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Best Designed Tractor (1950 and up)

L

LJS30

Member
Okay guys in the same mode as my last thread regarding the worst designed tractor I give you this thought. What about the best designed tractor of all time? If you could only own one tractor to do your work which one would it be?
 
MF 135. It was also the best selling since the 50's. There have been improvements to tractors since the 135 but considering the time proven dependability, ease of maintenance, and straight forward layout of the 135, it's tough to beat. Dave
 
The other tractor companies where scared to death of the ETD.
If it had gone into mass production it would have put the others out of business within weeks. I can name ten things off the top of my bald head that no other tractor but the ETD could do. The fact
that you could not get it stuck is just one of many.
 
Used for what?
Silly question with so many different things that one does with a tractor, if you don't believe me then try weeding your grape vineyard with a Case quadratract.
Walt
 
Oliver 550 diesel. Size and agility of an 8N, but 40 hp diesel, independent PTO is much preferred over 2 stage clutch.
 
Well some will say no and some yes but we felt our AC 190 and D17 were the best all around tractors we could buy. Our history with AC goes back to 1959 with our first used WD45 we bought when we started farming and continued with several more WD45's and the D17 and finally the 190.We never got rid of any of them until our farm sale spelled the end of farming.We farmed 360 and milked 45 Holstiens and the AC's did every thing asked of them.Most of our equipment was AC except for silage tools and a 494 JD Planter.
 
Personally, I like my Massey Ferguson 150 for a 40hp class utility tractor. Better than the 135 for most applications, same fuel efficiency, same high reliability, same ease of finding parts.

Never owned one, but after being around a few, I'd pick the Deere 4440 as far as a bigger 2wd row cropper. Love to own one with PowerShift tranny. Quiet cab, the 466cu in diesel was everything the earlier 404 wasn't.
 
Id have to say the JD 4020. I mean i know they are a little light but there arent many jobs you cant do with a 4020. It has 3pt pto hydraulics and it is efficient enough for haying but has the power to do tillage work. From haying to tillage to planting you can use a 4020 for just about anything which means it was designed well. And this is hard to admit because i bleed the other green.

My second thought would be the oliver 1850. They were an absolute beast and they could outrun most 4020's in their glory days in the late 60's and early 70's. the 354 perkins was a great engine that is also in the white 2-85, 2-105, MF 1100, MF 1105 and many other tractors as well.
 
As my handle states, I would say the JD 730 Diesel. Even though they rated it at around 58 HP, and the 4020 D is rated more up around 90 HP. A stock 730D will about match or beat a stock 4020D. And let's not forget about fuel economy. Set to factory specs, a 730D will burn just over 2 gallons an hour under max rated load(1,125RPM). That held the record for a number of years.
The 730D did not have a mid PTO or roll bars with canopy, but could have dual hydraulics, front rockshaft, PTO, and heavy duty 3 point hitch.
 
a 4020 has almost twice the horsepower?? 58 to 96? Not trying to argue i have never ran a 720 or 730. But do they make that great of a tractor? im asking these questions out of my lack of knowledge to the 50's and early 60's tractors. i know more about the tractors from the late 60's and 70's
 

This is a hypothetical question based upon your own individual operation. You do grapes right? Well then, if for some reason you could only have one tractor which one would it be? I know you know need different machines for different operations. However, please for one moment imagine you could only have one of your tractors....pretend....imagine....etc.... Which one would it be?
 
Give me a Oliver 1850 Agco was stupid not to keep Oliver. These Models would make a 4020 look like a kids tractor I have had them both in the field together. When the going got rough just hit the down shift on Ollie and watch it pull away. When you get through just upshift and walk on. I drove Olivers from 1948 thru 2003.
gitrib
 
Not everyone would agree, that is what makes the world a fun place.
If you consider the torque, gearing, and fuel economy, my feeling is that 730D beats many of them.
We all know that the JD New Gens came with more creature comfort. And if you slap an M & W turbo on a 4020D, power would be no real contest for a stock 730D.
Not sure if they changed the way they rated HP or what, but if you look at a JD 830 (2 cylinder), it is rated around 75 HP. For sure it would drag the tires off of a 4020D and some others.
 
I like most people like what i grew up on to farm with.I cut my teeth on a john deere 4020 and run 3 of them almost daily. They are good handling and have enough power for there size.The power shift transmission is nice.We also have a1972 3020ps for baling and 4230 cab for rolling hay,and 4320 for tillage,i like the open station tractors best.THE 4020 is my choice.. Now i know alot of folks like other stuff but, bare this in mind there are alot of good tractors out there different strokes for dfferent folks.
 
For the type of farm I used to work on, the 165 Massey was a perfect do-all tractor.

Big tires, Big weights, and one finger steering.
 
I remember being at the Heart of Illinois Fair tractor pulls a couple years after the 4020 came out. Probably 1965 or 1966. These were farm stock pulls. There were several 4020's and two 830's among the tractors pulling that night. The 4020's would pull about 3/4 the way down the 300 foot track. The two 830's? Both pulled the sled about 50 feet! But, the top three finishers were Farmalls!
 
Was having a conversation with another farmer today about the 8420. I'ts the modern day 4020 or 4430 in my view. This neighbor has a 8420 with 6000 hours, and probably 4000 of those hours came from hard use hooked to a 1000 bushel grain cart on the wheat harvest. The powershift was overhauled at 5000 hours, but for the beating it took from being shifted up and down many thousands of times with that 50,000 pound cart in tow, it survived very well. Some of those young drivers would go as fast across the field as they could stay in the saddle. The engine hasn't been worked on yet and it's still going strong. Jim
 
I suppose it depends on how you use it and how you equip it. IMHO, the 15 speed powershift wasn't as durable as the older version for tillage work. YMMV Also, some consideration has to be made for PRICE. 4440's sell quite a bit under 4455's, making them more affordable to many.
 
In my neighborhood back in the 60's, 4020's were pulling 5x16's 3 1/2 MPH at 7" deep. Farmers with 730's gas or diesel generally pulled 4X14's at around 4 1/2-5 MPH and the ones with lighter ground pulled 4X16's. No one even considered pulling 5X16's with a 730.

Had a neighbor pulling 5X16's with a turbocharged 560 but that's another story. Jim
 
(quoted from post at 15:41:22 07/09/10) Well some will say no and some yes but we felt our AC 190 and D17 were the best all around tractors we could buy. Our history with AC goes back to 1959 with our first used WD45 we bought when we started farming and continued with several more WD45's and the D17 and finally the 190.We never got rid of any of them until our farm sale spelled the end of farming.We farmed 360 and milked 45 Holstiens and the AC's did every thing asked of them.Most of our equipment was AC except for silage tools and a 494 JD Planter.
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My family would agree with that. I'm pretty sure that the AC WD-45 (I'm a WD fan, but it technically came out in '48, so we'll go a model up) would be my choice for this topic. Also, as far as the WD is concerned, I know triangle tractors are dangerous but man that thing can go anywhere and seems to just have all the power you could want for a tractor that size.

(quoted from post at 16:16:57 07/09/10) the 4455 was an improved 4440. but the 4440 was a great tractor. lots of them still used today.
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I have no complaints with the 4430, 4430, and 4455. Good, solid tractors. Had a lot of fun driving them. The power steering pump on the 4430 was in an odd place to work on, though, IIRC.

(quoted from post at 21:03:53 07/09/10) Was having a conversation with another farmer today about the 8420. I'ts the modern day 4020 or 4430 in my view. This neighbor has a 8420 with 6000 hours, and probably 4000 of those hours came from hard use hooked to a 1000 bushel grain cart on the wheat harvest. The powershift was overhauled at 5000 hours, but for the beating it took from being shifted up and down many thousands of times with that 50,000 pound cart in tow, it survived very well. Some of those young drivers would go as fast across the field as they could stay in the saddle. The engine hasn't been worked on yet and it's still going strong. Jim
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what the difference is, but having driven an 8100 and 8400, and I have to say they were all nice tractors to drive. Never put enough hard hours on it to get a good feel for how they'd perform, but if I could afford one, it'd like one. Used the 8100 on a 16' field cultivator (I am fairly sure that it could've pulled the thing in half if I wasn't careful with it). Even the 6400 series are pretty good for a compact. Was not a fan of the 8530 I drove, though. Had a fuel pump go out on it with under 300 hours. For shame, green machine.
 
They never made a more economical or better to use tractor than an 806 Farmall diesel. Sure have put a lot of hours on one and never did nothing to it.

Jim
 
(quoted from post at 19:26:01 07/09/10) They never made a more economical or better to use tractor than an 806 Farmall diesel. Sure have put a lot of hours on one and never did nothing to it.

Jim
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I would have to agree, quite possibly the best farmall ever made.
 
Doug, You must like red the way that I like green and yellow.
We can both use various pulling events to support our favorites. None of them win it all of time, otherwise all pullers would have only that brand set up to pull.
All I can tell you is if you have a stock 4020D and want to hook up to my stock 730D and see what happens, I am game.
No matter what happens, you are going to burn more fuel for the same work so that aspect is already lost.
 
That's a 60 year span. The new stuff with GPS, air ride seat, filtered cab, power to pull 50+ feet of equipment - going to be hard to beat those, but we are talking big farming, use it up quick & get rid of it before the lease/warrenty runs out so you don't have to replace a computer or rewire it or plastic starts cracking....

On older stuff in your range, the JD 4020 hit a real sweet spot of useful, good size, ecconomical, and had enough of the modern features without the super modern stuff that won't hold up 30 years later.

I really like the Ford 960 that's been around here for 40 years. Got power & features & nimble small size.

The Ford 5200 I picked up a few years ago is becoming my favorite - a bit smaller than a JD 4020, but sure works nice for what I do. Gots loads of features.

Massey just never was popular around here - no dealers. I bet they are good, but - don't see any.

Ollie was very popular around here. They had some features ahead of their time. They outsold JD around here back in their day. The one's I'm familiar with were old enough not to have 3pt, but the models others mentioned always come up as good machines with lots of good features.

International/Farmall was always a real workhorse around these parts. Nothing fancy, just good preformance all day long. My 300 sure had a lot of nifty features for it's day, hard not to like it.

--->Paul
 
You are right on about the fuel economy. And, no, I'm a John Deere guy. I was just remembering that pull from long ago. I do have a 4020, but it's got a M&W turbo.
 
While I'm all keen on the 70D/720D/730D with their astounding fuel efficiency and still modern features.
HP is HP and torque rise is torque rise.
A 95HP 4020 on a forage harvester is going to cut more acres per day than a 65HP 730.
As for lbs drawbar pull? A 10,000lb 730 will pull identical to a 10,000lb 4020.
Drawbar power? The 4020 will pull the same load approx 50% faster.
 
I don't agree. I've got a JD 730D bored .125 inches and putting out over 70 hp but the only thing it does better than a 4020 is use less fuel. Good tillage tractor but awkward for general farmstead use.
 
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