Front wheel assist. Why not in the 1960's thru 90's

I know they made front wheel assist on tractors from factory starting on the 706 & 806 around 1963,64. How come didn't they really go over big untill really in the late 1980's and when they started the CIH series like the magnums? I have seen a few on the 88 series and on the 5088's on up. Today everything is front wheel assist from your lawn mower on up.

In the early 1960's I can remember the IH dealer in Ashkum, Il. sold a new 560D with a FWA(elwood) ON IT TO A FARMER FROM Bonfield, Il. At about the same time a farmer west of Ashkum brought a M&M 706 FWA from the M&M dealer in Odel, Il. As I understand the 560WFA was traded for a 806DFWA (factory equip.)(with huge rear tires) which was than traded for a 1066FWA about 1987. It was in the early '90's when the FWA's started showing up in Ashkum and Pella townships. Back in the '60's I can remember my Dad remarking why would anybody want something that big and awkward. The first real 4WD showed up in Ashkum M&M AT14LP plainsman(I think that was the model) and a all wheel steer case(not sure of the model number) About 1959 there was a blacksmith assembling articulating 4wd's with old tractor rearends and 4-71 Detroit diesel engines.(I found one of them and am trying to get it running) If I have made any errors I hope somebody will correct me and/or add more information. I should also mention the tandom tractor hitches that appeared for a few years in the early to mid '60's and also Lloyd Erikson(hope I spelled his name right) was building 4wd drive tractors from about 1950 to 1960. Armand

(quoted from post at 18:07:30 01/07/10) I know they made front wheel assist on tractors from factory starting on the 706 & 806 around 1963,64. How come didn't they really go over big untill really in the late 1980's and when they started the CIH series like the magnums? I have seen a few on the 88 series and on the 5088's on up. Today everything is front wheel assist from your lawn mower on up.

Click to expand...

Anything new takes a while to catch on. 4WD pickups were around ever since WWII, Dodge Power Wagons and IH were the ones you used to see, but it wasn't until the late '70s/early '80s when they became popular. Also as HP increased it made more sense to have FWA on tractors and RWA on combines.

i believe the tractors now a days are built lighter with more H.P. and another thing is they run with dry tires instead of fluid and just dont have the traction or the lugging power like the old ones did.

Growing up doing field work with these older "gems" i can tell you a lot of those tractors from the 70's had the the power that rivals todays tractors but lacked a hardy enough transmission/Power shift to handle the extra torque inflicted with a MFWD.

Why do people buy 4 wheelers when they could walk? We are a more affluent society that we used to be.

It's as simple as that.

Cost is a Major factor. I can only imagine the price increase of the 4wd over the 2wd especially back then. And like already stated the added maintenance headaches. Farmers back then could get by with with what they already had and try to hold down the overhead cost of farming and newer didn"t always mean better. Skepticism in farming can be a good thing. bjr

1960's era MFWDs were crude, clunky, and expensive. They seriously hurt the maneuverability of the tractor. On top of that, not much was known about the effects of soil compaction, so if a farmer couldn't get enough traction, they simply added more weight.

Plus, tractors were not that powerful, only around 120HP at most, and it was still possible to get the power to the ground in a 2WD configuration without a ridiculous amount of weight.

The only reason to splurge for a MFWD was if you had to slog through mud or deep snow.

Attitudes went largely unchanged as the tractors got more powerful. When you get into the 66 series, you can't get the power to the ground through just the rear wheels anymore, but the MFWD technology really hasn't changed much.

MFWD really didn't become practical until the Magnums, and by then we knew how much more efficient farming was when you don't compact the soil so badly, and all of the weight of the tractor is being used for traction.

MFWD tractors became popular here in rice country when the 88 series IH, the 94 series Case and the 50 series JD were introduced.