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

Wed Feb 13 21:05:37 PST 2019

Good thread, Spencer.   I’m in the “caught my interest when I was younger” crowd.   My dad grew up in the 40s/early 50s with his dad’s Farmall F-20s, and he and his buddies lusted after the fast and sexy Ms.   He somehow passed that on to me, I guess through his stories and comments and general attitude toward tractors when I was a kid.   I left the farm in my 20s, but by about 30 I had a license plate that said “M FARML.”   Now it’s almost 30 years later and I’m back out in the country and on my third M-series tractor (and my license plate still says that).

I also had some kid/teenager experiences around folks who had two-cylinder Deeres, and the sound of one lugging up over a hill will surely trigger fond memories for as long as I live.   When I reached the point of needing a tractor with 3-point and live PTO, and a nice 620 crossed my path, I was plenty ready to write the check.

My Ford 3600 is a direct result of my teenage years working for a farmer who had a then-brand-new 4600.   Great all-around utility tractor.   I wanted a mowing tractor with a low center of gravity, saw an ad for the 3600, and figured it was just as handy and more appropriately sized to my needs than a 4600.

Haven’t bought any others in a while, and don’t foresee doing so for another while.   But a narrow-front diesel 4020 is on the list because, well, just because.   I also wouldn’t kick an Oliver 77 or Cockshutt 30 out of the barn. 

Dean Vinson

Saint Paris, Ohio

From: AT [mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of Spencer Yost
Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2019 10:39 PM
To: Antique Tractor Email Discussion Group <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Subject: [AT] Was Old tractor question; now collection dynamics.

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 <mailto: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 <mailto: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 <mailto:robinson46176 at gmail.com> 

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