just curious.

I have a 48 H and I love Farmalls. I have friends that swear by John Deere. Are the Green ones just as good? I am not trying to cause a huge row I mean this seriously. I have no prejudice against any machinery.

They all have their good and bad points. I think the new generation JD were one of the best series ever built. Personally I like the smoothness of a 4 or 6 cylinder engine.

I have all brands, so no bias here.

Depends on what you grew up with. My dad had Farmalls, in retirement that is what I have. I have no objection to JD at all except the JD people seem to be more vocal. All tractors served their purpose.

I just enjoy old machinery. I have never understood all of the rivalry. We are members of the same special tribe of people we should support one another. I have been blessed to meet some exceptional people in this hobby.

Like CNKS says, it depends what you grew up with. It was Farmall for me; I still much prefer them today.

Incidentally I still operate early 50's era Farmall, JD, Case and MM tractors on a regular basis. I find the green ones somewhat cumbersome - the ergonomics are just wrong for me. The Case and MM's are better. But only the Farmall's feel "right" to me.

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However I have several "green" friends who feel the same about their 2 cylinder tractors. Both Farmall and JD's have advantages and disavantages. Also all perform as their designers intended. So it really boils down to personal preference.

Here in the UK a good friend of mine still hoes 150 acres of sugerbeet every year with a 1942John Deere BN with a mid mounted hoe. 10 years ago I bought a 1945 Farmall H wide front with a IH mid mounted hoe and after my friend drove it his remark was what have I been missing all these years. He is now looking for one but most Hs came into the UK with wide fronts, Just a few single front wheel ones went down the Lincolnshire fens for potato work. MJ

I got into farmalls because I had an Allis C and was looking to sell it when I was offered a Farmall H in trade. I had been looking for a bigger tractor to pull the baler and haybine and the big log wagon. I keep an eye on local prices and it seems that at least around here an H is about the cheapest tractor in its size class and parts are very cheap for them. John Deere seems to be a bit higher at least locally, but I do like the sound of the two cylinder engines. For getting the most work done for the least purchase cost I think the Farmalls are best.
Zach

I have always said take an A JD and an M with the same plow run the A first for half a day then the M and see which one you would sooner use.

They are different approaches to the same problem. Both were succesful and kept families fed and farmers in business.

Farmall was ahead on technology. When the H came out it had precision insert bearings and a quench type combustion chamber. Deere did not get bearings until after the War and the combustion chamber with the 20 series.

The Deere is arranged so all the shafts are parallel, which is more mechanically efficient, at least on paper.

If you are trying to run a loader, the hand clutch can be a pain.

My observation is that a worn out neglected Farmall will run better than a worn out neglected 2 cylinder. The engine is more exposed on the Deere and when abandoned outside they're more vulnerable to water getting in and sitting in the cylinders. A maintained 2 cylinder with a good ignition should pop off just as well as the Farmall.

I like the 2 cylinder sound, probably cause Dad had one when I was real little.

Deere has mastered Mass Marketing and merchandising and you see lots of "nostalgic" type merchandise with their logo so lots of non farm people are constantly exposed to the Deere brand, just like Coke and Holley carburetors.

As a last note, when I've talked to the old guys in this area, the ones who grew up subsistence farming, they tend to not be fond of Deere at all.
Instead of "Poppin Johnny" I hear "Poppin Jack___". One of my Grandfathers, who grew up as a share-cropper said you had to have two, one to pull start the other one with. The other Grandfather, who farmed his whole life had almost all IH stuff.

Forgot to include this in my rambling post:

At the tractor shows around here you see mostly fixed up and restored Deere tractors. However, while on your drive to and from the show you will spot same vintage IH tractors still in the field doing work.

Don't forget the JD's can end up with all fluids in the rear ends. The the loose flywheels and the bent shaft in thr tranny that is vert hard to remove.

well, they all made great eqipment and they all made JUNK!!!! My feelings are to each his/her own. I have red ones,flambue red ones and orange ones. I like them all dont matter if they are red orange green blue yellow or orange. Each one hs there own little niche. I grew up red Dad worked in the IH dealership so I heard how great they were and how bad the green ones were . Grandpa farmed with the m all over the span of 60 yrs. farming. I have run mainly green in the last 20 yrs working on differant farms.

The town I grew up near was rural but only about 6 families really made their living entirely off the farm (and two of those had wives who taught school) everyone else was part timers or hobby farmers like us. I used to work hay for one of the full timers who lived about a mile down the road, coincidentally his late brother had lived on an 80 acre farm next to us. One day after the hay was in we where talking, he had 5 or 6 Fergusons, a Farmall H and an old Case on steel I never saw run the last 15 years I was at home. We got to talking about his brother and how when they were younger they farmed together. He reminisced about how his brother had John Deeres, he admitted he used to have them to but then mumbled something about a John Deere A with a mounted potato digger and a bad shoulder from the darn thing. He finishes the story with "yep my brother would brag how at the end of the day he and his John Deere always got a little more done then I did with my Fergusons, well maybe he did but I didn't have to get off my tractor and crawl to the house like he did." Buy the way when the kids left my folks started getting rid of their equipment, The neighbor's son (former employer's nephew) somehow managed to acquire our Farmall H and Super M, real world he thought they ran cheaper then the John Deeres left to him by his dad.

We had a John Deere A (late styled) their were some things it was better at then our Farmalls because of the 6 speed transmission but if we were working the tractors hard the A would use 1/2 again as much fuel as the A. Once or twice Dad, a brother and me would work fields for corn with the Super M and John Deere on plows and the H on the disc, 1/2 the fuel for both Farmalls, the other half for the Deere. And that was the Super M pulling 3-14's, the A 2-16's and the H on a 8 or 10' Dearborn Disc.

I think what as popular in your area depended on which dealer was best for service and making deals. We were lucky where I grew up that both the JD and IH dealers were good reliable honest people and had good service and parts departments.
Dad had both JD and IH and no other brands. For years his "bigger" tractors were JD, B, A and 60s and small ones were IH, Cub, C, Super C. He sold out at one time, but got the farm back when the buyer faulted several times on the land contract and then he bought an IH H (which he did not like at all) and later a 460, but even when he didn't have the farm he always had a C or Super C. I had the opportunity over the years of using [u:6bdd1e8470]many[/u:6bdd1e8470] different tractors and they pretty much all had things I liked and dis-liked about them.

I grew up with both and don't remember a whole lot of difference as far as getting the job done.

I have gotten back into them as a hobby and chose IH simply because they are cheaper initially and parts also. A rough deere seems to bring 1500-2000 and a comparable IH will be half that.

I have IH Super C's Super H's and a 300.

I recently bought a JD 60 and you had better be paying attention and remember that it has a hand clutch. Also the brakes pedal positions suck. They're on opposite sides of the operators plat form. Even with the seat all the way back, my long legs have an issue getting on both of them very quickly.

i have one green, two reds, one gray, one white and blue, one yellow, one green track, how can one person say they like just one brand,,,lol

Ive got 3 Farmalls,1 IH,1 Case,1 Ford now,but I grew up farming with Dad on 1800 and 1850 Olivers and 4010,4020,4430,4440 John Deeres,1066 and 1086 IH.. Ive farmed with Allis Chalmers a little and been around larger Fords some.I like IH and Deere best,but they built turds as well.I do really want another 4010 or 4020 Diesel someday soon.Love IH,BUT never had too replace a clutch or TA in any of our old Deeres,but my 1086 IH uses about half the fuel of my last 4430 and does the same work.

iVE GOT A NARROW FRONT END iD GIVE HIM IF HE WAS HERE

I personally dont like the way JD's shift. I've driven a wide range of different JD's, all gas jobs. I dont remember if I ever jumped on a diesel before but I might have in my way younger years while farming tobacco.
The one thing I clearly remember is hating the way the JD's shifted. You couldn't shift on the fly, and it always seemed to be a pain getting them into gear.
I recently drove a 420 for a festival we had in town. Thing drove nice but again, the shifting was a pain. It was more difficult to find a gear and the shifter came up and went to the right....dont know why they didnt just make it come straight up...
The farmalls seem easier and as long as your dont cram the shifter they shift easily on the fly.

I don't know if it's just this area (southern Michigan/northern Ohio) but you can drive down a country road and spot a Farmall sitting out (still being used) on 10 different farms for every 1 JD you see sitting out still being used.

im a farmall guy i worked a jd4030 i loved it controls rite at your hands easy on fuel very comfortable drove a jd 40 hate it

but in neck of the woods in nw ohio for miles I have the only red. My friends are all green. Yes I did bring one home for him but thought it would be the last one. lol. I have 2 red and there are at least nine nest to me. Good thing about the guy across the street wants an allis,

When we moved here most everything was red, sure there were a few AC, JD, and other brands but mostly red. The local JD dealer had told customers that he didn't stock much in parts cause during the busy seasons a farmer was more apt to buy something new if he had to get crops in or our and something was broke. He passed while I was in Germany the 1st time. A dealer for another town bought out the widow and when I returned in 78 almost everything was green as far as newer stuff was concerned. IH had pizzed off the local farmers by shutting down the small dealers and they had to go further for parts.

Rick

What "IH" fan said below. It's all related to the dealers in that spwcific area at that time. Beyond that, what do you like better? Ford, Chevy/GMC or Dodge?

I've used Farmall letter series, JD letter and number series, lots of time on a Massey 44 and have spent time on Ford N's.

As to the original point of the post, they each had their good points and not-so-good points. But for the times, the Farmalls and JD's wwere great machines and still are. Around here, probably just slightly more Farmalls still doing useful things then JD's but that again goes back to what I said earlier. There were three strong Farmall dealers in the area and only one JD dealer and he was a good one. Has nothing in the world to do with the quality of the machines.