Vintage tractor options for 3-bottom plow pulling

[scott_vt]

Some of my favorite 3-plow tractors of the 60's and 70's. Massey 165/255/265. Ford 4000/4600. Deere 2520/2030/2440. IH574. Allis Chalmers 170/175. Oliver 1550/1555. Personal favorites, MF165, Ford 4000.

Hey Bill,
Dont forget the Farmall M, oh sorry thats right you said 60's and 70's !

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Agreed.

Regarding USEABLE, my simpleminded idea is that older generally means simpler, i.e that a JD 2-hole Johnny Popper engine is simpler than something like the 3-cyl Perkins diesel on my MF-135. So if I found something like a JD 70 or JD 720 that needed engine work, I would have a fighting chance to do the repairs myself. However, older might also mean harder to find affordable spare parts.

In theory you're on the right track, but a few things need to be considered. Older tractors might have a magneto ignition or some other old school potential money pit. That's why I like 60's and 70's tractors. Just modern enough have reliable components yet old enough to be simple, durable, and CHEAP!

You won't find anything "simpler" than those Perkins powered Masseys.

 

[California]

Flusher, do you pick up copies of AgSource? It's a couple hundred pages of equipment classifieds, monthly, free at feed and pet food stores up and down the valley. (California's Central Valley).

I don't know much about this, but what I see in those classifieds that looks like a lot of cheap horsepower is 'White' brand tractors. They will probably never be classics. The ones I see listed look like they all came from big Valley agribusiness operations like cotton.

Does anyone know more about these?

 

[flusher]

Flusher, do you pick up copies of AgSource? It's a couple hundred pages of equipment classifieds, monthly, free at feed and pet food stores up and down the valley. (California's Central Valley).

I don't know much about this, but what I see in those classifieds that looks like a lot of cheap horsepower is 'White' brand tractors. They will probably never be classics. The ones I see listed look like they all came from big Valley agribusiness operations like cotton.

Does anyone know more about these?

CA: Thanks for the info.

I check the AgSource website each month. Lotsa big ag stuff there, but also some smaller tractors/implements that are more my speed.

I also check CA Ag Ads each Friday. Geared toward big ag stuff, but there are ads for smaller utility tractors and old iron occassionally. Lotsa stuff advertised there by owners in the Oregon hay country about 300-400 miles North of my place. Oregon is my backup if nothing pans out here in No. CA.

 

[flusher]

Flusher, do you pick up copies of AgSource? It's a couple hundred pages of equipment classifieds, monthly, free at feed and pet food stores up and down the valley. (California's Central Valley).

I don't know much about this, but what I see in those classifieds that looks like a lot of cheap horsepower is 'White' brand tractors. They will probably never be classics. The ones I see listed look like they all came from big Valley agribusiness operations like cotton.

Does anyone know more about these?

Don't know about White's. Need to get educated on them.

BTW: I see interesting tractors come to market regularly from the Big Central Valley. I've been told to be careful of these because they're generally run very hard under pretty adverse (i.e. very dusty) conditions and could be pretty worn out by the time they hit the resale market.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Don't know about White's. Need to get educated on them.

BTW: I see interesting tractors come to market regularly from the Big Central Valley. I've been told to be careful of these because they're generally run very hard under pretty adverse (i.e. very dusty) conditions and could be pretty worn out by the time they hit the resale market.

Oliver, Minneapolis Moline, and Cockshut were owned by White. Whites were essentially Olivers. White finally became part of AGCO.

 

[diyDave]

Don't forget Allis D-14's and D15's, both will pull a 3 bottom 14" plow with no trouble! Allis Chalmers tractors had a excellent draft control system called the traction booster that would pick up the plow a little, if you hit a sticky spot. Some models also had the option of knocking the powershift clutch into neutral, if you hit a rock that was going to stop you dead.

 

[billbill1]

Grandpa always pulled 2 plows with the D14 and 3 plows with the WD45, I guess the D14 might have pulled 3?

 

[LAWALLSTRACTOR]

Robert,
I have a 1949 Allis Chalmers WD wide front, that I restored and did some tractor pulling with. I whish I knew how to post some pictures of it, and by the way I haven't had a place to store it this year so it is sitting outside my business and last night sombody tried to steal it. Luckily the city police patrolled by and scared them away. The police left me a note and the tractor had been moved.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Wow, you shop is in a rough neighborhood if they are trying to steal a WD.

There are certain older tractors that I have always been fond of. Allis Chalmers letter series has been one of them and I would love to restore my B some day. I even have the cultivator system for it. The cultivators are a fun/sad story, I bought it for $10 at a local auction, put it on ebay and they sold for $75 (not a bad investement), the fellow who bought it then had health problems and couldn't come pick it up and told me to resell it. I offered to refund his money but he refused and told me to just use it to spoil my daughter. So I have not tried and don't plan on selling the cultivators again and if the fellow decides he wants them sometime they are his (well, unless I restore them and hook them up to my B). This was well over a year ago.