Old parts tractors??? Many left???

JD Seller · Mar 2, 2014

I saw the post below about a F-20 for $450. It was just in fence row condition. That got me to wondering how many of these old tractors will be left for long. The high scrap price coupled with larger farms clearing everything out. So will there be many fence row finds in the future???

I drive around looking for that type of stuff and there is very little of it left here in Iowa.

There is a finite amount of this stuff left. The salvage yards with old tractors are getting fewer and fewer. So where will a fellow get the old parts for restoring many of these tractors in the future???

I know the old average stuff is lossing people that are interested. The main stream collectors are moving on to newer stuff.

I enjoy going to show and seeing an F-12 or F-20/30. I really could careless about a IH 706/806 or JD 3010/JD 4020. I farm with those type of tractors so they hold little interest at shows to me.

Will we have many of these fence row tractors in the future??? Not going to be many JD 8000 series or CIH Magnum tractors in the fence rows of the future.

Remember that old F-20 was someone's "BIG" tractor when it was new. So what will the future tractor look like in a hundred years???

Billy NY · Mar 2, 2014

Not only that, you hear about stashes of N.O.S parts going to the scrapper too. Even 3 point implements, smaller ones, though they are or have gained popularity with other uses, once you have that old tractor ready, you won't be able to find useful implements or they just may not be so common, or you will be building your own. What I hate is seeing quality items being scrapped, when someone else some place else could use it, and that it represents to once great industrial and manufacturing the U.S, stood for. Now anyone can do as they like, but some of the items sent to scrap sure could be put to use, but that's how it goes, nice thing is that there are some people who watch out for things and get some of it back for whatever purpose, it helps and is nice to know. I guess with the way things are going, one had best get done with what they want to restore, overhaul or whatever, sooner the better, there is a finite amount of it for sure, thought this country was saturated with old iron, old trucks and things, there's been a significant increase in scrap value, easy money if you can get it on a truck or trailer, minus draining oils, cutting to size like to "prepared" etc.

John_PA · Mar 2, 2014

I hate to say it, but, the number of people who will want one of those tractors in the future is also decreasing. Those who used that type of tractor back in that time period, are in their 60-100's. Even someone in their 50's who used one would have been born in the early 1960's, late 50's. Chances are, in 30 years, the number of people who used that tractor will be just as scarce as the tractors, themselves.

My dad had an F-20. He also had a WC, a WD, Super MD. I have no desire to own any, unless it was the same serial number that he had. I'm nostalgic about the 1970's tractors to a point. Looking at the prices of the JD 4020 restored, and other tractor from that time period, you can see a shift already beginning. I didn't see it but, heard about a Farmall 1206 that sold in excellent shape for $22,000.

I can imagine that is the way things are going to be.

Want to talk about rare? Try to find a 1977 Toyota Corolla! No body saved those things! (not that I would, either!)

Brent Zappe · Mar 2, 2014

At one time I grew up in a town that was big on fariming. Now we are just on very big town you would think I could find old tractors just seting around. No way there all hard to find.I find out that they all our in some body eles name and just seting there. People I live around they claim that they farm just because they have an old farm tractor in there yard. They rust away where I live not scraped.

Janicholson · Mar 2, 2014

On our Holliday drive through MN, SD, NE, WY, CO, WY and back a different way, I saw the future of old tractors, and it is good. Way more Fence row tractors and Fields of tonnage (some 30 to 50 acres) filled with desirable iron. Not too many combines, but some. WY was probably least populated, but we only transited the SE corner where ranching is reality. Jim

robgIN · Mar 2, 2014

the current tractors, like cars and trucks , are going to be at the mercy of their electronics, so much like our computers, after so many years they are no longer supported, same thing happening with cars and trucks parts are no longer being supplied . So it is likely that you could have a $300,000 tractor sitting in a junkyard in 20 years because no one makes the PCM it needs anymore . The old mechanical systems can go on forever, we still have steam engines running. but the computer controlled stuff will have a much more finite lifespan I think. I would love to see the look on the face of one of the designers of say the original Farmalls , to see one still running next to one of todays tractors. They didn't expect them to last 10 years back then. Many of them still running. They should be very proud of their hard work. But to your original point, scrap prices will probably determine how long some of us will have access to parts.

Mike M · Mar 2, 2014

Is that like the corrolla in the tv comerical? Those sure
looked alot better then any of the ones built afterward
featured in the comerical.
all of the new cars and trucks are ugly.

MN Scott · Mar 2, 2014

I think there is alot more out there than one might think. What is visible from the road is often what gets cleaned up because scrap dealers see it and make a offer. I know of several stashes of old machinery in the area not visible from the road. Maybe an exception because we have a lot of rough hilly land not usable for anything but pasture so things get parked outa site outa mind.

Ultradog MN · Mar 2, 2014

They say that interest in old iron has already peaked. Us baby boomers were the ones who had a soft spot for them because we drove them as kids or gramps or dad had one and we were affluent enough to restore them.
But they don't have much of a purpose after all.
Sure there are some that get used but a lot of them are just ornaments.
So as us baby boomers age and pass on there wont be as much interest in them as before.
Sure there will always be guys interested in them.
But it will make a lot more economic sense to re-restore one than start with a stuck hulk like the old F12 you refer to in the photo.

larry@stinescorner · Mar 2, 2014

my nephew was at the scrap yard when a guy pulled in with a tractor trailer,an old D 8 Dozer on the trailer ,running,the guy drove it off the trailer scrapped it,,YOU might ask why didnt he buy it,but I Think youll know why if you remember his collection? lol

donjr · Mar 2, 2014

Not only that, but as someone said below, how many are going to be sitting in 20 years because Mother Deere or Uncle Case no longer makes the control card for the tranny, and the plastic has sun bleached and fallen off the cab? There were probably fifty of the 'old' tractors built for every one of the behemoths of today, and at the rate that things are going, tomorrow's tractor will look something like a big turtle that navigates the field according to where the GPS tells it to go and not need fossil fuels, but plug itself into it's fuel source when it's memory tells it to. I don't really think I want to see that day.....

MN Scott · Mar 2, 2014

I had a CIH 5230 Maxxum, 1994 model. About 6 years ago the trans controller was already NLA from CIH. Only options were to find a used one or send it out to a rebuilder in Canada and wait for 2 to 4 weeks. Decent tractor but when I can no longer get parts its time to be someone else's problem. Replaced it with a Deere 7230.

ss55 · Mar 2, 2014

I like the old stuff, but after looking at the same models for 20 years, now-a-days I enjoy the newer 60's, 70's and 80's stuff more. The pre-1920's tractors are the most varied and interesting, but they are also the most rare and expensive. It's hard to say there is a shortage of 1930's and 40's fence row tractors when they rarely sell for more than two times their scrap metal value.

Demand for those 1930's tractors will probably continue to fall faster than the supply will. As the current collectors of pre-WW2 tractors ages, there will be an increasing supply of those tractors coming up for sale over the next 20 years. Many of those collected tractors are already restored or they are nearly complete in good restorable condition. It is hard for most people to justify spending $5,000 to $10,000+ to restore a fence row tractor in bad condition when complete easily restorable tractors are readily available that can be restored for less than 1/2 the total cost compared to restoring a fence row tractor. Some of those fence row tractors are so far gone they don't even make good yard art, to me it's OK to let those go.

RBnSC · Mar 2, 2014

This is Grandads F12 He bought it brand new. Hasn't run since before I was born. We enjoy the 100 series Fords and 3020 to 4320 JD's that's is what we grew up with and know how to work on. Parts are hard to come by because rust has gotten the ones around here.
Ron

Anonymous-0 · Mar 2, 2014

In some localities, zoning laws are restrictive enough that, if someone complains, a fencerow tractor can be "forced" to disappear. Those kinds of laws have also contributed to the number of vintage tractors--and vintage cars and trucks--being scrapped.

Billy NY · Mar 2, 2014

Hi Larry! Yes isn't it a rock in hard place, this old iron, so many of us appreciate the old equipment and its potentially useful secondary life in obsolescence, so much so, guys like your nephew end up with a darned collection of it, which is fine in my book LOL ! Hey I'm no angel either, have a few things in the yard, but I am disciplined enough to not add to it LOL, well that and if I was working making the money I used to... LOL now maybe that is a good thing, I sure have enough to fix and repair now anyway LOL !

An old tired D8 can be a huge lunker to own, outfit probably had to dispose of it, I've seen yards full of idled and old caterpillar equipment, down your way and around here, sitting for 20-30 years or more, scrap prices must not have been enough incentive, like they have been in recent times.

Well here's another subject for your theme night, Best Scrap Yard Find or Save, and Most Shameful Item You Have Seen Being Scrapped, or something along those lines, I like the first one best, second one can be a downer, but.... interesting stories may arise from either !

Hey in 1 week the clock goes ahead, and before you know it..... tillage and garden time !!!!!

Alan K · Mar 2, 2014

Very good points. I don't think a lot of tractors in the future will end up in fence rows as Im betting they will more than likely be scrapped as they aren't built for years of service like previous ones were and I don't doubt the fences are going to disappear as well. Its a sad day to think of that happening after all of the people who built the country on what little they had.

jm. · Mar 2, 2014

Several things contribute to the abundance of old tractors in rural Tennessee. First this are was small farms and very conservative folks. So tractors were held longer and even when they quit running they did not get sold. Scrap prices have got the ones in sight of the road but still more old Ms and Hs in these parts than collectors will ever restore. Like the other poster says collectors now want something newer. A 57 chevey will bring more than a T model because the collector can remember the 57 chevey. Sign of the times.

rrlund · Mar 2, 2014

You guys just didn't sell enough Oliver tractors down there though Jerry. Good place to look for Oliver walking plows,but a guy could go broke driving around looking for tractors. lol

Traditional Farmer · Mar 2, 2014

I have friends that run two different junkyards and you would not believe the good farm equipment that is hauled and sold as scrap.Thankfully both these fellows set the good stuff aside and sell it to people like me.

jm. · Mar 2, 2014

Did not sell enough is an under statement. I remember one guy trying oliver about 1956 went broke in 2 years. To this date this area is just void of olivers. When one does show up at auction usually goes cheap. I heard one time that the county I live in sold more ih tractors per Person in the year 1952 than any county in the us then by 1962 it had about the same thing with ACs. For some reason John Deer was never real strong in this area.

redforlife · Mar 2, 2014

modern day tractors aren"t made to last like the ones of the pre-1950"s. many of those early tractors were purchased by their owners and then were kept for the remainder of their lives. that kind of trend, is another thing we aren"t seeing today. modern day farmers seem to strive to keep up with the times and pretty much run fairly new equipment. partly because of keeping up with technology which has become crucially important in this modern age of farming. it wasnt quit that critical to do that, say before 1970 or so.

Spook · Mar 2, 2014

I was offered a massive old bulldozer years ago. It had a winch on it, hadn't been started for 30 years or more. It was a Cat, but it was huge, much bigger than ones I see around here. Guy bought the property, just wanted it gone.

Old parts tractors??? Many left???

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