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Oberlin

My people always farmed with equal opportunity tractors, not settling on one color. All colors made and make us money.

The first tractor on the farm was a IH Titan 10-20. (ca 1920-1930)

Grandad



Dad and his great Grandkids.



Sam I do have a tractor story. My Grandad was in a rural bar and became part of discussion on tractors and power and he was challenged to a tractor pull.

The challenger owned a John Deere A and Granddad had a 1948 Ford 8N. The pull took place in the bar parking lot on a Saturday afternoon with spirited betting beforehand.

The tractor's draw bars were bolted together and a flag was dropped. The A was pulling the 8N until Granddad pulled the 3point lever and pulled the A across the line.

I grew up working for guys with both Case and John Deere. Both were better than washing dishes or flipping burgers. (Not that there was a burger place in my town of 300)

I always tell the wife if we get the house paid off, I'm leaving the corporate BS and working for a farmer.

[quote=roundoak]My people always farmed with equal opportunity tractors, not settling on one color. All colors made and make us money.

The first tractor on the farm was a IH Titan 10-20. (ca 1920-1930)

Grandad



Dad and his great Grandkids.



Sam I do have a tractor story. My Grandad was in a rural bar and became part of discussion on tractors and power and he was challenged to a tractor pull.

The challenger owned a John Deere A and Granddad had a 1948 Ford 8N. The pull took place in the bar parking lot on a Saturday afternoon with spirited betting beforehand.

The tractor's draw bars were bolted together and a flag was dropped. The A was pulling the 8N until Granddad pulled the 3point lever and pulled the A across the line. [/quote


Challenger is built by Heston

Gotta love Saturdays on the Fire

I thoroughly enjoyed that story.

Technology has surely changed.

DF

My Dad's first tractor after WWII was a Cockshutt. He always said it was a handy little thing. In the fall of 1952 he bought a Farmall (IH) Super M. I still have it. When I was in the 8th grade he found "my" tractor at an auction sale-it was a D John Deere that I had to turn the flywheel to start it. I've hated green paint ever since.

Sammo,
If you're looking for stories, I got one that isn't all that great but kinda cool.

I bought an IH240 Utility tractor after I bought my place in 2004.

Before I bought it, (in West Fargo, ND) I looked it up on the Internet to see what it was all about. I found a picture of one out in Maine that was at some shipping agency.

I ended up buying the tractor and after I got it home, I found paperwork that had all the shipping info and the same exact pic was in the box.

We have a very big Steam Threshers Reunion show here every labor day and I've talked to people that say the IH240 is extremely rare around these parts. They were made from '58 - '62. Sounds like out east they are more common.

My 50 year old Deere has never quit me! Runs as strong today as it did then.

we always had the oldest chit you could find.

IH, Farmall,


I'm not recalling the lil used tractor my gramps bought one year, but I remember having to stifle the laugh when we'd fill it up at our farm tank and he'd take out his hanky and wipe around the fill spout.

lord but I loved that man. actually still do, but he's been gone from here since '87

A couple years ago we went from this...






...to this.




The new one will hold more on top the cab.

We have quite a few Big Buds around eastern Montana.
I heard a story from a couple years ago of a father and son responding to a wildfire in a pair of Big Buds pulling 60 foot toolbars at wide open throttle. The rooster-tails were purportedly spectacular. I know the family and can attest to them owning multiple Big Buds.

My family ran John Deere combines when I was a kid, save for the oldest, an Allis All-Crop. Had an IH corn picker that fit on the front of an M and ran the corn into a wagon you pulled with the same tractor. Ear corn. Kept in a corn crib and fed to the hogs whole or ground up in a hammer mill. When I got old enough to have my own combine, my first two were Gleaners, which were supposed to be just great. I never saw that much good about them. I preferred the John Deere's and my last was a 1969 95 gasser which is still setting in my shed, but which I finally sold to my neighbor last year. Hardly anybody around here had IH combines. Most were John Deere's or Gleaners. Then New Holland came out with the rotary system which has it all over the old types for clean grain. IH adopted it. New Hollands were pretty popular for awhile but now you see a lot of IH's. My cousin went red on the combines and IMO they are the best going presently.

Roundoak, now That's a tractor!

Glad I don't have to spring for the diesel bill on that one..


I got a new Farmall 100hp about a year ago.



Priced apples to apples with a green machine, the JD was about $10k more.

If I had been looking for a tractor to hand down to my kids and grandkids with the family farm, I may have gone green, but for my "retirement business" of shredding brush, and rough usage it sees, I went red.

No complaints on the Case. It's a strong, quality machine that does what I ask of it and more.

I have a 45hp Mahindra w/ 6' shredder I use too. Got it after the Case. Tough little tractor. Probably under rated.

Was working on a older lady's place yesterday and she had some dirt tanks with steep, narrow dams I wouldn't even think of putting my big rig on.

She had her grandson out there with a 32hp Kubota and 5' shredder. That kid (prob. 25) was a nut!

After watching him take running starts and climb those dams shredding everything down to bare ground, I had to look elsewhere because I just knew I was gonna see a tractor death... But he got it done.

There's a reason the military likes young men. They think they can't die.

If I was his daddy, I'd not let him borrow the tractor anymore.

Thanks for all the excellent replies.

I figured it would be a fairly even split, glad to see this topic didn't cause any fights....


There used to be quite a few Big Buds out in the hills, same for Steiger and Versatile. We still use a couple old Versatile's for pulling a toolbar and air drill, great Cummins engines.


I'm not a real tractor expert but we also use a couple old JD's for daily loader tractors, a 4250 and a 4450(MFWD's).
They double as baler tractors in the haying season. Maybe average 500-600 hours a year on each one, I could change oil on them blindfolded...

We've had really good luck with them but the 4250 is getting to the point where it needs some work. And rather than dump a bunch of money into it I think we'll trade it on a 7420/30 or a 7520/30.



You guys already mentioned it but resale on those tractors is incredible, too bad pickups don't hold value half that well...



I would love to find another low hour 4250-4450 but they are hard to come by out here. Every once in awhile I see one listed on the internet but they are all in the mid-west. And yes, they all sell for more than they did new!

Deutz is the best green.

Very nice.

Thank you, EE.

I enjoy that tractor. Very comfortable.

When I have a job up to about 40 miles away, it's more time efficient to just drive the tractor to the jobsite, rather than load and unload, and repeat for the return trip.

Cab is as nice as my pick-up. I just crank the stereo up and settle in.

I talked to few of you on the campfire about 6 yrs ago about good used tractors. Ended up with a IH 1086, and it's been a damn good tractor. When I got it, it took the strength of 10 men to shift, but a little maintenance got that all worked out buttery smooth.

Everytime someone gets to talking about there shuttleshift, I get to thinking I need a IH Hydro 86 for a loader tractor.

Hard to believe my John Deere 95 combine used to be one of the bigger models when you see the newer ones.