MINNY MO G900 sales pitch

I watched a sales video on Utube last night by the Minny Mo corp. It was really interesting how the company referred to their tractors as "Last Forever" tractors. Their sales pitch was their engines had lots more support "iron" built into them, that they were just built heavier to last longer. They also stated in great detail how their engines were slow speed engines. Each time a crankshaft makes one revaluation the pistons must go up, then down one time, each time it wears a little. So an engine that spins 24-2600 RPMs will not last as long as one that spins 1800 RPMs to get the same amount of work done. The competitors tractors they compared to their G900 was a IH 806 and A John Deere 4020. What I thought was strange was they showed each pulling a 6 bottom plow. I think that was stretching things a little, but my thought was Case, and MM both had tractors from that time period that both spun very slow engine speeds compared to other tractors out there. Lets fast forward 50+ years and look at the evidence. Did the Minny Mo tractor engine way out last the JD or IH for service life?? If so, did Case engines which were also built with tons more iron, And tached out at 1800 also out last the competitors, or did only Minny Mo tractors hold the high engine hour trophy? Interesting sales pitch, but was it really true?? AL (also who ever pulled 6 bottoms with a G900?)

All depends on your soil and how deep you plow. When we moved50 years ago, moved 130 miles, our tractors all gained a bottom.

Bigger heavier slower is one type of engineering that can be kind to long life, but not necessarily to rfficiency or value, or utility value. A few (Jetstar and others) went to the lighter and more nimble whole tractor design. Several important ingredients in the mix. Fuel prices, Fuel additives (in gasoline that contaminated) quality and lubricity in engine oils, and metallurgy, all played a part. And engine speeds in the "opposition" were not double the rpm of the "brute" tractors. Put those three tractors MM 900 - IH - 806 - JD 4020 in a row and see which ones get sat on in musical chairs. Jim

I hope someone can comment on the engine longevity as the poster is asking about. I found a bit puzzling they compared it to an older 806 and not an 856. Wonder why. and was a G900 1,000 pto only?
All I can say is that G900's are about invisible in my area but 806/856's and 4020s abound....

Well when it came to the 445 Minneapolis, it wasn't in my opinion, in 1957 we had two R's, a H and a M Farmall.My dad was friends with the Minny-Mo dealer, but it went sour,LOL.That 445 was a lemon. The first rule, my dad broke was talking to, two sales men.[The MM block man and the dealer]. If two guys drive in my yard, i wont even talk to them. To make a long story short,when White Motor Co, bought MM, that was a bad day for everybody! They stole the retirement money that belonged to the employees! But Dad bought that 445 because it had Live PTO, boy was that a Mistake.It wouldn't stop, so he couldn't use it on the corn picker.And nobody would take it in trade,he finally took a lose on it, and bought a MD! After that the dealer only lasted two three years! I was 11 years old at the time and i knew it was a mistake,a gut feeling!

JD used that heavy built slow speed sales tactic with their 2 cylinders.

A fella near me has a nicely restored G1000 that he brought to our tractor ride. He told me the separate jugs used long studs from the head to the block and they were prone to breaking. And the 585 diesel still used splash oiling. Never been on one, just what I was told.

Back in the day I never saw a shop regardless of color that did not have a tractor in for major engine work. As has been stated the quality of engine oil then is sub par compared to the oils of today. So the best engine design then was subject to the quality of oil and if the change interval was stretched then the odds of failure greatly increase.

My Dad had a GVI when I was young, and engine life between rebuilds was nothing to brag about. I recall it being rebored twice.

Even a relatively slow-speed engine can have LOTS of piston travel/wear per minute if it has a LOOONG stroke.

There were a few decent dealers but the MM product line was nothing to write home about. In an area with a lot of dairy at the time MM was subpar, did not offer, or offered a knock off of another brand when it came to hay and forage plus materials handling. The MM dealers that did the best in terms of sales had a sideline or two to offer a customer. MM along with Oliver then Case, AC, then Ford did not realize the benefit of a deep line to keep dealers going. In a region where it seems like there was a NH dealer 10 minutes in all directions that still did not offer every dealer lacking a good hay and forage plus materials handling line the opportunity to sell NH. The first to get put out of business were all the tractor dealers that lacked depth in terms of product to sell customers.

I can't offer anything on tractors, but here's a story that might offer some insight. Back in the late 80's, we installed new gas compressors at one of our gas fields in Louisiana. We replaced a very old Fairbanks Morse compressor with two Ingersol Rand compressors with Waukesha natural gas engines. I don't recall the specifics, but probably in the range of 500 hp each. We did not need each one running all the time, but we needed backup to make sure we always had one in service. They were designed to run at ~1250 rpm. In the first 6 months of use, we had all kinds of reliability problems, high maintenance costs, etc. from both units. It seemed like we had a service man out almost every week. We were about ready to send them back and go with something else. They finally sent out a old service guy who looked over the situation and told us that the problem was that although we were running them within specs, they would not hold up despite what the salesman had told us. He advised us to run both at the same time at 800 to 900 rpm and we'd have no more problems. He was right, our reliability went way up and the maintenance costs went down to normal routine maintenance items.

Can't say here on this , BUT heres a little story about M M tractors ya may get a chuckle out of. Lets go back the 50 some years , In our area we had a M M dealer that made the rounds to every farm i think once a month tryen to pedal something . I was just getting into this farming thing with OLD junk and i had just stepped up to a Farmall 450 D tric. . My buddy and i had 2 450 D's his had a wide ft . He and i farmed together , We had just finished up the corn planting nd were getting ready for the hay . We were changing oil and servicing the tractors and had all the hay equipment out and going over that when RALPH showed up and started in on WHY we needed to trade them OLD 450's in on two NEW M M's and new this and new that , When my buddy had had about enough or Ralph he looked him ion his face and said WHEN M M paints them RED and WHITE will be the day we switch. The look on Ralphs face was a true kodaic moment and he tuned and walked away getting in his car and left. Well rain set in for a couple days and we did not get a start on the hay like we wanted to and when we did on the second round with the haybine BROKE , SOOOOOoooo i had to make the run over to the new Holland dealer just down the road five hundred feet from RALPH's As i topped the hill setting out by the road were a Matched PAIR of G 955'swith Matching five bottom plows and they were RED AND WHITE.
I got the parts i needed and went back to the farm and told my buddy what i saw and he says OH GREAT I'll bet you ten buck Ralph will show up this week and want us to DEMO them . He and were just getting the wobble box back on the haybine and we heard a semi set it's brakes and you could hear chains being dragged when Ralph drive down the lane and right behind him came the first on as he did bring both for us to try . wE NEVER DID TRY THEM OUT THEY JUST SAT THERE FOR A WEEK . Back in those days we were surrounded by every color make and model Had three I H dealers with in a 25 mile radius three John Deere dealers three case dealers two Massey dealers , three Ford dealers , three Oil All over dealers BUT only ONE RALPH., Ya never knew WHAT maybe setting at the farm as they would just drop something off and leave it for three days to a week then show up to see how you liked it and and offer . Best deal we got was on a pair of 1755 Olivers with a new set of 4x16 steerables out the door price of 4750 , after trade each . No we did not jump on the band wagon , back then that was alot of money compared to a new 3/4 ton pick up with and out the door price of 2150 bucks or a new Road runner for 2450 . Bad enough how bad my hands were shaking signing the papers on a brand new 310G Case dozer for 5200 and all the while thinking how am i ever going to make the payments on this.

Most, not all, but most engine rebuilds are due to wear in cylinders, rings etc that cause excessive oil consumption, or blowby or loss of power.

Piston speeds have a great deal to due with the wear that naturally occurs. A John Deere D with a 7 inch stroke, running at 1000 rpm has near identical piston speed as a IH 263 engine running at 1800 rpm. Food for thought.

Heres my late brother plowing alfalfa ground in 1969 with Dads 1968 model G-900 MM that had less than 100 hours on it when this picture was taken...It handled 5x16's nicely but I sure wouldnt have wanted 6x16's on it..Over the years we had two different G-900's and they were good dependable tractors...The MM dealer 5 miles away sold 10-12 new ones..A 80 year old friend still has his G-900 MM that he brought brand new in 1969.

Our new 68 Road Runner was 3450. No air. 383 magnum automatic. Yellow with a black vinyl top. Nice wheels and red stripe 70 series tires. My wife loved that car.

When I saw this movie, I thought that talking about engine rpm without talking piston speed was not right, plus MM still had only four mains and the Lanova system with the energy cell that was good at cracking head. I think that was a very risky sales pitch for Moline.

Their e'gine were good at GVi time, but were lacking a direct injection. Maybe they should have went to Perkins for the G1000 Diesel. The turbo version of the G1000 Vista would have been great.