[AT] Was Old tractor question; now collection dynamics.

Wed Feb 13 19:39:08 PST 2019

Why did you own what you have owned?  Farmer started it; as he usually does....

The preponderance of narrow front tractors a tractor shows is sort of a weird variation on self-selection bias. When people collect tractors, they tend to collect what caught  their interest when they were younger and imprinted in their memories.  So their memories are screaming “let me into the sample!“.  Those memories are reinforced by nostalgic pictures of Farmall Ms, John Deere A’s, etc.

Having lived in Pennsylvania, and seen many horses but very few tractors, I don’t  really have a bias that I can sense and explains the menagerie of tractors I have owned. 

 I bought my Farmall A because it was close, handy, and i knew of a mower i could put on it.  I bought my Pacer because i was looking for a project, it was close, from a co-worker, it was handy, and it was a good price even though it was rusted stuck. Every tractor was a weird twist of fate. I’ve inherited one(friend who passed), got a call out of the blue, you name it.  I have probably owned around 30 tractors; they have all come and gone after I got them running and made them happy(a few went to scrap when I made a mistake in assessment). They are a complete smorgasbord of anything and everything you can imagine.

I’ve settled on my Ford 861, MH Pacer and JD 430V. I’ll probably die with these.  If there is any pattern, it is obvious that I prefer tractors from the 50s.

My collection pride and joy was a complete set of the Massey Harris “equine” tractors. I had a Pony, Pacer, Colt and a Mustang. A guy came along and offered me more money than I could refuse and now they are gone. My original Pacer remains.

In addition I rebuilt the engines  of 6-8 tractors in this area around 1990-2000.  I still see a few mowing and brush-hogging from time to time. That’s  probably my greatest reward.  

A friend recently said he is about to give me his family’s Ford  8N  for engine rebuilding. Hopefully I can post on that from time to time(Don’t hold your breath: he said that a year ago too. :-) ).

Spencer Yost

> On Feb 13, 2019, at 9:14 PM, Indiana Robinson <robinson46176 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 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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> 
> 
> -- 
> -- 
> 
> Francis Robinson
> aka "farmer"
> Central Indiana USA
> robinson46176 at gmail.com
> 
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