck his tale and run. All he said was OH , ok and left while i stood there laughen to myself thinking i sure fixed him . 20 min. later he comes back and asked me how i wanted the check then made out, then i threw him another cure and told him i only took CASH fifteen min. later he was back with 8750 bucks in Cash. Made my mind up that if i wanted to keep a tractor not to paint it up . This 806 i have now is plum ugly and NOBODY wants it , but it sure do run good and everything works .
 
This old 58 Case 800 Case-O-Matic still gets used on a small 15 acre plot. We like to call it cheap HP This is from spring of 09.
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around me there are the big boys, but there are people who still farm with the old tractors. Even the big farmer in my town has a 2520, 3020,4020 that all get quite a bit of chore, and hay work.
 
THAT 200 acres, is stretch for those tractors? I know you are joking, we farmed for many years with the Farmall H that is sitting in my garage, and put out 250+ acres a year with just it, finally bought a 460 to go along with it
 
All of our tractors are used to work around the farm.

Some only do one job; others do several jobs as needed.

"<a href="http://youtu.be/sbWw1_yOHUA">Uncle Earl"</a> our 39B is used for raking hay.

"<a href="http://youtu.be/Cvc3v5NobCY">John B</a>" our 43B is used for mowing around the farm.

"<a href="http://youtu.be/DmVKtnfkV-U">Easy</a>" our 46A is used for mowing around the farm.

"<a href="http://youtu.be/gJ915nhdoQc">Old John</a>" Nancy's 48A is used for spraying.

"<a href="http://youtu.be/CLVwEDdD4XI">Sparky</a>" our 51M is used for mowing.

"<a href="http://youtu.be/PlcFC8Di37s">Sam</a>" our 51MT is used for raking hay.

"<a href="http://youtu.be/lCxV9jmtO7k">Rusty</a>" our 51MT is used for mowing.

"<a href="http://youtu.be/oTzxkoCyjbI">Mac</a>" our 51MT is used to haul water.

"<a href="http://youtu.be/C-ZHy0tgmBc">52</a>" our 52A is used for mowing, discing, and seeding.

"<a href="http://youtu.be/7X1TPAUgf38">15</a>" our 53 Model 70 is used to power the KRONE 125 baler.

"<a href="http://youtu.be/K90WAt5gS0w">1011</a>" our 53 Model 70 is used for mowing and discing.

"<a href="http://youtu.be/oHJzjiuHOwU">Big John</a>" our 55 Model 70 is used to power the KRONE 260 baler.

"<a href="http://youtu.be/l7iUmB_EZQ0">Vernon</a>" our 56 Model 70 is used to cut hay.
 
Around here, alot of cheap ol yankees... not me of course, but even corporate places, are picking up decent 'antiques' to have their own mechanic rebuild, get new rubber, and plug away for another few decades at a tenth the cost of a new one- that is too big to be handy or efficent for little light jobs. Sometimes tax free diesel delivered can still not equal gas at the local pump, and some times that and when the in house mechanic sez he can't fix the diesel etc etc, all ads up.
I didn't know it at the time- but got my TO35 from the tobacco farm that a couple years ago I slowed down to let a very nice Farmall super M take a wide turn... it had atleast a dozen Jamacians hanging on it, in the planter boxes..lol. wish I had a camera! But that cigar co has only a couple big ones for heavy tillage, the rest of the jobs are handled by stuff they had for 50 years or more. My fergie didn't fit in their plan, 'sall right by me!
 
It is a stretch with more than full time jobs. It would be easier with bigger equipment, but not cost effective.
 
Sure do. I refurbished an Oliver 77,paraded it a few times then got tired of seeing it sit around. Hooked it to the mixer wagon and put it back to work. Use it seven days a week,365. I use an Oliver 1550,1600 and 1850 regularly as chore tractors too.
 
Yep, still do. I use my tractors to try and farm profitably. I try real hard! Used, old equipment used to be a good value; it no longer is a good a value. Seems that after competeing with the tractor pullers and the collectors, not to mention the scrap guys, the price just goes to high. Guys ask a goodly $ for what I think is junk, IMHO.

I guess that is just how the free market works.
 
Our newest tractor is 20 years old. Our oldest work tractor 55 years old. Our 4020s still do a lot of work. A solid tractor. They are good for running grinders, stacking bales, feeding cattle, and pulling a 5 bottom plow. I use a D17 for mowing, plowing up my garden (2 acres), felling trees, moving snow, planting, and disking. I regard a lot of these old reliable tractors as cheap horsepower. A D17 Series 4 with a factory loader on it will run you 5500-7000 in good condition. An equally equiped John Deere, 1 year old will run you 28,000. You can do the same work for 1/5 the price. Minus a Loader it gets even cheaper.
 
My sister runs a vegetable farm with a Allis G I restored, a WC, a Ford Jubilee, and she bought herself a used JD 5105 and now owns the newest one of all of us.
 
My tractors are a 55 WD45 and 50 WD working 60 acres. Hope to eventually get a 190xt but that is in the distant future.

Leonard
 
cousins of mine farm a couple hundred acres with old tractors. another buddy of mine farms with a few old olivers, an 1855 Oliver, a MF 1085, and a White 2-105
 
I don't have a big farm, but what I use around my place to do tractor work is a {1968} John Deere 2510 and a {1948} Farmall Cub. I have a few more that I only play with.
 
It seems like there aren't all that many real farmers on this site any more. Nice to see a few making themselves known.

My newest tractor is a '68 DB990, then a Case 811B, Cockshutt 30, Ford 800, 2 Case VACs, 1 Case VAI, JD 40C crawler, '52 Cat 7uD4. Newest implement is a Hesston 5500 round baler and my oldest is an Adriance-Platt binder from the late teens- it still works fine. I just repowered my Bobcat 444, which I believe is about a 68 or 69. None of it has payments, most of it is in running and good working condition. I'm happy with it and it works for my farm.

My next door neighbor just got foreclosed on. He had a brand new 4wd Case-IH tractor, a new discbine, a new rotary rake, a new PU, barn is falling in and the house is littered with dog feces. The whole family of 5 might have one whole set of teeth between them. But dang man! Look at that new tractor! See the problem?
 
case 970 730 and oliver 1850 due most of the tillage.
IH 300 400 450 560 H and M take turns making hay.
Case DC SC 300 take turns on wagons.
Case Poerloaders30 and 40 do most of the loader work.

Case 300 400, oliver 77 88 70 Ford 860 and 960 all earn their keep too! Yes thats a lot of tractors for less than 200 acres,But they arnt "trailer queens" or live in town and only see dirt at the local shows! LOL
 
There's more than one of us young guys like you. I'm
30 an I prefer to run open station machinery too.
Also to add to the discussion, My "big" tractor is a
48 farmall h an it does everything I need it to do,
just takes a little more time an a lot less fuel.
 
Oldest a 1956 MH 333 and a 1956 Ferguson 40. Newest a 1991 MF 3680. And a bunch of '60's,'70's and '80's to fill in the middle. All Massey's.
 
Oldest tractor we use is a '56 John Deere 60. Its mainly use for raking hay and draggin logs, but it'll do about any job i can find for it. Two 4020's, one with the loader gets used about every other day for feedin hay to the cows and the other is the ditchin tractor or on the auger. 4010 stays on the hog carrier, square baler and the smaller feed grinder. Two 4430's, one stays on the feed grinder and the other on the planter, round baler and mowers. Two 4630's for field work and the main workhorse is the 4640 which we use for all the tillage work.
 
This WD AC feeds cattle everday at the other place. At home use the 58 450 Farmall to feed and a 62 D-19 to grind feed sometimes. Did jump up in years. Boy bought a 78 IH 986 with cab a few month ago.
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