Was thinking the other day about the advances in farm technology and how it has advanced . Don't think they have improved tractor since 1990 to now this much here is example of 2 of the most popular John Deere's models of the time!!



An old '51 B last year made was '52 and this on is fancy lights and electric start!!! than a '75 model 4430 last year made was '77 lets see, AC, heat , stereo ,and much, much more

They are pretty amazing. Road in a John Deere with satellite assisted driving last fall. It could keep rows straight +/- and inch or so across a half mile circle.

Bought this one in 2012. It's a 6210 and the 210 is the horsepower.

I used our 1988 JD 950 on a small logging project today. It has been a great tractor.

I love that JD4430 in the first post!

But, man... 210 HP..!

That thing would tear my shredder up when you turn that to the contraption..

It's what we use for laser leveling and chiseling etc...

I'll bet it does that well.

You need a GPS....

Nah,got two eyes.

Still using my early 50's Ford 8N. It was my dad's "pet" tractor. When we sold the farm (they went to assisted living)he let me take her home, along with a harrow and bush hog and small bottom plow. Everything else got sold.

I call her The Beast or my Fire Breathing Dragon...all 23 hp of her!

One time I was at sears getting a belt for my riding lawn mower with an 18 horse Briggs and Stratton, and the heavy black Lady said, "Lawd, yous got one of them big ole tractors, don't you?" I could barely contain my laughter. miles

Yes! One used to be able to buy the farm for the price of one of today's tractors.

Speaking of which a good 4430 and like will bring as much now as they did new

You can buy them new or used, either way your going to have to do repairs on them, and the old ones are easier to work on.

It is not much the tractor values, as the declining American dollar.

I was reading just the other evening that the JD 8000 series now have more computing power than our Early Space Shuttles.THERE is some food for thought.

GTC

What's that red thing in the background? Just kidding - I've run "binders, too)
I use the baby JD 5500 - also have access to a 6400, a 7210, and a 7230.
Great machines - but you NEED the AC in those units with cabs - or you will discover what the term "pheasant under glass" really means!!

Mark

You're right.. And then take that 4430 and compare to today's units. Absolutely night/day.

I grew up with Farmall H and Ms. Over the last few years I've been operating Case/IH 71/72 series with 150-250HP.. Now, they obtained a Case/IH STX425 and I've only briefly driven it once - but holy crap, what a machine!! Some of this stuff is getting so complicated/computer run that it takes an old geezer like me about an hour trying to figure out how to RUN the damn thing..

Mark's right too - that A/C better be working very well because, with all that glass, the driver can feel like an ant under a magnifying glass...

I saw a big John Deere with 12 wheels on it the other day. I don't know the model number but it was huge.

Personally I think the high point for just usefulness of tractors probably topped out with the John Deere 4020. Since then tractors have definitely gotten more comfortable and higher horsepower. The 4020 for just purely doing what a tractor is for and all-around usefulness, has to be some sort of high-water mark. Another thing is that after that point a lot of the manufacturers started getting cute, IMO. They started programming scheduled maintenance in and things like that and researching ways to make parts go bad so you would have to buy new. I don't think there was much of that going on in say, 1970. By 1980 it was in full swing. Today's tractors are a lot more delicate and a lot more reliant on fragile, electronic technology than they were in '70 or so. And by now if you have tractors for serious use the 4020 and the like is just about too old. Stuff does wear out eventually and for everyday, hard use you sooner or later have to update to the stuff that is very difficult to work on yourself, which was the plan all along.

Hot temps and no A/C will make you feel sick. I've taken my boots off more than once which helps some.
Strange feeling when you step out of the cab and 90 degrees feels likes a cold front!


Lots of guys say they like the 'older' tractors because of the lack of computer chit to go wrong. Might be part of the reason why demand is high for the 20-30 year JD's.

The 30 series were good machines but just like the 4020 was better than the 4010, I think they tweaked them and the 40 series was better yet. I'd much rather have a 4440 than a 4430. The 4430 was a good tractor though. They were decently inexpensive too. When the 30 series were out, they were affordable but by the 40 series John Deere had gotten big heads and priced themselves out of the market for a lot of farmers. The 1086 IH was very popular around here with former John Deere boys, for instance.

Get rid of them before the warranty is up.

IIRC, the JD4020 was the first tractor introduced that got to 100 hp. At the time, IH only had a couple in the 75-85 hp range - the 560 and 660. JD got ahead in the game with that venerable 4020 and many are still running today. Although, on nearly every other farm in these parts one can still find an old M and H operating various minor machines.. Haven't seen too many JD As or Bs any longer.

Now there's GPS tracking, auto-steer, auto-throttle and other little electronic goodies that just boggle my feeble mind. I truly miss the good old days of simpler units with 100-140 hp. But, with small farms virtually gone and mega-farmers running thousands of acres, those types of machines can't do the job any longer. Kinda sad..

I never could warm up to a 4020. I am tall with long legs and they would beat my knees up on rough ground. I liked the 56 series of IH tractors with the 1456 being my favorite. Around here they turned the horsepower way up over advertised and they were hosses. When the 66 series came out they had shortened the wheelbase and they rode rougher. Would still pull though. miles

Do any of you older guys remember the tractor shortage many years ago? A co-worker of mine had a brother in the midwest who was desparate for a new tractor, ANY tractor. He had to cross 2 state lines and pay way over the sticker price to get it. I can't remember the details of what happened but there were none to be found anywhere in the country.

With the way the farms are going bankrupt, and the government paying farmers to NOT farm this or that crop, I'm surprised any actual farm tractors are made or sold in the U.S. anymore.

The foreign made tractors have invaded as well.

There does seem to be a market for small tractors as more people leave the cities to the hoodrats though.

I can't much imagine a cab without AC. We dont' do enough to need a cab on the 100 acres here, it gets hot in the summer, but I can only imagine a cab wihtout AC.

FIL used to combine with same.. cab without AC. Had to be like sitting in a sauna.

Many of those were around in the '70s. I had two myself (Both Satohs). Now it's mainly Kubota, Mahindra etc..

The small 'compact' tractors definitely have a market. I'd be lost w/o my little 4210 (28hp diesel)..

When the A/C goes out (and it does happen) they just remove the doors and the rear window and run 'em open-air. Pretty decent that way - since the roof is still in place it keeps the sun off yer balding pate..

My college crony farmer buddy over in Conrad showed me some snaps of his seeding rig. The tractor basically is pulling an entire equipment yard behind it. Brang spanking new, GPS controlled everything, and his combines map yield as they chew.
Quite a bit different from when I worked harvest with him 30 years ago -- then we basically tracked our loads for the field, got out the calculator, and did it that way. Amazing.

Geez talk about making a guy feel is age.
We worked Farmall Super M wide fronts. Then we got the NEW tractor, our first diesel, a Farmall W9. thought it couldn't get any better...................

Thinking there is an 'R' after the 6210 on your tractor. Big difference between yours and the 6210 from around 2001 or so, it was only 90 hp. I had a 7210 (110 hp) that I liked a lot.

Either way, it's a big difference from the Farmall H that I learned on. Grandad bought it in 1943 for around $850 IIRC.

Dale

Sounds like my uncle. Farmed 360A with an H and an M for many years. Finally bought his first 'big' tractor in '63 - an IH 560 Diesel with 4-bottom plow.. Big stuff!!

Now, this afternoon, I gotta try and get myself familiar with operating a Claas 940 chopper. Not sure if this old dog can learn all these new tricks..

Got a new 6140 last year, nice upgrade. Still have the 4440. The neighbor put his new rig in the salt drain last year. It seems cell phones don't help with concentration.

Ouch...

Love those old deere tractors, that 4020 is the king. Unfortunately I have to settle for its little brother. 1972 820.

I spent a lot of time on an old JD "B" when I was a kid. I really liked that old tractor.
I worked on a ranch in high school, and my choices for daily duty were an old Kabota, which was fine for small stuff,
a really old crank start Massey, that sucker would damn near break your arm when it started!! I hated that tractor!!
A newer yellow JD, (don't remember the number) with a front loader. That thing was a giant pos!!
And the old model B! Always started and always did what you wanted to do.

I had one spooky episode on that old tractor. I'd hauled a manure spreader, that we'd filled waaaay past full, out into a big field to spread.
The grass and weeds were pretty tall, so I didn't see the ditch the recent heavy rains had washed out in the field.
Moving along, entirely too fast, the front end dropped down into that ditch and threw me off...way out in front of the tractor!
I was laying there staring at the tractor trying to run me over!
I got out of the way, rushed over and killed it, but it had lost the spreader!

The old cowboy I worked for was a MEAN old drunk. I'm talking...whiskey for breakfast drunk. I was scared to death he'd find out. Pumped up on fear and adrenaline, I lifted the tongue of that full spreader back up on the hitch all by my 15 year old self!
Scot free!! No one will ever know!! Right...?
I got the load spread, and headed back to the farm...
Within a half hour I was curled up in excruciating pain having torn my stomach muscles!! There was no hiding it after that!

Duckdog,

I sympathize having done something similar when young. Raking hay and watching the rake more than what was in front of me. Dad said, "that's why we don't cut the hay on the ditches so you can see them, pay attention! I didn't come off the machine but instead impaled myself on the steering wheel and bruised pretty much all my ribs/sternum. It sheared off the front axel...Dad wasn't happy with me...It might have been a good thing I needed to go see the Doc since I was having trouble breathing for a while, that deflected the anger a bit.

Actually the JD 5010 was the 1st 100 hp 2wd tractor and the John Deere 8010 was the 1st tractor on rubber to rate over 100hp. Before that there were several ag track tractors that were over 100hp

It is said that JD quit making the 4020 Diesel because they would not sell any more after everyone bought one. Not quite true, but they were a dang good tractor.

A new John Deere combine has 27 different sensors on it and when something goes wrong....it won't tell you WHICH sensor is bad!

You poor babies. I remember as a kid when my granddad was giving away Allis Chalmers orange straw hats to all his customers and if you bought one of his tractors you got a free sun umbrella for it.
This was in central Illinois where it got warm enough.

Of course, I also remember when my uncle still had a steel wheeled Poppin� Johnnie.
At least the steel seat had a pad.

If I remember right, Allis Chalmers never sold a steel wheel tractor.

If I remember right Allis Chalmbers has yet to sell a good tractor