450vs560

[Big Bud guy]

2 minutes ago, 766 Man said:

  Just about everything in the engine other than the block.  The block was only minimally different than what was used in cars and light trucks but could be made on the same production line.  The radiator with minimal change.  Clutch and brake shoes.  1 st and 2nd gear sets in the transmission.  The N series was carefully crafted by Ford to use as many pre-existing parts as possible from the automotive division and the directive originated with old Henry himself.  This allowed the 9N to debut at 595 dollars list price which is almost 200 dollars less than what the Farmall H did.  But the H could do things the 9N could not do.

Horsepower and engine wise a 9n is the same as a Farmall A.  Blame ford/fergie for advertising the 9n as a full 2 plow tractor like the H.  

[766 Man]

2 minutes ago, Big Bud guy said:

Horsepower and engine wise a 9n is the same as a Farmall A.  Blame ford/fergie for advertising the 9n as a full 2 plow tractor like the H.  

  Ford was greedier than that.  Pretty sure I saw Ford promotional material that said a 9N could match the acres plowed per hour of a M but on less fuel and less initial cost.  Dad's father heard that pitch when he was looking for a tractor in the fall of 1941.  But in the end the Ford pitch did not matter as grandpa knew that a 9N was not going to pull a 100 bushel manure spreader or 1 row corn picker through any amount of mud or up a slight hill.  

[hillman]

46 minutes ago, Binderoid said:

What parts are in the N series  from  automotive  line? 

The loose nut behind the steering wheel🤔

[MT Matt]

1 hour ago, DT Fan said:

Isn't the title of this thread 450 vs 560? And now it's all about Deere, again!

Yep, topic got ran right off the rails!  Must be winter time…. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[MT Matt]

1 hour ago, DT Fan said:

 

[MT Matt]

1 hour ago, DT Fan said:

 

[766 Man]

1 minute ago, hillman said:

The loose nut behind the steering wheel🤔

  Come on, Hillman.  This has been written about a fair amount if you do not believe me.  

[hillman]

On 12/16/2025 at 2:05 PM, Drysleeves said:

Essentially the 656 was the successor to the 560.

I agree 

The 656 was promoted as a 4-5 plow tractor which IMHO is a more reasonable statement 

[hillman]

1 minute ago, 766 Man said:

  Come on, Hillman.  This has been written about a fair amount if you do not believe me.  

You really need to work on a sense of humor😐

[Big Bud guy]

9 minutes ago, 766 Man said:

  Ford was greedier than that.  Pretty sure I saw Ford promotional material that said a 9N could match the acres plowed per hour of a M but on less fuel and less initial cost.  Dad's father heard that pitch when he was looking for a tractor in the fall of 1941.  But in the end the Ford pitch did not matter as grandpa knew that a 9N was not going to pull a 100 bushel manure spreader or 1 row corn picker through any amount of mud or up a slight hill.  

My Ford promo material advertises they are cheap enough you could buy two of them compared to one big tractor.  An N series should be compared to a Farmall A , AC B, or JD H if you disregard the promo material. 

[766 Man]

3 minutes ago, Big Bud guy said:

My Ford promo material advertises they are cheap enough you could buy two of them compared to one big tractor.  I always a N series should be compared to a Farmall A , AC B, or JD H if you disregard the promo material. 

  At 595 per tractor a farmer probably could get two 9N's for the cost of the M and no doubt some farmers did that.  It seems to me that the price gap closed considerably by the time the 8N and M finished production during the 1950's.  

[Big Bud guy]

Just now, 766 Man said:

  At 595 per tractor a farmer probably could get two 9N's for the cost of the M and no doubt some farmers did that.  It seems to me that the price gap closed considerably by the time the 8N and M finished production during the 1950's.  

This is from 8n brochure 

[lotsaIHCs]

10 hours ago, MacAR said:

Good, I'm glad I'm not the only one that remembers it.  I just wish I could find it again! 

It's still a good story, even you have to admit that. 

Yea, a whole 2.16 HP.... 

I think I'd sacrifice two horsepower for a foot clutch and all around more comfortable tractor to operate. 

And you wouldn't have to listen to that gawd awful putt putt putt all day. I don't know about anywhere else, but in ND I'd bet there are 5 times as many farms that still have an H, M Hundred or 50 series in use compared to all 2 cyl. poppers combined. I tried a JD 60 with an F10 Farmhand. What a pos for a loader tractor. I  about needed 3 arms to run the loader, hand clutch and steering.

[hillman]

[OFFTHEFARM]

9 minutes ago, lotsaIHCs said:

And you wouldn't have to listen to that gawd awful putt putt putt all day. I don't know about anywhere else, but in ND I'd bet there are 5 times as many farms that still have an H, M Hundred or 50 series in use compared to all 2 cyl. poppers combined. I tried a JD 60 with an F10 Farmhand. What a pos for a loader tractor. I  about needed 3 arms to run the loader, hand clutch and steering.

Old neighbor used to say the lead engineer on the 2 cylinders must have been an octopus if he thought you could run a loader on one and like it. He was a diehard green man too.

[Deemston Bob]

I personally fall asleep at night sometimes listening to the sound of an old D282… so 560d

[hillman]

2 hours ago, Deemston Bob said:

I personally fall asleep at night sometimes listening to the sound of an old D282… so 560d

I once was working on my 656 and noticed  my dairy farmer neighbor leaning on the fence for a while. Seemed like he wanted to talk so  i  stopped close by and asked him what's up. He said "nothing I was just listening to that old tractor"

[MacAR]

1 hour ago, lotsaIHCs said:

And you wouldn't have to listen to that gawd awful putt putt putt all day. I don't know about anywhere else, but in ND I'd bet there are 5 times as many farms that still have an H, M Hundred or 50 series in use compared to all 2 cyl. poppers combined. I tried a JD 60 with an F10 Farmhand. What a pos for a loader tractor. I  about needed 3 arms to run the loader, hand clutch and steering.

Amen! 

You can look around my area, and see a lot of old green tractors from the new gens on up still working. I have a neighbor that makes hay with a 3020 propane  and 4010 diesel. But you will rarely if ever see a putt putt outside of a parade or show. On the other hand, there are still a lot of H and M series tractors still hauling manure and firewood and doing all the odd jobs that the more modern machines are too big and cumbersome for. 

[IH enthusiast]

In our area I'm about the only one running an M in the field our county and area is 90% green but red is starting to pop up.

[Dirt_Floor_Poor]

I see as many two cylinders working as letter series Farmalls, 0. Chore tractors here are 200 hp. 

[lotsaIHCs]

18 minutes ago, Dirt_Floor_Poor said:

I see as many two cylinders working as letter series Farmalls, 0. Chore tractors here are 200 hp. 

Yeah a chore tractor here is mfwd and 200 hp too. But many farms still have a working letter or hundred.  The last 2 working 2 cylinders near me haven't been used in years. One was last used about 15 years ago and the other was about 5 years ago. There are a few parade poppers around but none that I know of that a guy could jump on and rake hay or push snow like a lot of Ms and 400s around here.

[Dirt_Floor_Poor]

2 minutes ago, lotsaIHCs said:

Yeah a chore tractor here is mfwd and 200 hp too. But many farms still have a working letter or hundred.  The last 2 working 2 cylinders near me haven't been used in years. One was last used about 15 years ago and the other was about 5 years ago. There are a few parade poppers around but none that I know of that a guy could jump on and rake hay or push snow like a lot of Ms and 400s around here.

I’ve got some two cylinders I still use, but I know it’s not common. I have been loading corn on trucks with an 8N driving the auger too. They are all family tractors. Anything older than an 06 doing work here is rare. There’s a lot of 806s on grain vacs.  

[MacAR]

31 minutes ago, Dirt_Floor_Poor said:

I see as many two cylinders working as letter series Farmalls, 0. Chore tractors here are 200 hp. 

Different areas I guess... a 200hp tractor in this area is quite uncommon. Most are between 70 and 100hp for the larger guys. Small guys like me run in the 40 to 60hp range. But most of the guys around here are feeding cattle and making hay, not row-cropping. I can think of several letter series Farmalls, x000 series Fords, and even a few Allis D-series tractors still working on farms in this county doing jobs like cutting and raking hay, mowing pastures, hauling firewood, and a hundred other odd jobs. There's a guy up the road from me that does all his pasture mowing with an open station 1456 and a 20' Shulte cutter. He has a 40 or 50 series cab Deere sitting next to it, but prefers the IH for that job. Same guy also feeds every day with an 1850 Oliver, which is the only one I know of in the area. The only N series Fords I see still working around here are the blow-ins that come here, buy a 10 acre "ranch" and need a tractor to work it.... 

[lotsaIHCs]

1 minute ago, Dirt_Floor_Poor said:

I’ve got some two cylinders I still use, but I know it’s not common. I have been loading corn on trucks with an 8N driving the auger too. They are all family tractors. Anything older than an 06 doing work here is rare. There’s a lot of 806s on grain vacs.  

Even an 06, 56, 66 or 86 being used for farming is getting rare around me. They are still being used for moving snow and chores like that. A lot of those are owned by people like me who live on the farm but rent the land out. We just keep a few old ones around to dig out after a storm. I have 3 working Ms, my 1066 and my Hydro 70. My neighbor did use his uncle's 1206 on the 2 row corn picker a few years ago.  But he only farms enough to grow feed for his cattle. He's more rancher than farmer.

[Big Bud guy]

1 hour ago, Dirt_Floor_Poor said:

I see as many two cylinders working as letter series Farmalls, 0. Chore tractors here are 200 hp. 

Same here.  Nobody around here uses any tractors of that vintage for serious work.  Raking a 5 acre field behind house with grandpas tractor for sentimental reasons doesn't count in my book either.  He!! I could do that if I wanted to.  Plus you don't have go much over a decade newer then M to get a tractor 10 times more user friendly and handier.