NewToy said:
what type of work do you fella's do with those tractors?
John
Toy, these tractors are true small ag-utilities. As such, they are expected to do anything that needs to be done on a small farm.
I bought one a month ago and have about 25 hours on it. So far, these are the jobs I have done with it: cut brush and grass with a 5 ft. 285 Bushhog, harrowed up a fall garden with an old Dearborn 6 ft. harrow, "broke" the garden with a 1950's vintage Ford two-bottom plow, planted the garden with an old Pittsburg cultivator and Covington planters, sprayed herbicide on the garden with a modified ATV sprayer, loosened crusted soil in the garden with an old Dearborn rotary-hoe, and started sub-soiling a field with an old Dearborn single shank subsoiler.
I mention the age of some of the implements to illustrate that tractors like this have been doing jobs like these for going on 60 years now. All the old equipment I have was purchased new by my Father-in-law with a 640 Ford in 1956. He had purchased an 8N a year before, and he worked about 60 acres with the two tractors. When the Ford diesels in the thousand series became available, it wasn't unusual for a farmer to work upwards of 100 acres in row-crops (cotton, corn, and peanuts in this area) with a 3000 diesel and an old 8N or 600. My neighbor worked about 90 acres with a 600 and an 8N, later a 3000 and a 600, then a 3600 and the 600, and finally with a 3930 and and the 3600. He is in a nursing home now, but the 3930, the 3600, and the 600 are all still on the farm in working order.
In the 1950's, 60's, and early 70's my little agricultural community had a very aggressive Ford dealer, and in the middle 60's through the middle 80's, a good MF dealer. It has been over 20 years since either of these dealers sold a tractor, but there are literally hundreds of their tractors ranging from 8N's to 4000 Fords and 175 MF's running strong in my area.
To my knowledge, the Farmtrac 535 is the only new machine available that has the features of these old tractors. No frills, economical operation, ease of maintainance, and almost absolute reliability. At least I hope the 535 turns out like that.