Historical Perspective: Farmall M vs UB Moline

I know that many of you have a lot more experience and knowledge about different tractors than I do. So here is my question: I brought home a Mpls Moline UB Special today with intentions of fixing it to use moving wagons and equipment around the yard. It runs well enough to drive it home 7 miles, but definitely needs some TLC. I have a Farmall H, have worked on a few M's, and as I gained some new experience with the MM UB it seemed to be very much like the Farmall M in size and power. What were the pros and cons for the farmer in 1953 to choose one brand over the other? This particular UB has live hydraulics, foot clutch, disc brakes, and OEM power steering. I do believe that IH had a much bigger dealer network and probably better parts availability. And from a restoration point of view, the M sure is a lot easier to find new, used, and aftermarket parts for. What are your thoughts on the comparison of these 2 tractors?

Thanks for bearing with this slightly OT thread.

Paul in MN

Thanks for the many replies. It was not my intention to start any kind of color war, but just to gain some insight on the relative merits of each tractor.

Many of your comments I am in full agreement with. With this UB and other Molines I have operated, they do seem to be a bit less agile and a bit more sloppy at the controls. But both the Ms and the UBs are 50+ years old and have a lot of wear, so my experiences now are not a good reflection of the handling characteristics they may have had when much newer.

We have had various models of Farmalls (currently have 5) for a lot of years, and I have great respect for the engines particularly. They had incredible reliability, but were not necessarily as fuel efficient as some competitors. I picked up this Moline UB as a bit of a curiosity, a learning experience in Ag Engineering. I think they were much less of a competitor to the M and SM because of the long standing MM "old design" with the hand clutch and the very uncomfortable and dangerous operator ergonomics of the earlier U, Z, and R Molines. The UB was a vast improvement for the operator, but they had already given up a lot of market share by not making these improvements sooner.

Thanks for the insights!

Paul in MN

Harold H

Harold H

But then the dealer sold out and the new guy was not the same.

Then he switched to IH, because of many of the same reasons (Dealer).

I started with IH because thats all I knew. And now use CaseIH as well because of loyality.

MM had some features before IH started using them. If they would have kept their dealer network they would probably still be in business today.

Gary

That would be an interesting comparison. I operated a UB Standard on propane one summer and loved every minuite of it. The only other tractors at the time I could have used for comparison were an Oliver 88 and an MH44. Drove the MH some and it didnt quite measure up to the MM for power on the same load. Never did drive the 88.I would have to take the U over a SM.

Now,question, Has anyone ever run a Ford 6000 in the same field and load conditions as a Farmall 560,JD 3010 and other tractors of that vintage and hp.

steveormary