[AT] Old tractor question

[John Hall]

The last narrow we bought new was a 4020, followed by a wide front 4020 
and a 4430.  The narrow front was used with a 4 row bedder for tobacco 
land, bushogging, cultivating corn, and 99% or our baling. It also 
pulled a harrow with a grain drill attached, until the 4430 came along.  
For whatever reason, it was picked for irrigation duty so it got a set 
of Murphy safety gauges. Also used it to pull a cultimulcher sometimes. 
The wide front 4020 and 4430 got most of the heavy tillage, those front 
ends rode better and it was less stress on it over rough ground and they 
tended to tolerate wheel stands better.

John Hall



On 2/13/2019 5:23 PM, Greg Hass 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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