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If it was 1970...

O

olliekid

Member
lets just pretend its 1970-1975 and you are a farmer. looking back now and seeing how certain tractors and brands have worked out, what tractors would you buy?

personally i think id go with a variety of brands and tractors that proved themselves over the last 40 years.

-Oliver 550 -the old small tractor around the farm for the small jobs

-Massey Ferguson 165- the midsize tractor that gets lots of use. used for haying and maybe also on the drill.

-Oliver 1655- used to plant and also some tillage. also probably run the square baler. probably get the most use along with the 165

-Oliver 1850- it was a toss up between this and the JD 4020. a brute of a tractor, used for tillage. probably replaced or used for lighter tillage in the mid 70's by an international 1066.

-International 1066- probably have to trade in the 1850 to get it. Used for tillage and round baling. Probably turned up just a tad too!

What would you guys do?
 
Way before my time but I would go with the 1066. My dad and uncle always say how they use to drive a 1066 for their uncle (my great uncle)around the field all day. It was just sold out of the family a few years ago. Wish I would have known great uncle Joe was sellin it or I woulda bought it. Oh well
 
I would have bought a whole whack of what is it, JD4020 powershift? whatever that one that everyone buys up for way more money than they are worth now. I'd have rotated them and kept the hours low then sold em for more than I paid.
 
In 70 I would have been 16 and would have probably drove it to school if parents would have let me. I would have drove anything with wheels. Probably a ford 3000
 
I was thinking the same thing in 1970! and I was littler then too! I did do in the 1980's what I pipe dreamed about in the 70's. All Allis. Although I have come to respect and love Masseys, they weren't cheap back then, and didn't look like they 'kept up with the times'- but AC seemed to be 'cutting edge?' Maybe maybe not huh? I sold most of them-7, but in all honesty, every Allis I had over the years I keep tract of, freinds and relatives bought them all but one, and they all are still running and working and the no one ever sold one to someone else, and they couldn't be happier. so I guess I did something right...
 
In 1970 tobacco was in its good days here, We had two AC D15 tractors as New Holland made 2 row planters for them, but the most popular tractor was the IH Super A or 140.

Other than the D15s we had a John Deere (parts of it match a model 40 - it never had any decals and the hydraulics never worked and it wasnt 3 pt) two cubs and an AC Model B for cultivating. In 78 we got a 140 that I currently use. The AC B was given to a nearby farmer for parts when the local tractor dealer could not find parts to fix it. His had broken the axle near the spindle.
 
Well in the 70'S tractors were hard to come by and hardly any compacts appeared until the end.
My uncle ordered 2 new JD4230's one plain and the other with fwa and cab. As soon as they came in he was able to sell the plain one for more then he paid !
 
yeah i agree about the 4020's. i wouldve invested in about 4 or 5 and barely used them at all. then resold them over the last 5 years for about double what i bought them for.

they may drink a lot of fuel but those john deeres have a resale that nobody else can come close to.
 
powershift 870? neighbor has one and its sat out its whole life and
has all sorts of problems. but that happens to any tractor that isnt
maintained or stored inside.
 
In 1970 Dad had a Oliver super 77, tillage, planting, chopping corn, baling, a John Deere 50, cultivating, pick corn, rake hay, pull wagons and a Massey 135, cutting hay, clipping pastures, truck patch, haul manure etc. 220 hereford cows 700+ Hampshire ewes, 1000 leghorns and 500 Brown egg layers, sold truck patch produce, hay and ear corn, I was 17 and none of it seemed like work.
 
If it were 1970 on my family's farm, you might think you were still living in the 1950s.

In 1970 my grandfather continued to use his steel-wheeled Fordson Model F (it was paid for!). His father (my great-grandfather, already in his late 80s by then) worked with a Case DC and a Minneapolis-Moline R.

We still have the Fordson.
 
Check the Nebraska test results. Deere placed at least mid pack in fuel efficiency with the 4020.And had been a leader in fuel efficiency with many models.
 
maybe just a few of the models ive drove werent the best on fuel. my dads jd is better on fuel than the oliver and the massey. i have nothing against the deeres. i love operating the 55 series and the 20 series. great tractors, hands down.
 
I would have traded in my 1968 383 Barracuda for the 1970 Cuda convrtible with the 426 Hemi, my cousin and I test drove in Dallas. Would have cost me $2000 but I hated to give up the big "trunk" on that fast back 68.
Sadly I still have that 68 I bought new when Plymouth was flashng the hearts and saying something like "Win you over". The SAD part, I traded in my 64 Vette roadster I special ordered with the leather seats, and FI on the Barracuda. Car either side is worth tons, the 68 I kept zero.
 
Ya well when it comes to those Nebraska test's I've found that tractors use more fuel in New Mexico than they do in Nebraska somehow. Kinda like the sticker on a new car window. I guess at least the test provides a common baseline for comparing tractors. Sorta?
 
don't say not stored inside. Outsides don't burn down. Something that was a lemon its whole life is something not worth bothering with. Unless you are ready to do a complete tear down. Two for one sentence, first tractor was a 9N, never worked right, super lemon. got a WD45, father wondered who dropped this magical devise from heaven? Started when ya pulled the ring, had guts, live pto, remote line, light duty but usefull pipe loader, and get a 3 point kit for it, wow. The 9N was in the barn when it burned down, we sold it for 20 bucks more as iron than we paid for it years earlier. No one missed it at all. Like Maine? mentioned, people farmed with stuff from the 50's and 60's. In the 80's and 90's we bought the things we dreamed of in the 60's and 70's. What brings you to post such a question my son??? The 70's sucked. big time.
 
Well in 1970 dad had a 1955 Oliver Super 99 with a 6 cyl. gas engine,2 Oliver 88"s,2 Oliver 77"s 1 1936 Oliver 70 row crop,1 Ford 8N with a loader,Oh and a real old Oliver 28-50 on steel which got used up till about 1960 for belt work.I remember the old engine and belt pully drive got real loose so it was left in a shed never to run again in his lifetime.Myself I was farming and milking cows on my own place in 1970 and I had a pretty new AC D21D,a AC 190 gas,a AC D17 Gas and 2 AC WD 45"s.By 1972 I was out of the farming buisness and the Cows,Machinery and Tractors had new homes.
 
If it was 1970 tractors woulden't even be on my radar screen. About the only thing I remember about that year was a baby doll English teacher in a mini skirt, my 66 Muskrat & meeting the better half later on that year. I'm sure I got into trouble somehow but at least I can't remember it. lol
 
My 4020 averages 3.4 gallon per hour spread over pulling five bottom ih 550 plow a John Deere 100 chisel plow with 14 inch sweeps harrowing and drilling
 
Mom & Dad bought a horse farm in mid 70's. Came with a Ferguson TO-20. A great small tractor. They have theirs and I have one too. They bought a JD 2440 w/loader, too. Solid machine, spread manure, mowed & baled hay for years. I now have a JD 4010 & 4020 powershift. They work daily. American made quality lasts for decades not just years.
 
(quoted from post at 21:19:26 06/23/11) don't say not stored inside. Outsides don't burn down. Something that was a lemon its whole life is something not worth bothering with. Unless you are ready to do a complete tear down. Two for one sentence, first tractor was a 9N, never worked right, super lemon. got a WD45, father wondered who dropped this magical devise from heaven? Started when ya pulled the ring, had guts, live pto, remote line, light duty but usefull pipe loader, and get a 3 point kit for it, wow. The 9N was in the barn when it burned down, we sold it for 20 bucks more as iron than we paid for it years earlier. No one missed it at all. Like Maine? mentioned, people farmed with stuff from the 50's and 60's. In the 80's and 90's we bought the things we dreamed of in the 60's and 70's. What brings you to post such a question my son??? The 70's sucked. big time.
Click to expand...

Boy did you hit the nail on the head! Just how many farms folded in the late 70's and early 80's????? I got married in 73 and because of the already shrinking economy that my dad somehow saw coming had to leave the farm and spent some time in the Army....from 74-96. Dad was afraid of what was coming and refused to barrow money to expand the farm enough to support 2 families. Prices tanked and many farmers went out of business. I had to give up my 68 GTO in favor of a grocery getter. Traded a tractor for a tank. The tank was way more fun!!!! Dad was farming with an R JD and a AC CA right up till his health went south and he quit farming in 83.

Rick
 
Well, the tractors from the 70's are what I can afford to buy and use now, and of those the 4020 diesel side counsel if the one I prefer most for my needs. But, back then, if all I could afford was a 40 year old tractor, I have no idea what it would have been! Grandpa and dad started farming with the first tractor ever to be used on this farm ( all horses prior), and that was a 1940 Allis Chalmers RC. Dad tells some pretty interesting stories about what that little tractor could do, and also some depressing ones. Like never having enough money for a battery so always having to crank start it. And never being able to afford tire chains in the winter for moving snow and hauling firewood. The solution was to use the one log chain they had wherever it was most needed. Either wrapped around a spinning tire to get the tractor to move, or hooked to an 8ft piece of tree being drug up for firewood.
 
In this neck of the woods it was the 4020 or 856. My neighborhood was either red or green. about 20 miles south of me the tractor of choice then would have been a 190,200, or 7000,7020 Allis or 1750,1850 Oliver because of strong dealerships representing those brands. There were no Ford dealers in this area.

In the spring of 1970 I ran a 1256 for a custom operator and I was on top of the world. There was no cab on it but back then there weren't many cabs. Another neighbor had a brand new Deere 4520 with an air conditioned cab and I was jealous. For me personally I wanted a 4430 in the fall of 74 but there was a six month waiting line for one. Tried to get a 1066 but there was a long wait for that one too and I wanted to do fall tillage for the 75 crop. So I bought a new 1070 Case. Good tractor but this one turned out to be a lemmon so in 78 I tried to trade it for a 4440 but the Deere dealers around here weren't wild about trading for a Case so I traded for a new 1086 that I still have. Traded for the 1086 for $4000 less than the closest Deere bid and the 4440 and 1086 supposedly retailed for about the same price. The 4440 was $33000 and the 1086 was $32000 outright. That was the last tractor I bought new and probably will be for the rest of my farming career. Jim
 
sounds like you got a good deal with the 1086.

i guess im seeing the massey's didnt have too much love. i figured somebody would say a massey 1100 or a 165 or something?
 
In 1970 my dad bought a used 4020 and in 71 he bought a new 4320 to go along with it. My brother still uses both tractors. I think dad made a pretty good choice.
 
I'd go along with the 550,but the 1850 production ended in 68. Can we go up a year? I've kicked myself all over the place for not buying a 2-85 White back in the day. I'd be all over one like a chicken on a junebug right now if I could find one in excellent shape.
 
your dad would watch the Paris peace talks on TV and knew when the VietNam war ended, the economy would tank, like after every war. That's why both parties want these 'police actions' to continue. And europe needs one in Libya, I remember Margaret Thatcher saying the Falklands war would be good for the economy and unemployement, sure, if enough sailors drowned and tommies stopped a bullet huh? And the 73 oil embargo! He could tell looking at a gas pump where the world was going. I hate to think this is the 70's all over again. How @#$%^&* sad.... Poor Ollie wanted to know which 1970 era tractors were the coolest, and now we are off on a tangent! Sorry!
 
Microsoft wasn't around in 1970. It started in 1975, I don't think it went public until the mid 80's. Would have been a good choice then!!!
 
woulda bought a slightly used 730 deere diesel. worked for a guy down the road that had one and it sure beat the farmall h we had....
 
Hard decision. Would still go with the Ford 5000 row crop diesel, very easy on fuel. But uses generator instead of alternator and tach drive has been a constant problem.

Case 870 or 970 powershift instead of IH1066. Need dual pto and something easier on fuel. My old 1370 burns less fuel than the 1066, but it is 1000 pto only.

The Case 1370 and the 1066 start much easier than the Ford in extreme cold. The 1066 will start at freezing with no ether assist or plugged in. Will start a 0 degrees with ether, belwo that should be plugged in just to keep oil warm enough to lubricate on startup.

The Ford used glow plugs. What a joke.

Ether at any temp below freezing. DOUG
 
A 1970 International 826 gear. Dad bought one in 1996 and it is still the main hoss on the farm. Probably the most user friendly tractor on the planet. A Deere 4020 would be a good choice also.
 
For smaller tractors- MF 135 or 150, Ford 3000 or 4000 , JD 1520. (gas if needed to run alot in winter , otherwise diesel)
For mid size utility tractor - Ford 5000 ,MF 165/175
For tillage and heavy pto work- Oliver 1755, 1850,IH 826,856,966 or 1066 JD 4030 or 4320 or 4230 MF 1100 or 1130. This would be for a typical Northeast farm of that period . In reality most farmers here in 1970 were still running Farmall H and M's 460 560 etc JD A or 60 620 720 etc and may have had one newer tractor off my list . With the smaller farms of that era alot of 1940's - 1950's iron was used right into the 1980's .
 
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