[AT] Small Farm Tractors vs Garden Tractors

Steve W. falcon at telenet.net
Sat Mar 6 14:16:25 PST 2004


Farmer,
  Actually all the Economy tractors use a bull gear final drive, but
some have 16" rears and others run 24" They are one tough tractor
though, but no frills.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Robinson" <robinson at svs.net>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group"
<at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2004 3:49 PM
Subject: RE: [AT] Small Farm Tractors vs Garden Tractors


> As a mid west corn farmer I tend to mentally draw a
> vague line at the tractors that were designed to
> cultivate row crops by straddling one or more rows.
> That isn't always a good division either of course. I
> remember seeing a picture of a whole field full of two
> wheel David Bradley's all with little moldboard plows.
> Last summer one of the busiest tractors on the farm
> was one of my older Gravely two wheel tractors with a
> 30" rotary cutter and a sulky.
> Son Scott has a White 20 HP with hydraulics, turning
> brakes and power steering.
> The tractors I considered of primary interest for CUB
> fest were the Allis G, a John Deere L or LA, a Massey
> Harris or Ferguson Pony and a couple of independents
> that were in direct competition with CUBs for the same
> market.
> BTW the smallest tractor ever tested at Nebraska was
> a one wheel Choremaster. 1.47 HP.   :-)
> I know I am missing some models. Some makers like the
> Economy Power King made both low clearance and high
> row crop models. The high ones used final drives and
> faintly resembled CUBs.
> There were several right after WW II that made CUB
> size tractors. I would look them up but my wife is
> standing in the door waiting to leave...   ;-)
>
>
> "farmer"
>
> My most recent list
> mailto:budget_muzzleloading-subscribe at yahoogroups.com
>
> Francis Robinson
> Central Indiana, USA
> robinson at svs.net
>
>
>
>
>
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
> >[mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com]
> >On Behalf Of George Willer
> >Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2004 12:54 PM
> >To: Antique tractor email discussion group
> >Subject: Re: [AT] Small Farm Tractors vs
> >Garden Tractors
> >
> >
> >Doug,
> >
> >I'm sure there is no foolproof place to draw
> >the line.  It might be fun to
> >try, though.  When I count up my tractors, I
> >don't count those that are
> >obviously garden tractors because they have
> >only two wheels, or those whose
> >main use in life is mowing grass.  Whoops...
> >that would leave out my two N
> >Fords and the one Cub that are only used for mowing!
> >http://members.toast.net/gwill/album/Tractors
> >/Ford/mowing_gang.jpg
> >
> >Then there's the little Amigo.  I include it
> >in my 21 tractors.  It has a
> >single cylinder engine, but a lot of big
> >tractor features.
> >
> >It has:
> >3 pt hitch
> >dual PTO
> >individual turning brakes
> >all gear drive
> >torque converter
> >more horsepower than the Cub
> >http://members.toast.net/gwill/album/Tractors
> >/Garden_Tractors/Riding_mower_rightfront.jpg
> >
> >What do you think?
> >
> >George Willer
> >
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: "Doug Tallman" <dtallman at accnorwalk.com>
> >To: "Antique tractor email discussion group"
> ><at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> >Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2004 2:07 PM
> >Subject: [AT] Small Farm Tractors vs Garden Tractors
> >
> >
> >> With the talk of the Cubfest, Farmer
> >mentioned that he may have a few
> >> other small tractors from other lines that
> >would have been competitors to
> >> the Cub. His statement fell in with the
> >subject of my latest newsletter
> >for
> >> the Vintage Garden Tractor Club. I'm not
> >looking for a fight or trying to
> >> weasel in on the Cubfest, just trying to
> >start some tractor discussion. A
> >> question that I get asked a lot is what is
> >considered a garden tractor and
> >> where do we draw the line between them and
> >a small farm tractor. There are
> >> a lot of tractors like the IH Cub and BN,
> >AC B and G, JD L and others that
> >> could be considered either way. My 1923
> >Centaur was powered by a 5 HP,
> >> single cylinder New Way engine. They
> >advertised that you could farm
> >> anything with it that you could farm with
> >one horse, 25-50 acres.  They
> >> even offered a special hitch that would
> >allow you to use the horsedrawn
> >> equipment you already had with your new
> >tractor. A picture of this tractor
> >> can be seen at:
> >http://community.webshots.com/photo/81167315/
> 81182280SDTATc
> >  Most of the big, early walk-behind machines were
> geared towards the same
> > thing. After all, you had to walk behind the horse
> or ride on the
> > implement. Today we don't have a problem believing
> these were garden
> > tractors although they were originally promoted as
> small farm power. The
> > actual garden tractors from the same era were litle
> more than motorized
> > push hoes. I agree that this was a different era in
> all aspects of
> > gardening/farming, but would these be considered the
> "Cubs" of that era?
> My
> > 1938 Utilitor powered by the AC-4 Wisconsin was
> rated at 12-16 HP
> depending
> > on RPM. It was also originally billed as "small
> power for the farm". When
> > we get to the newer equipment, a lot of the lines
> had actual lawn and
> > garden equipment along with the small farm power.
> This seems like it would
> > make an easier separation of the two but I know from
> personal experience
> > that a lot of these small farm power tractors spent
> their lives with
> people
> > that put out larger gardens and never saw any actual
> farm work. My answer
> > is to let the owners decide what they want their
> equipment to be displayed
> > as. What do you think?
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >            Doug Tallman                  Join us for
> the 2004 regional
> show
> >            dtallman at accnorwalk.com              in
> conjunction with
> >            VGTCOA Ohio Regional Director   Ashland
> Co Yesteryear Mach club
> >                Greenwich, OH USA                July
> 9-11, 2004
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
> >
>
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