<div dir="ltr"><div>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.</div><div>For most things wide front / narrow front doesn't really matter to me I have always adapted easily, even to a #%&^ hand clutch. :-)<br></div><div>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.</div><div>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.<br></div><div>The Ferguson TO-20, bought new about 1949 was an adjustable wide front. <br></div><div>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.<br></div><div>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.</div><div>The Deere 40C was traded for a IHC 300U, also low and wide front.</div><div>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.</div><div>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.</div><div>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.</div><div>The MM-R with a #$%^ hand clutch, is a narrow front. Still have it, bought it at an uncle's auction. It has been shown a number of times including Portland.</div><div>The 1948 John Deere A is a Roll-a-matic narrow front with a #$%^ hand clutch.</div><div>Ferguson TO-20 (not our old original) wide front. Used almost daily.</div><div>1946 Case VAC, narrow front, also in regular use.</div><div>1947 Farmall Cub and a (I forget the year) Massey Harris Pony. Both wide front but not very wide. :-)</div><div>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...</div><div>Oh and 2 8N Fords. One nearly done and one not started on and not really a priority.</div><div>Also a Case VAC that hasn't decided if it is a project or a parts tractor. A narrow front.</div><div>I guess That's everybody.</div><div>I guess that my biggest complaint about narrow fronts is how they can turn into virtual bulldozers in extremely soft wet soil.</div><div>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...</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>.<br></div><div><br></div><div> <br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, Feb 13, 2019 at 6:40 PM Greg Hass <<a href="mailto:ghass@m3isp.com">ghass@m3isp.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">This is a question I have wondered about for years although it is not <br>
world changing. The question is: why are some areas mostly wide front <br>
and others narrow front tractors? In our area of Michigan, as soon as <br>
wide front became available almost 100% went with wide front. <br>
Personally, I hate narrow front tractors with a passion. I would never <br>
get a narrow front tractor except maybe an old 2 cylinder JD or <br>
something like a Farmall F-12 where wide front either did not exist or <br>
is extremely rare. I know that in some areas the larger tractors had <br>
narrow front because of mounted corn pickers. From videos other areas <br>
had narrow fronts. If you Google ( tractors from the past, plowing in <br>
1962) you will find many tractors plowing but I didn't see a single wide <br>
front even on a couple new generation JD's. I don't know where the video <br>
was filmed but I suspect Indiana because of the fields and the way they <br>
raised the plows to go over grassed waterways; something I still see <br>
when we travel there to see our kids. I'm not sure, but I think the 4020 <br>
Farmer used to own had a narrow front. Also why does no one make narrow <br>
front anymore? In the video, even the Ford disking has a narrow front, <br>
something I have never seen in our area and in years past there were a <br>
lot of Fords around us. Comments anyone.<br>
Greg Hass<br>
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</blockquote></div><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div>-- <br><br>Francis Robinson<br>aka "farmer"<br>Central Indiana USA<br><a href="mailto:robinson46176@gmail.com" target="_blank">robinson46176@gmail.com</a><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br></div></div></div>