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anyone still use old Ih tractors

A

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member
Does anyone else still farm today with older tractors in other parts of the country. Everyone around here are using 15 year or newer tractors, JD,CAT,CIH, and they tell me I need to get rid of my old tractors, IH 806, 1066, 1086, 1586, 5088 and get a little more modern. I live in south central IL. farm 2000 acers and I guess it just looks funny to these other farmers with my old 1586 in the field with there new front wheel drive CIH JD and cats.
 
My brother and I still use an "H" for general light duty use in the summer, a grain auger in the fall and we put a buzz saw on it for cutting wood in the winter.
It's old, but cheaper than buying a new tractor.
 
Hi Robert....I"m in southern Illinois and I use my "46 H all the time. Tho I don"t farm anywhere close to 2000 acres I use it for raking hay all summer along with all kinds of chores around my place. I have an older Stanhoist loader on it which I use to clean my loafing shed out every spring. I even use it to mow hay with an IH200 sickle bar mower when I can"t get my Discbine mower thru gates. It may be "obsolete" to most but it"s indispensable to me.
 
Thats all my friends have is OLD tractors . And last saturday it was not and antique tractor plow day it was Billy and co. plowing ground for oats The two S/MTA's were out working like they have for years plowing the same ground with the same plows . Ya a 1066 would get the job done faster or maybe even get one of them new fancy bend in the middle ones but ya know what the slower pace lets one relax and reflect on life and the world around ya. And one thing old Billy does not have is a not so friendly banker looking over his shoulder , and his crops do just as well as the boys down the road that made the bottom line of the J D dealer look a lot brighter last year with all that new green irons that they have to pay for.
 
Well heck yeah.

Allan

1.JPG
 
What do you mean old their just getting broke in.
53/H 50/MD 72/574D 65/806 ?/1466 71/4166 along with a 36 D-4 cat and a #6 traxcavator cat.
So if they are old I guess so. We still are using them.
 
Hi Robert,

I have an old 48 Farmall C and an old 51 Farmall Super C I use around my place. Chipping brush, shredding leaves, pulling logs, and boulders, plowing snow, plowing/harrowing gardens etc. Sure beats shelling out money for a new one! Paid $500 for my Super C and $600 for my C, can't beat that!

Bob
 
I planted Hay Grazer and I plan to use my 1952 Super M to pull my Hay cutter this year. I have always used it to rake hay pulling right and left hand hay rakes at the same time pulling in 3 wind rows to round bale. I use a 986 with AC to bale with it's about a 1984. I have 4 hay fields about 15 or so acres each. 3 Coastal and 1 Hay Grazer.
My grandson farms 8000 acres most of his equipment is 36 to 40 row equipment. He has 500 HP John Deere tracted tractors. He needs equipment to get the job done quick. I'am not in a hurry so the oldes are good enough for me. (And I might add I can work on mine he can't they are all electronic).
 
I'm not a farmer (except at heart) but I see a lot of older tractors still being used on a regular basis. Not an IH, but a friend of mine has a JD 4640 he bought new in '78 or '79 and still uses it all the time. It's only been overhauled one time and I don't know how many hours it has, but it's a bunch. True, he wore out a JD 4WD and now has a NH 4WD but the 4640 is still his "go to" tractor that gets more hours than anything. I see older IH (pre-CIH) in the field all the time.
 
I read a newspaper column once, the question was, how do I know when I need a new computer. The answer, when your old one will not do what you want it to do.
Same with tractors or anything else. As long as it runs smooth, does what you want it to do in the time you want to do it, then why change.
I had a new 1969 Impala for 12 years. I got rear-ended by a semi and drove it another two years the way it was. Like the guy says, I don't see the trunk when I'm drivin anyway.
I have a new 1987 Caprice that I still drive. Course the rest of the family all have new ones. I figure if Warren Buffet can drive an oldie, so can I. (Not that I agree with everything Warren does)
To the guy that rents my land, speed is everything. So he has all new huge beasts that have a cab a big as a small office, that do in 20 minutes what I used to day all day doing.
I used to be built for speed myself, but now I'm ok with slow and comfortable.
By the way, I am now realizing that the more I take my time, the more I get done in a day. You youngsters will realize that some day.

Dell
 
If you can farm 2000 acres successfully with that vintage of equipment, then keep it that way! You are obviously either a good maintenance/repair man or someone else in your operation is. For most people, success with vintage equipment comes in multiples of 10.
2 acres: excellent results
20 acres: good success
200 acres: some success, some frustration
2000 acres: few can do it, many would like to.
When I farmed 1500 acres, vintage equipment was a dream. Now I am semi rewtired it is a reality.
 
I call myself a "HO Farmer" (Think Lionel Trains). The only tractors that I have that are younger than me are two Ms.
Last fall, I used my 1934 W-30 to shred corn stalks. It was great to hear her roar.
 
I use my 2 H farmalls and my M farmall everyday for something or other, use the loader on the m to move 1100 lb bales and it does great,used it today to pull the missus' car out of the snow bank she hit,,Jim
 
Well if you are using a 1586 and a 5088 you can do just as much as someone using a CIH 7120 or 7130 for example. I don't row crop farm for myself anymore but I do custom hay baling and mow around 3000 acers a year using two 806's and a 856 to cut with and I use my 1486 and 1466 to bale with, round balers. I work in the spring and fall for a farmer, farms around 2500 acers and he uses three CIH tractors, 7120,7130,8950 and my 14's will do just as much as his 20&30 will,well the 20. The other two are FWA. I like one other thing about my OLD IH TRACTORS, they are paid for and his are not. To me, the 86,s and the 30 and 50 series are modern
 
Himself and 4 hands year round. At least 2 of his 6 tractors and running somewhere every day. He used a new grain drill this year to plant his grain. 40 rows per pass. 4 of his tractors have the John Deere GPS control.
 
i'm growing corn and haylage for my 130 milkers plus replacements. my newest tractor is the 5288, then 1086, 3588, 1466. 966 1456 826h, 3 656hydros, etc etc. we push up feed with a 200 3x/day. grind feed with a 560.
see a pattern here?
 
Had to side dress 200+ acres of corn last year with the open station 1066 after hydraulics went out on MX170. I"ll tell you something, got a great tan and it was kinda fun. Couldn"t wait to get out of the office and out in the field. Been a long time since I"ve spent that many continuous hrs on that old girl. (My favorite IH tractor, by the way)
 
One other thing, I bet that 10 to 15,000.00 range 1586 will pull that planter just as good as that 140,000.00 tractor will. I think that somethings are getting out of hand today with equipment. The size of farms are going up but the number of farmers are going down. Where is going to stop at? You have tractors and combines that stear thereselves. Won't be long you won't need anyone on that tractor at all. I know things change and I guess I am just getting old.
 
I use a 1935 F12 to cut firewood and haul wagons and a 51 H to skid logs. I also bushog and grade roads and drives with the H. It gets the most use, but the F12 does its share.
 
Ditto what everyone else is saying. The old boys still know how to work so why upgrade? I like equipment that is paid for more than new paint and steel on a payment plan.
 
I put a 3-point on my M a couple of years ago. Now I use it a lot more than I used to. I blow snow, move bales, clip CRP, and do various other jobs with it. I also have a 460 with a loader that I use from time to time.
 
I counted 7 tractors and there's only one of you. I think you need a little help. BTW I also think that little 284 would be fun to drive.

slim
 
I farm about 400 acres with everything from a Regular to and 856. The 400, 450, 706 and 856 do most of the heavy work. I used to want a new tractor. Here is how I figured it. I paid $5,500 for my 856. I don't think that you could get a new tractor big enough to drag one of the rear wheels off of the 856 for that money.
 
A fellow I knew got out of ag college and started a wholesale fruit/truck operation on his father's farm, then bought more land and really went to town. He had almost all IHC tractors of the A,B,C,H,M,SH,SM era, kept in immaculate like-new condition by a mechanic who came in the winter and went over them. Many of the tractors were kept with mounted implements (cultivator, planter, etc.), so he could just tell his men to go get one of the "specialist" tractors and do a job. He probably had less invested in all of his (about 40) tractors than it would have cost to buy two new tractors. Poor guy died very suddenly at 47. Wife couldn't carry on, so sold everything. At the sale, his tractors bought very high prices from collectors because they all looked and ran like new. His idea seemed to make sense to me, but then maybe it was because I love driving those "old" things which still dont seem that old to me. I grew up on Regulars, F-20s, 10-20s and F-12s, so the next generation still seems "new" to me. When I was about 10, my father would go to the local IH dealer and I'd see a shiny new H or M in the showroom and think I'd gone straight to Paradise. I still remember driving a neighbor's new H about 1943, when I was maybe 12 or 13. After tractors that ran at 1000, 1200, 1400 rpm, the H sounded like it was going to take off when opened up to 1650, and it took me a while to get up the courage to open it up. Maybe it was because the dealer said things like, "Them new tractors run too dang fast; they ain't gonna last." Well, they did. Interesting sidelight: my little Ford 1100 will run up to almost 3000 rpm (yes!) and it shows no sign of falling apart.
 
I put up hay with M's and H's and can do it as quickly and cheaply as anyone with the small fields we have around here (less than 10 acres average).

Riddle:

Why are there more John Deeres in collections than Farmalls?

Answer:

The Farmalls are still working.
 
Sure do! This is my 1962 Farmall 504 diesel and Koyker 220 loader. In the picture I have a 6ft wide bucket FULL of damp river sand (1000+ lbs?). I use it almost daily.

CIMG4425.jpg


Charles
 
We use the 1086 quite a bit yet, at least 250 hours a year or so. It runs the grain vac, sprayer, and haybine. This year it is retiring from the haybine and going on the rake, though - or at least that is the plan.

I run two 1942 model H's for mowing and raking road ditches, and they see occasional use on the grain auger when I'm around - Dad doesn't like having to get on and push the clutch to get the auger going.

I used to do a lot of road ditch mowing with our 1946 A, but that is in dire need of an overhaul so it was retired from that job and has been sitting in the back corner of a building for about seven years now...

I hope to retire someday and farm around 150 acres with my H's, A, and a W-9.

Our newest tractor is a late 80's (I think) 4450 JD MFWD with a loader on it for feeding cattle, my brother bought it a couple years ago to replace the 1256 IH. We also have a 1978 JD 8630, 1984 Case 2590, and a 1968 IH 544.

You can see videos of some of these in action at http://www.youtube.com/smgussey
 
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