Which tractors are which? Who made who?

[5030]

CountryBoy:

Living where I do, I have a front row seat to be a spectator in the degredation of the American economy. I could go on forever about NAFTA, imported steel and exported jobs, but I'll be still, for now.

 

[dancce]

Don't worry about breaking my bubble-I am just looking at things the way they are today.
$150,000 houses and $40,000 vehicles are being bought and sold every day in this country and I don't believe our standard of living has deteriorated to the extent of those countrys who now have the manufacturing jobs.
The fact is, that the cost of goods and services here are geared to an economy with with a relatively high standard of living-no matter where the money is coming from.
I understand your point, that the US standard of living increased dramatically during the industrial revolution,but we found ourselves priced out of the market when technology and politics placed us in a world economy.

dancce

 

[HayDR]

When the US price of Steel is raised artificially to protect the inefficient steel industry companies, the John Deere's, NH, ETC. start producing away from the USA. The last steel tariffs hurt the domestic consumers that MFG here in the USA. It cost us jobs. Every time taxes & tariffs are raised it cost someone a job. There are plenty of small to medium size domestic steel mills that can compete in the US market and are currently do so. The big old companies like US Steel should be dismantled not protected. Every company is responsible for it's own bottom line, not the politicians and the public. Is it NOT my job to purchase and put fuel in your tractor, neither is it your job to purchase my products, customers purchases must be earned not forced to have only one choice. Sometimes a company dominates an industry or technology and then one has only one choice at that time but it does not mean others are not free to compete against them. Hence Microsoft, the government needs to leave them alone, someone some where challenges them every day. Microsoft does not win every battle, Freedom to win or lose.

 

[rtimgray]

Just found a book that I bought a long time ago, it was published by Motorbooks in 1994 (at least that's the copyright date), and the title of the book is "Modern American Farm Tractors".

It goes throught the evolution of several of the large equipment manufacturers. On one of the pages about White and Allis-Chalmers, there is a picture of the "White American 60". The caption reads: "Built in 1989 by the White-New Idea Farm Equipment Company of Coldwater, Ohio, the 60 hp diesel engine tractor was the smallest horsepower tractor built in North America in the 1980s."

Anybody know anything about these, or about other smaller horsepower tractors being made in the 80s?

Just thought it was interesting.

 

[Ledgemere Farm]

The only thing I remember about it was that White offered it in Oliver green, MM yellow, Cockshut red and, of course White's silver. It may have been a marketing ploy, but I like to think of it as a tribute to the companies that made White.

 

[Woodbeef]

Yup,the White"American Series" was the last of the under 90 pto hp utility tractors built in the US. Deere went totaly to Mannheim with the 50 series in 1982-83,Ford closed Romeo around 1984-85,and sourced from Basildon. Massey closed Detroit around 1982-83,and sourced from Banner Lane/world-wide. CIH was already sourcing from Doncaster,and Meltham. Deutz/Allis had been using German built Deutz tractors since 1986. I feel like I'm missing one though,but can not think of any others.........

 

[rcaretti]

It's not just manufacturing jobs (I believe its 37 straight months of job losses), it computer programming and other white collar jobs going too. India mostly.

I worked for a manufacturer in the early 90's making communications equipment. At that time we had a lot of people on the shop floor assembling equipment. I went back for a plant tour in the late 90's and it was shockingly different - robotics everywhere. Even that wasn't cheap enough I guess as it's all in Mexico now.

As you know, It's getting really tough to buy American, I look, and buy American when I can. Have you tried looking for American made clothing recently? It's either very hard to find or it's just not available.

As far as tractors go, I ended up purchasing a TC40D (thanks everyone - this resource was unbelievably helpful). At least it assembled in the US (Georgia). The tires were made in the USA (Titan - I believe), while the engine is a Shibaura. I also noticed some of the John Deere models were assembled here as well.

 

[slowrev]

My friends and myself like to buy 60's and 70's USA built tractors. Still lots of life in them, easy to fix ( usually) and we can buy 3 or 4 of them in good operating condition for what one new CUT costs.

 

[WilliamBos]

Hi,

I am one for "Made in Canda" and "Made in USA" but one of the reasons production has been moved over seas is the wages each worker is paid for building these tractors? Production Costs is what it boiled down to. And sadly, they can build overseas with the same quality parts and ship them here for less money, and we are still getting the same quality product!!

Strange how the Global Economy works, eh?

Will
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[predator500]

Here is maybe a different perspective on the "global economy" - I work for a company that builds assembly lines and such for many different areas of manufacturing. Do you know who are biggest buyers are right now? The Japanese. They are building plants in the US, employing US citizens for manufacturing, and supporting my engineering profession. They pay their bills on time, they attempt to help with problems that pop up during design processes, and they are professional. I wish the same could be said for a lot of American companies that we used to do business with. I just loved walking into an American manufacturing plant with a Union and seeing line workers doing a job that required no skill besides simple repetitive motion making $25 an hour (more than I currently make with a degree). Better yet was to hear these people COMPLAIN!!! I like the good ole "buy American" philosopy, but at some point you have to be realistic - WE shot ourselves in the foot - not foreign companies. From my perspective Unions did a lot to drive every bit of manufacturing out of the states and bring in foreign manufacturing that did not use Unions. Do you find it ironic that domestic companies go outside the US for manufacturing and foreign companies come inside the US for manufacturing? When you pay someone $25~$30 an hour for a task that someone making $6 an hour can do you are setting yourself up for a fall. Sorry this is off subject and a total rant, but I'm making a living off our "global economy" and paying taxes to keep our great country funded with that living so I don't see it as the end of the world.