[AT] Oliver 55 - Super 55 vs 8N vs VAO

[Cecil Bearden]

Well said John!!!

I always thought the N series Fords were overpriced.  I used to rebuild 
them in the 60's and 70's at a tractor shop in OKC.  My personal 
preference was the Massey Ferguson.  The TO series would outperform the 
Ford, and the 35 was the smallest one with live power.  We had a MF 50 
diesel for many years and I wish I had it back.  We put over sized 14.9- 
28 tires on it and pulled a 12 ft tandem disc with it several years. 
It's  only drawback was it did not have power steering.  It could have 
had an add-on power steering option easily built.  The MF65 was a good 
tractor and still  small enough to do small mowing and blading jobs, but 
the clutch pivoted from the back side of the tractor instead of at the 
clutch housing and gave me a lot of problems when trying to inch up to 
things.  The NAA or Jubilee Ford was the better Ford tractor for mowing 
and blading work.

I know everyone has their memories of the best tractors,  but I had to 
work on every model around between 1965 and 1978 while in High school 
and college and later doing field service work.  8n & 9N Fords made me a 
lot of money because I got a lot of repeat calls for working on them.  I 
converted a bunch of them to 12v alternator systems so that they would 
start dependably.  On a lot of them we installed an 8 volt battery and 
stopped a lot of problems.

Cecil in OKla

John B wrote:
> The small tractor that I like best is actually my John Deere 420W that we use occaisionally in the orchard here. Live hydraulics make it much easier to use than the Ford. Next would be the Super 55. The VAO is a good tractor, but the hydraulics are not as advanced as the JD, Ford, or Oliver, except that the hydraulics are  live. I think the Fords are underpowered, too hard to use without the live hydraulics, and overpriced in general. I do see that many Ford 8N's around here are now selling more realistically in the $1000 to $2200 range. A few years ago, it was hard to find one for less than $3000. Maybe some of the ranchette owners are waking up to find that just because their neighbor has an 8N, that does not make it a desirable tractor. All of this is just my opinion and I'm sure I'll catch some flak over it!
> 
> John Boehm
> Woodland, CA
> Visit my web site at http://vintagetractors.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --- On Fri, 8/29/08, Ken Knierim <ken.knierim at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> From: Ken Knierim <ken.knierim at gmail.com>
>> Subject: Re: [AT] Oliver 55 - Super 55 vs 8N vs VAO
>> To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>> Date: Friday, August 29, 2008, 7:04 AM
>> On Fri, Aug 29, 2008 at 6:16 AM, John B
>> <rustyacres at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>> It is because the Super 55 was introduced at the same
>> time that the 66-77-88-99 series had been upgraded to the
>> "Super" series. It wouldn't  make sense to be
>> selling a "55" at the same time you are selling
>> "Super's" of everything else.
>>> By the way, I once owned a Super 55, and they are a
>> great little tractor. IMHO vastly superior to the 8N.
>>> John Boehm
>>> Woodland, CA
>>> Visit my web site at http://vintagetractors.com
>>
>> Hi John,
>>     How would you compare your VAO versus the 8N and Super
>> 55? I have
>> a very tired 8N I use for mowing with a 6' flail finish
>> mower and am
>> looking at options. I've found that folks in AZ tend to
>> have a pretty
>> pricey view of the N series when compared to other tractors
>> (buying
>> and selling)... but are they worth it? Just looking for
>> opinions;
>> nothing against my 8N except it smokes like a third world
>> factory
>> (needs time I don't have when chasing a 14 month old).
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> Ken in AZ
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