oldtanker

Praying for the family that lost a baby. For your dog too Seth. Rick

I don't find it hard to believe. Back when it was still the soviet union they had mine laying equipment that allowed them to lay thousands of mines an hour. They ain't planting em by hand. Rick

I really like the looks of the 60 series. Was the first "modern" tractor I operted. I worked for old Willard. They had 3 560's the 826 and a turned around AC wih a loader. 2 of the 560's are still on the farm but no longet run. IIRC both have broken crank shafts. I was told by a local old school IH mechanic that wased caused by endless hours at dead idle running elevators and augers. It's about all they were used for after they got a 2nd larger tractor 970 Case. The Case wasn't there long and was replaced by a 1066. I've been trying to buy one of thise 2 560's from my brother in law sense I retired from the Army in 96. Rick

I think it had more to do the the Great Deprssion followed by WWII. Lot of them old farmers who made it out of the depression were pretty tight with money and refused to buy options like fenders. Brother in law and his dad bought a new 826. The only reason it had a cab was cause my BIL kicked in the extra money for it. Old Willard called it a waste of money. That is until the first time he was doing field work and got caught in a spring shower. Until he died they never bought another tractor without a cab. But fenders? They may have kept you cleaner but did nothing to aid in production. Saw a lot of IH tractors on dealers lots new from 71 to 76 and over half were open station. Came back from Germany in 78 and just about everything I saw new had a cab reguargless of brand. We even had neighbor who bought a new 656 in 71 or 72 open station gas because he wasn't paying extra for diesel or a cab. Rick

No not insignificant at all considering that tractors were a new thing. Lot of folks were still using horses clear up into the 50's. Rick

What's wrong with ackonwling what they did? I did say the Patio tractor didn't last long and it was a failed gimmic. I never commented on which one I thought was better. The JD's were a pain to work on. Never cared for them much. As far as sale numbers? IHC lead the way until later but giving credit where it's due JD started making a strong showing after the 60's. I know when I worked the combine circut in 73 there were basically 3 brands of bines out on the route. JD, MF and Gleaner. I also knew several farmers back them who ran IH tractors in front of IH plows and JD disks. Most of em would claim the Deere disk was better built. I don't care who you are if you are buying equipment. The brand that provides the best service after the sale is most likely going to be the leading seller in a given area. Here the CaseIH dealer has the habit of looking up a part and a month later you get your bill and they charged you for it. Call em ask and they tell you that they ordered it for you an the have it ready for pickup and yea we billed you for it when it came in. Never mind that you never said you wanted them to get that part. It's one of the Titan stores. I like the Antique Caterpillar Machinery Owners Club as far as atitude is concerned. They for the most parts like old Cat equipment but you can talk about any old construction equipment. Their thoughs are all of em contributed and deserve to be preserved. Rick

Yes the Patio series was aimed at suburban buyers so they could match with their home colors. The idea failed. They were shipped with no hood or seat just the white chassie. When sold the buyer pisked the color they wanted and the dealer installed the seat and hood then. Wheel Horse did order paint telling the manufacturer "don't match IH colors but get as close a possible". They didn't want a legal fight with IHC but they nthought the "close to IH red and cream" would help sell tractors to returning vets from the farm who would stay in the city instead of returning to the farm. And at the time IH was the biggest seller of tractors. I have not seen anything on how successful that idead was. Rick

Good question. Before we left NJ in 71 we had both a Cub dealer and JD in a very city area. Our church had a Cub but there were folks with JD's areound too. Rick

Yea I remember the Patio series. A tip for you guys. If you can find a Patio JD garden tractor cheap buy it and either flip it or part it out. Those are the holy grail to JD garden tractor collectors. Rick

I haven't been to my shop in months whi9ch is where the books are. Been busy fightig cancer. But I'm going to get out there later this week and I will see if I can find the lift info. Rick

THey made a Cat pedel dozer too.

Does pretty good. It's better than most skidsteers. But then I've got some work to do to it that should improve on that. Rick

I think so. Would only have to be sure you used the correct tensel strength steel I think. Rick

Don't see many Fendt tractors here yet. Closest dealer is considered to be somewhat of a jerk. Few years back my brother in law sent in his AC 8050 cause he spun a bearing. They told him he'd have to find a used crank for it because AGCO didn,t make them anymore. So he ask me to search on line for a good/regrindable crank. first place I looked was on AGCO's site. You guessed it! Crank was still available, new from AGCO. Meanwhile the dealer called the BIL and offered to give him a really bad trade deal if he bought someing new in the same size range or larger. Now if the Cat dealer would start carrying them I think with their service you would see more. 2 years after the rebuild the 8050 caught fire and insurance totaled it. When I contacted AGCO about the stunt that the dealer tried pulling the reply was "he sells a lot of new equipment". Rick

WOW! 😱 Kinda spectacular. Wonder how many people died in that? RIck