[AT] Old tractor question

Wed Feb 13 18:14:56 PST 2019

You are right Greg, my 4020 Deere was narrow front. Not my first choice but
it was a very good buy on a very good tractor. It did have the Roll-a-matic
and that did help a lot on handling and ride. It was also very heavy and
thus quite stable.
For most things wide front / narrow front doesn't really matter to me I
have always adapted easily, even to a #%&^ hand clutch.  :-)
My father's first tractor, a 9N Ford, bought new in early 1942, of course,
an adjustable wide front. My grandfather never owned a tractor nor a
car/truck, only horses.
The rebuilt McCormick 10-20, acquired during those tractor shortage post
war years mentioned was a "standard tread" wheat-land style front axle. It
was traded for a decent 1939 Chrysler sedan in 1951.
The Ferguson TO-20, bought new about 1949 was an adjustable wide front.
By 1952 - 53 my older sister and I were putting in hours running tractors
and my father became largely committed to low slung wide front tractors for
safety reasons. About 1952 a John Deere MC crawler came to the farm and I
spent a lot of time on it and later the Deere 40C crawler, bought new, that
the MC was traded in on. Is a crawler a "wide front"?  :-)  Very high
stability.
In very early 1954 the 9N was traded for the 1953 Ford Jubilee, of course
also a wide front low slung tractor. That one had 2 clutches, one foot and
one hand for live PTO.
The Deere 40C was traded for a IHC 300U, also low and wide front.
I don't actually ever recall ever even driving a tricycle front tractor
until we got the Allis Chalmers C that a close family friend had bought new
in 1946 and owned for 20 years. We used it a lot for stationary PTO use
like elevators and augers and using the mid-mount sickle mower. I still
have that tractor and it has been to a number of shows.
We stayed with ear corn longer than most, we had a Kentucky connection who
would pay a premium for good ear corn for cattle feed. My father found a
very good used New Idea 2 row mounted picker with mountings for a Farmall
M. We found a good Farmall Super M tricycle (that I still have) to mount
that picker on. I then found my Farmall Super MTA tricycle which was ideal
for that picker with independent PTO and TA. (I still have that one too) It
has been to Portland before.
The Farmall 400 LP bought just because we wanted it is a wide front. I
still have it but it is not currently running, needs an engine rebuild.
The MM-R with a #$%^ hand clutch, is a narrow front. Still have it, bought
it at an uncle's auction. It has been shown a number of times including
Portland.
The 1948 John Deere A is a Roll-a-matic narrow front with a #$%^ hand
clutch.
Ferguson TO-20 (not our old original) wide front. Used almost daily.
1946 Case VAC, narrow front, also in regular use.
1947 Farmall Cub and a (I forget the year) Massey Harris Pony. Both wide
front but not very wide.  :-)
I almost forgot my MF-165D wide front. I have some of it apart but maybe I
will get there next fall. Priorities are different when you no longer
actually farm...
Oh and 2 8N Fords. One nearly done and one not started on and not really a
priority.
Also a Case VAC that hasn't decided if it is a project or a parts tractor.
A narrow front.
I guess That's everybody.
I guess that my biggest complaint about narrow fronts is how they can turn
into virtual bulldozers in extremely soft wet soil.
Speaking of moving tractors around, I see a lot of single fronts at shows
here these days but I never saw any of them growing up...

.

On Wed, Feb 13, 2019 at 6:40 PM Greg Hass <ghass at m3isp.com> wrote:

> This is a question I have wondered about for years although it is not
> world changing. The question is: why are some areas mostly wide front
> and others narrow front tractors?  In our area of Michigan, as soon as
> wide front became available almost 100% went with wide front.
> Personally, I hate narrow front tractors with a passion. I would never
> get a narrow front tractor except maybe an old 2 cylinder JD or
> something like a Farmall F-12 where wide front either did not exist or
> is extremely rare. I know that in some areas the larger tractors had
> narrow front because of mounted corn pickers. From videos other areas
> had narrow fronts. If you Google  ( tractors from the past, plowing in
> 1962) you will find many tractors plowing but I didn't see a single wide
> front even on a couple new generation JD's. I don't know where the video
> was filmed but I suspect Indiana because of the fields and the way they
> raised the plows to go over grassed waterways; something I still see
> when we travel there to see our kids. I'm not sure, but I think the 4020
> Farmer used to own had a narrow front. Also why does no one make narrow
> front anymore? In the video, even the Ford disking has a narrow front,
> something I have never seen in our area and in years past there were a
> lot of Fords around us. Comments anyone.
>             Greg Hass
> _______________________________________________
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> AT at lists.antique-tractor.com
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>

-- 
-- 

Francis Robinson
aka "farmer"
Central Indiana USA
robinson46176 at gmail.com
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