I've read some things that when IH came out with the F30 and M that they didn't sell well in the beginning as farmers thought they were too big. Probably some other manufacturers had the same problem. Does anyone make a tractor today that is thought of as too big. Don't include too expensive as we already know that.
- Thread starter Charlie M
- Start date
Jim in Ma.
Well-known Member
That would relate to the area that it's used in.
Here in the north-east with our smaller fields and stone wall lined gateways anything over about 100 HP won't fit.
Here in the north-east with our smaller fields and stone wall lined gateways anything over about 100 HP won't fit.
Anonymous-0
Well-known Member
Back when the old style 88 Oliver was first available the local dealer got one in and he wanted to sell it his one customer. The customer said way too big for around here. Two years later he owned one too. When I was a kid there were 2 farmers in the township that had a tractor that would pull a 4 bottom plow when 90% of the farmers had 2-12's or 2-14's. The 2 tractors to pull the 4 bottom plows were a 50 Cockshutt and the other one was a John Deere model R. His nephew farms the same farm now with either an 84 or 8630 Deere,
Used to lease about twenty acres from a friend until his dawter and boyfriend moved into her granddad's house on the place. He was gonna go big time and bought a 4420 with cab and ac so he could come home from work and get his farming done quickly. He big timed for about two years until he figured out he was making any money on his twenty acres. He was also afraid of cows....
Janicholson
Well-known Member
Every tractor that will not turn around in the field without backing up is too big. Otherwise the search is on for bigger. Big Bud 747 is very nice on a 500 acre field. Jim
the tractor vet
Well-known Member
I can remember the first 806 back in last part of Aug. in 63 , my god it was huge . Told my boss about it and he had to come see it two days before the county fair started . And he up and bought it wright there and then . He bought it and a 5 bottom semi mount plow . I told my uncle about this Huge tractor that old G F bought and he had to go see it and not only did he see it but he got to plow with it and the next Saturday i went with my uncle and he bought the first one down here . It was the first tractor that could handle the 2 row John Bean tater harvester with out something helping as his partner 's 4010 could not do it , always had to put the OC 6 out ft. to pull the 4010on the hills .
When I was 16 we moved into farm country. The first summer I worked for the guy who would become my sisters father in law. He told me over and over how anyone with more than a 100HP tractor was just showing off. He and my future BIL were running 2 560s and an 826 in 71/72.
Rick
Rick
MarkB_MI
Well-known Member
- Location
- Motown USA
Not sure I believe that. Certainly out in wheatland country, bigger has always been better.
When we moved out of the mountains and onto the farm back in 95 I had a VAC and a VAI and a team of draft horses. I couldn't imagine I'd ever need more than that since I'd plowed and moved everything I could think of back in the hills. I was one of the only 3 tractors in town, the others being an F14 and a Cub. In truth, the team would outpull any of them. Today I still get by pretty well with a couple 55 hp tractors but something in the 75-85 hp class would be better suited to my land for plowing and round baling. As it is I have to widen a couple gates if I want to use some fields regularly.
Meanwhile, the neighbor down the road a couple miles has a mess of 100+ hp rigs. He was going to bale for me one year until we realized the tractor he wanted to use wouldn't physically fit down a couple of my wagon roads and would likely crush a couple of my culverts. So, yes, I've seen "too big".
Meanwhile, the neighbor down the road a couple miles has a mess of 100+ hp rigs. He was going to bale for me one year until we realized the tractor he wanted to use wouldn't physically fit down a couple of my wagon roads and would likely crush a couple of my culverts. So, yes, I've seen "too big".
larryanderson
Well-known Member
Big Bud 747 was just moved to the museum in Clarion Ia.135,000#s,24ft wide.Was told at Rantoul it pulled a 15 bottom with ease and two tractor pulling sleds werent enough to stop it.People are driving from several different states to see it.I dont know if tractors are too big but I know some of our new ones are too complicated for us older none computer guys.
fixerupper
Well-known Member
In 1969 my neighbor with 320 acres bought a 'big' 4020. We thought the 4020 was way big for 320 acres. The next year another neighbor who also farmed 320 acres bought a 4320. We thought he had gone way overboard. Jim
Old Hugh McKay would tell us that ALL farms are "over-powered" these days. I recall him once writing that we shouldn't need anything bigger than a Farmall 300. Most all tractors these days would be "too big" in his book.
That'd be a sight... 5000-acre farm, with nothing bigger than a Farmall 300. How many dozen tractors would you need to get the job done? Where would you find quality people to drive them for $1/hr?
That'd be a sight... 5000-acre farm, with nothing bigger than a Farmall 300. How many dozen tractors would you need to get the job done? Where would you find quality people to drive them for $1/hr?
Wheat Farmer
Well-known Member
We went from an Oil pull, F30, M, MD, WD9, 826, 3688, 7110. Always should have been just a bit bigger.
Anonymous-0
Well-known Member
I kinda question if anybody really needs a 600hp Quad track.
I still hook two tractors together to pull my tree planter. At full depth I can cut a trench 12+ inches wide and 24 inches deep. The New Holland is mine. I rent the JD. Much cheaper than keeping a big HP tractor around. I had an AC7000 for a while that I used, but it sat most of the year. Renting one weekend a year is cheaper than the maintenance.
This is the setup I use when planting 8-10 foot whips.
Rick
This is the setup I use when planting 8-10 foot whips.
Rick
Agreed. My younger brother row crops well over 1000 acres with two tractors - one about 200 HP and a 130 hp chore tractor. He also hays another couple thousand acres. 3000/330hp = 9.09 acres per HP. He only has the 130 hp to work around the farm in the winter and to stack bales. For feild work its more like 3000/200 = 15 acres per hp.
Back when Hugh farmed a guy with 160 acres had at least 20 hp tractor or 8 acres per HP - many had 30hp or 5.3 hp per acre. Most modern farms have a lot less HP per acre than they did 60 years ago.
Mine comes out to about 2 acres per HP.
Back when Hugh farmed a guy with 160 acres had at least 20 hp tractor or 8 acres per HP - many had 30hp or 5.3 hp per acre. Most modern farms have a lot less HP per acre than they did 60 years ago.
Mine comes out to about 2 acres per HP.
DennisinWI
Member
I saw the reference in post above to Mr. Hugh McKay. I recall his great posts and wondered what happened to him. Always on the Farmall board with great advise and wisdom.
Pair-a-dice farm
Well-known Member
(quoted from post at 21:07:16 09/19/13) I remember when the local AC dealer had a new D21 in the showroom. Everybody said that was made for the big farms "out west",too big for the farms around here.
I remember that too. At the time they came out Dad was cattle foreman on a 16000 acre farm in south Arkansas that also had the AC dealership. Nobody wanted to drive that big cumbersome beast. Now even the smallest cow farm has one that HP.
MARK ROBKE
Well-known Member
Hugh passed away a few years ago; he was very knowledgable and is missed. Mark
MARK ROBKE
Well-known Member
My Dad and uncle quit horses and started after WWII with an 8n Ford in 1948. They also bought a 50t engine drive baler(very heavy), and were afraid to pull it so they borrowed a neighbor's farmall H or M to pull it. One day they decided to try the ford and it was ok. Then they bought a 1950 8n also. Then they traded the '48 for a 52 8n (slightly more horse power). Then traded the 50 8n for jubile with a loader. In 1956 they traded the jubile for a 300 utility with a loader. Dad said, at first, they thought maybe the 300 was too big, but later learned, you can not have enough power.
Mark
Mark
T in NE
Well-known Member
- Location
- Cambridge, Nebraska
I think what a lot of people don't realize is that we may not need the big horse to actually pull something, but to control the weight of some of the things we are pulling, you need the weight of that big horse.
Can you pull a 1000 bushel cart with 150 horse? Probably. Are you going to keep it going the way you want it to go? Good luck with that!
I'd love even just a 350 quad-track with a full weight kit for the grain cart. Even the Steiger Cougar 1000 (30,000 pound machine) gets kinda light up front crossing terraces and pulling hills.
Too big? Entirely possible. Too much power? IMPOSSIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can you pull a 1000 bushel cart with 150 horse? Probably. Are you going to keep it going the way you want it to go? Good luck with that!
I'd love even just a 350 quad-track with a full weight kit for the grain cart. Even the Steiger Cougar 1000 (30,000 pound machine) gets kinda light up front crossing terraces and pulling hills.
Too big? Entirely possible. Too much power? IMPOSSIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!
My Grandfather's biggest tractor was a Farmall 200. He used to wonder why folks needed anything bigger.
Then he would talk about some of the fields he used to bale (14T pulled by his well ballasts BN) where he would stand and lean froward to keep things balanced. Heck our field behind the house you had to use the brakes to steer going up the hill.
Sure they had enough HP but boy they could have used more lead in their pants.
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