Re: What are the good and bad points??

Posted by greenbeanman in Kansas on December 15, 2004 at 06:25:23 from (4.244.189.33):

In Reply to: What are the good and bad points?? posted by Jrry on December 14, 2004 at 06:03:37:

This thread is dipping pretty far down on the page, but I finally have a little time to throw in my two cents worth.

For my "Yesterdays Tractors" mean 1960s and earlier.

I like a slow turning engine with lots of stroke to produce torque, not the faster turning engines that produced it with RPMs. The old Deere and MMs were hard to beat for those qualities.

A lot of the older tractors had small fenders which bathed the operator in dirt all day long. I've always had an oily complexion and can remember coming to the house in the evening with quite a layer of dirt. We ran a GTB MM and an LA Case. The Case had a fuller fender, hence less dirt.

We always believed that the older Case tractors had a propensity for overheating. If we didn't keep the fan belt adjusted frequently and the timing proper we really had to be careful to watch the gauge. The GTB was much more tolerable along those lines.

Our Case and MM were gas tractors. The LA took an extra 5 gallons per half day for doing the same amount of work. An extra 10 gallons per day is quite a bit.

The MM was easier to steer. Perhaps a higher ratio in the steering box?

Right hand clutch vs. left hand clutch. We most often were one-way discing so had a furrow to follow with the right side, hence stood on the right side of the platform. A right hand clutch was more readily available for a quick stop if something should break which wasn't often.

While we never had any engine problems I like the idea of having multiple cylinder blocks, i.e. three blocks with a pair of cylinders in each to make up a six cylinder MM, two-twos for a four cylinder Case, etc.

John Deere "D" tractors had a wonderful napping area for kids to sleep on atop of the transmission housing. Who wouldn't grow to love Ds from those early experiences with dad?

Internationals were a good solid tracor and good workhorses, but we always felt like the horsepower rating was a little more than what they actually had. What does rating matter unless you buy without trying a tractor anyway?

I think that MM was slow to catch up with progress during the row crop era, while fine for the plains wheatland crops. Why spend $800 to $1,000 extra for a 3 point anyway? Could any of us live without it since experiencing it now? My family never owned a tractor with a 3 pt. until I bought a 1070 Case and started growing some row crops. We never owned a loader tractor either, but with 3 strong boys and a strong man in the family what do you need one for? Oh my aching back!

Those are just a few of my thoughts and observations. Deere, Case, MM, & International were the brands we had in our area. Massey Harris/Ferguson, Oliver, and Allis Chalmers were all pretty rare in our area.

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