Rare tractors……..

[chevenstein]

2 hours ago, AmericanClassic said:

Its still... kinda stock. Its got an original federal rear from a slightly smaller truck for the better gearing and 2 speed. Power plant is a ve pump 12 valve in front of a Spicer 3053A 5 speed from a deuce and a half. Still all juice brakes but has been converted to hydroboost. Ive still got several things id like to do to it but thats all in due time 

 

Pictured below is my w450 and 660 on the trailer behind it.

COOL!! Thank you. I have two 6BTAs looking for homes, one VE pumped with a big block Ford adapter and the other which has a p punp has an SAE2 adapter and is mated to an 8LL roadranger. My current plan is to put the p pump/8LL assembly in and modern 30/30 cans on the back with a modern dual circuit air system but leave the rest stock, including the patina and strong arm steering.

[AmericanClassic]

32 minutes ago, chevenstein said:

COOL!! Thank you. I have two 6BTAs looking for homes, one VE pumped with a big block Ford adapter and the other which has a p punp has an SAE2 adapter and is mated to an 8LL roadranger. My current plan is to put the p pump/8LL assembly in and modern 30/30 cans on the back with a modern dual circuit air system but leave the rest stock, including the patina and strong arm steering.

The federal is still manual steering and it honestly is super easy to turn when moving even a little bit.

[Dirt_Floor_Poor]

2 hours ago, Big Bud guy said:

We demoed one back in the day right before buying our Versatile 950.  You are right about the cab.  Basically like a pickup cab with even the roll down windows.  This one had an automatic transmission. Leaked oil everywhere and their diesel technology was not on par with ours because it seemed like the engines had about maybe 50% more displacement to get the same hp as the NA engines but it was almost half the price of a Versatile which is saying something because Versatile was about the cheapest 4x4s on the market.  There was several variations of these Belarus tractors because every tractor exported out of the Soviet Union was under the “Belarus” name no matter which factory made them.  And keep in mind from what I read these tractors were somewhat dual purposely engineered to pull mobile missile launchers across the Siberia 

Was there anybody in your area who actually ended up purchasing one of those machines?

[Big Bud guy]

12 hours ago, Dirt_Floor_Poor said:

Was there anybody in your area who actually ended up purchasing one of those machines?

No.  It was just some local jock that brought in two of these things.  I don’t know where they went.  I think some of these big Belarus’s ended up in Canada.  There was a massive influx of European farmers that immigrated to western Canada post WW II and those guys were more open minded to this kinda foreign crap so much so PAMI tested a Belarus combine 

[acem]

There were several smaller Belarus tractors round here.  Smaller tractors are the norm on all the cattle farms here. 

I saw some Belarus Irrigation engines in eastern Arkansas.  They appeared to be a copy of a Deutz.  Supposedly they were good engines but suffered from a lack of replacement parts.

Never seen a big tractor or combine except in pics.

Didn't some Russian company buy Versatile???

[53ihgarand]

We had a new 1468. Traded it off on a 2470 Case. Dad said he knew at the time it would be worth something, but he was never so happy to see a tractor go. 

[midnightman]

When I was in college in Calgary, I worked for a family near High River. He had two of the rebranded Kirovet articulated 4wds. Here in southern Manitoba there were lots of the smaller Belarus loader tractors used as chore tractors 

[M35A2]

1 hour ago, acem said:

There were several smaller Belarus tractors round here.  Smaller tractors are the norm on all the cattle farms here. 

I saw some Belarus Irrigation engines in eastern Arkansas.  They appeared to be a copy of a Deutz.  Supposedly they were good engines but suffered from a lack of replacement parts.

Never seen a big tractor or combine except in pics.

Didn't some Russian company buy Versatile???

The guy we farmed with owned 3 Belarus tractors on his property in Minnesota.  During the 20 years of farming all of them made an apperance on the farm.  Two of them stayed.   They were very crude machines.  Took a lot of wrench turning to keep them operational. Literally turning wreneches.   However, part wise, we didn't need to replace many parts.   One of the tractors had zero replaceble filters.  All filters were take out, clean, put back in place.  The oil filter on that unit had a metal upside down bowl and a deal that slung the oil, and contaminants stuck to the bowl.  Take it off, scrape the inside, put it back on.  Fuel filter was a giant overgrown sediment bowl with a venturi.  You could see the fuel swirling in it.  Open the petcock drain.  Hydraulic filter was a sump with a metal screen you took out, cleaned and put back in place.   All of the tractors vibrated badly, and you had to wrench various fittings on fuel, oil and hydraulic lines daily.   At the time, these came from an importer in Superior Wisconsin.  They were very good on the phone telling us how to repair something,, or what to replace a part with locally.  Most common part to replace was the generator and they recomened an AC Delco that fit most Chevy trucks, and some simple reconfiguration of the wires.     We relegated the tractors primarily to running augers in the fall and some occasional mowing in the summer.  Crude doesn't begin to describe them, but they were somewhat dependable.  Always started, always ran.  Might have ran with all sorts of fluids leaking but they did run.  Operators manual was in Russian and all guauges were in Russian script.  We joked that the operating rules were "must consume vodka before operating".   After we quit farming, the two on our farm wound up getting sold to some church orgainization and sent to Nigeria for a farm ministry.   The one that was in Minnesota stayed up there and was used to mow, blade, and do oddball things on the farm partner's cabin near Duluth.   It had a cab, front wheel assist, and a shifter that had a twist mechanism to shift gears, the shift rod went low, nuetral, high.    It was a little less crude and the others, but in 1990, reminded one of an early 1960's tractor with a year a round/hiniker cab with no throught to ergonomics or operator comfort.   It did run smoother, but had a funky transmissiion that tened to pop out of gear.     

Some farmers up on what we called the Muscatine Island bought some crated Belarus engines for use on irrigation rigs.  One of the owners took the oil pan off just to see what it looked like inside before they added fluids.  He said that nothing was machine finished, and the crankshaft looked like someine just took a grinder to it and slapped it in there.   Last I knew the engine was still running, but it too vibrated badly.  They did rig up a makeshift containment deal to keep it from vibrating off the stand and breaking pumps and couplings.   

Back in the 1993 Farm Progress show at the Amana Colonies, Belarus had an exhibitor tent.   My dad and I toured it, and gave the crew therir a razzing about how none of the tractors had #9 wire as an accessory.  When they asked we told them how bad the tractors vibrated.  They saw no humor in that comment.  Dad explained to them, but they tried to tell us how much better the tractors were than any of the ones on the market.   We laughed.    They did have one of the combines-very much a throw back to something like a Massey 510 or IH 403.   The four wheel drive was there.  It did look a truck cab slapped on a menagerie of levers, knobs and switches.   That tractor had english labels physically taped over the russian words.   

[IHhogfarmer]

Not really rare but I’d sure like to have my great-grandpa’s IH 1206 Wheatland and the 4166 it was traded for.

My other great grandpa has a John Deere 4520 or 4620 that would be neat to have too. 

[db1486]

1 hour ago, midnightman said:

When I was in college in Calgary, I worked for a family near High River. He had two of the rebranded Kirovet articulated 4wds. Here in southern Manitoba there were lots of the smaller Belarus loader tractors used as chore tractors 

There was a few around in this part of MB too. There was a shop by Shoal Lake that was a dealer for them. I remember sitting in one as a kid. Seems to me there was a dealer at Souris too, pretty sure dad almost bought a 925 mfd with a loader, think it was the biggest mfd they offered.  They were very cheap for a brand new tractor, but was also a lighter tractor. There were a few around the 2000 year models around too, but 4wd's seemed to have not sold well enough to continue on through the 90's. The newer mfd ones actually looked a little more up to date and not quite as crude. 

I remember going to 2 different sales with 8/925 Belarus with loaders in the 00's and they both sold for more monet than they were brand new. 

The Kirovetz tried to make a comeback around 5? years ago. They were still crude but alot more up to date and still allt cheaper than a comparable size tractor of other brands. They were sold under the MTZ name. 

[db1486]

11 hours ago, acem said:

Didn't some Russian company buy Versatile???

Yes, Rostelmash bought Buhler Versatile. They were building combines in Russia and then added them to the Versatile lineup sold as Versatile. They did not have a good reputation. I'm pretty sure they do not have ownership anymore.

[Black Shuck]

1 hour ago, db1486 said:

Yes, Rostelmash bought Buhler Versatile. They were building combines in Russia and then added them to the Versatile lineup sold as Versatile. They did not have a good reputation. I'm pretty sure they do not have ownership anymore.

A Turkish company, the name escapes me, bought them from Rostelmash a couple years back.

[acem]

9 hours ago, M35A2 said:

The guy we farmed with owned 3 Belarus tractors on his property in Minnesota.  During the 20 years of farming all of them made an apperance on the farm.  Two of them stayed.   They were very crude machines.  Took a lot of wrench turning to keep them operational. Literally turning wreneches.   However, part wise, we didn't need to replace many parts.   One of the tractors had zero replaceble filters.  All filters were take out, clean, put back in place.  The oil filter on that unit had a metal upside down bowl and a deal that slung the oil, and contaminants stuck to the bowl.  Take it off, scrape the inside, put it back on.  Fuel filter was a giant overgrown sediment bowl with a venturi.  You could see the fuel swirling in it.  Open the petcock drain.  Hydraulic filter was a sump with a metal screen you took out, cleaned and put back in place.   All of the tractors vibrated badly, and you had to wrench various fittings on fuel, oil and hydraulic lines daily.   At the time, these came from an importer in Superior Wisconsin.  They were very good on the phone telling us how to repair something,, or what to replace a part with locally.  Most common part to replace was the generator and they recomened an AC Delco that fit most Chevy trucks, and some simple reconfiguration of the wires.     We relegated the tractors primarily to running augers in the fall and some occasional mowing in the summer.  Crude doesn't begin to describe them, but they were somewhat dependable.  Always started, always ran.  Might have ran with all sorts of fluids leaking but they did run.  Operators manual was in Russian and all guauges were in Russian script.  We joked that the operating rules were "must consume vodka before operating".   After we quit farming, the two on our farm wound up getting sold to some church orgainization and sent to Nigeria for a farm ministry.   The one that was in Minnesota stayed up there and was used to mow, blade, and do oddball things on the farm partner's cabin near Duluth.   It had a cab, front wheel assist, and a shifter that had a twist mechanism to shift gears, the shift rod went low, nuetral, high.    It was a little less crude and the others, but in 1990, reminded one of an early 1960's tractor with a year a round/hiniker cab with no throught to ergonomics or operator comfort.   It did run smoother, but had a funky transmissiion that tened to pop out of gear.     

Some farmers up on what we called the Muscatine Island bought some crated Belarus engines for use on irrigation rigs.  One of the owners took the oil pan off just to see what it looked like inside before they added fluids.  He said that nothing was machine finished, and the crankshaft looked like someine just took a grinder to it and slapped it in there.   Last I knew the engine was still running, but it too vibrated badly.  They did rig up a makeshift containment deal to keep it from vibrating off the stand and breaking pumps and couplings.   

Back in the 1993 Farm Progress show at the Amana Colonies, Belarus had an exhibitor tent.   My dad and I toured it, and gave the crew therir a razzing about how none of the tractors had #9 wire as an accessory.  When they asked we told them how bad the tractors vibrated.  They saw no humor in that comment.  Dad explained to them, but they tried to tell us how much better the tractors were than any of the ones on the market.   We laughed.    They did have one of the combines-very much a throw back to something like a Massey 510 or IH 403.   The four wheel drive was there.  It did look a truck cab slapped on a menagerie of levers, knobs and switches.   That tractor had english labels physically taped over the russian words.   

The filters sound about right.

I knew someone who grew up in the Soviet Union. They said things were designed to run without spare parts. The whole concept of a parts department was not in their thinking.

At the state farms, they requested farm equipment on a multi year plan. They got it whenever they got it but usually later than requested.

There were no spare parts available. If anything broke, they tried their best to repair it. The equipment was robust. If they broke something they could not fix, it was parked and it would be used for parts to repair others. Old equipment was never sent back, it was parked.

 

[FARMALL FIXER]

Our family had one of these when I was growing up, a 1938 MM UDLX only 125 manufactured and only in 1938.

The one my family owned is still alive and well in Charles City Iowa.

Wish I still had it.

[dale560]

14 hours ago, acem said:

The filters sound about right.

I knew someone who grew up in the Soviet Union. They said things were designed to run without spare parts. The whole concept of a parts department was not in their thinking.

At the state farms, they requested farm equipment on a multi year plan. They got it whenever they got it but usually later than requested.

There were no spare parts available. If anything broke, they tried their best to repair it. The equipment was robust. If they broke something they could not fix, it was parked and it would be used for parts to repair others. Old equipment was never sent back, it was parked.

 

In the 825 925 Belarus service manual. Printed in multiple languages shows the starter most of other areas of the world got. A small gas engine assembly that bolted to the same spot electric starter

[acem]

https://belarus-tractor.com/en/

[FARMALL FIXER]

Another one my family had a 1918 Moline Plow Co Univeral Model D.

Moline Plow Co was the predecessor of Minneapolis Moline. 

This photo is the actual one that my Grandfather bought new when the farm was transitioning from horses to tractors.

My Son is the person sitting on the seat. We stopped by Aimes Iowa at the persons farm that owns it on the way back from Des Moines last time Red Power was there a few years ago.

I thought it was kind of neat that my Son got to drive the very same tractor his Great Grandfather did 100 years ago. 

Wish I still had this one too.

[Board Shortener Tom]

18 hours ago, FARMALL FIXER said:

Our family had one of these when I was growing up, a 1938 MM UDLX only 125 manufactured and only in 1938.

The one my family owned is still alive and well in Charles City Iowa.

Wish I still had it.

These things are the coolest! The styling put into this and cars of that era is something that has never been matched since...in my opinion..

[FARMALL FIXER]

38 minutes ago, Board Shortener Tom said:

These things are the coolest! The styling put into this and cars of that era is something that has never been matched since...in my opinion..

Road gear was 40 to 45 mph, if I remember correctly you pushed the hand throttle that was used for normal field work all the way ahead and than used the foot pedal to achieve road speeds, I think when doing this may have bypassed the governor.

Ours had a heater, spotlight and the board passenger seat that folded up and down.

This tractor was well ahead of it's time.

It is my understanding that there was a steel shortage at that time during WW2 and production was halted and limited to only 1938 production ...... if I understand my history of these correctly that is.

[MOreplant]

On 10/15/2026 at 9:47 PM, M35A2 said:

The guy we farmed with owned 3 Belarus tractors on his property in Minnesota.  During the 20 years of farming all of them made an apperance on the farm.  Two of them stayed.   They were very crude machines.  Took a lot of wrench turning to keep them operational. Literally turning wreneches.   However, part wise, we didn't need to replace many parts.   One of the tractors had zero replaceble filters.  All filters were take out, clean, put back in place.  The oil filter on that unit had a metal upside down bowl and a deal that slung the oil, and contaminants stuck to the bowl.  Take it off, scrape the inside, put it back on.  Fuel filter was a giant overgrown sediment bowl with a venturi.  You could see the fuel swirling in it.  Open the petcock drain.  Hydraulic filter was a sump with a metal screen you took out, cleaned and put back in place.   All of the tractors vibrated badly, and you had to wrench various fittings on fuel, oil and hydraulic lines daily.   At the time, these came from an importer in Superior Wisconsin.  They were very good on the phone telling us how to repair something,, or what to replace a part with locally.  Most common part to replace was the generator and they recomened an AC Delco that fit most Chevy trucks, and some simple reconfiguration of the wires.     We relegated the tractors primarily to running augers in the fall and some occasional mowing in the summer.  Crude doesn't begin to describe them, but they were somewhat dependable.  Always started, always ran.  Might have ran with all sorts of fluids leaking but they did run.  Operators manual was in Russian and all guauges were in Russian script.  We joked that the operating rules were "must consume vodka before operating".   After we quit farming, the two on our farm wound up getting sold to some church orgainization and sent to Nigeria for a farm ministry.   The one that was in Minnesota stayed up there and was used to mow, blade, and do oddball things on the farm partner's cabin near Duluth.   It had a cab, front wheel assist, and a shifter that had a twist mechanism to shift gears, the shift rod went low, nuetral, high.    It was a little less crude and the others, but in 1990, reminded one of an early 1960's tractor with a year a round/hiniker cab with no throught to ergonomics or operator comfort.   It did run smoother, but had a funky transmissiion that tened to pop out of gear.     

Some farmers up on what we called the Muscatine Island bought some crated Belarus engines for use on irrigation rigs.  One of the owners took the oil pan off just to see what it looked like inside before they added fluids.  He said that nothing was machine finished, and the crankshaft looked like someine just took a grinder to it and slapped it in there.   Last I knew the engine was still running, but it too vibrated badly.  They did rig up a makeshift containment deal to keep it from vibrating off the stand and breaking pumps and couplings.   

Back in the 1993 Farm Progress show at the Amana Colonies, Belarus had an exhibitor tent.   My dad and I toured it, and gave the crew therir a razzing about how none of the tractors had #9 wire as an accessory.  When they asked we told them how bad the tractors vibrated.  They saw no humor in that comment.  Dad explained to them, but they tried to tell us how much better the tractors were than any of the ones on the market.   We laughed.    They did have one of the combines-very much a throw back to something like a Massey 510 or IH 403.   The four wheel drive was there.  It did look a truck cab slapped on a menagerie of levers, knobs and switches.   That tractor had english labels physically taped over the russian words.   

My dad purchased a 925 Belarus new around 1992 or so, I believe at the Mandan, ND CaseIH Dealership - can't recall what the name was at the time.

We had a Farmhand 235 loader on it.  It was light in the rear end, you had to be careful on a third tier haystack - bales were made by a 3650 CaseIH baler and were heavy for the tractor.  We didn't have much of anything with AC besides a 4586 IH, so having working AC in the Belarus for raking, pull type swather work and loader work was very nice.  It was crude, but it generally got the job done.

My dad broke it in half moving ice encrusted bales one winter.  It was pretty crummy metallurgy in general.  We also broke a FWA casting crossing a river when a rock rotated up and hit the back of the wheel assembly.  We had (actually still there - Stelter Repair) an amazing machine / welding shop in town (New Leipzig, ND) and they welded both of those up and we used the tractor until my dad sold the farm.  It was technically still his, but disappeared when the guy that my dad had a contract for deed agreement skipped town and took the tractor.  I have good memories of it, despite the shortcomings.

[forwhldrv]

Went to an open house at a collection in CT today there is definitely some odd rare stuff at this place to see a lot of these in New England the big Bud was cool to see most of this stuff comes out once a bear for this show  there was 5-6 big barns to put tractors in like the one next to the big bud 

[Big Bud guy]

5 hours ago, FARMALL FIXER said:

 

It is my understanding that there was a steel shortage at that time during WW2 and production was halted and limited to only 1938 production ...... if I understand my history of these correctly that is.

The UDLX crashed simply because it was too expensive and too ahead of its time.  WWII hadn't even started yet in 1938.  

[TroyDairy]

10 hours ago, Big Bud guy said:

The UDLX crashed simply because it was too expensive and too ahead of its time.  WWII hadn't even started yet in 1938.  

Actually Hitler invade Austria in spring 38 then poland spring 39.  So war was progressing.

 

But yes the UDLK was just to fancy for late depression era Ag.  Like the Chrysler AirFlow design.  Great car...too swoopy and $ for late 30s.  Did the udlk pull fine?  Was is actually a decent tractor tractor?  I have never seen any infonon a that stuff.  Just how fancy it was etc.  Never if it was good car or tractor.  They are pretty.  Be cool body on a more modern half ton frame project.  But then they are slightly rare to be cutting up I suppose

[chevenstein]

15 hours ago, forwhldrv said:

Went to an open house at a collection in CT today there is definitely some odd rare stuff at this place to see a lot of these in New England the big Bud was cool to see most of this stuff comes out once a bear for this show  there was 5-6 big barns to put tractors in like the one next to the big bud 

Thanks for posting those pictures! Was that the Toplands Farm (the Diebold property) in Roxbury, CT?

[forwhldrv]

6 hours ago, chevenstein said:

Thanks for posting those pictures! Was that the Toplands Farm (the Diebold property) in Roxbury, CT?

Yes it was I hadn’t been to this since 2017 and it such an amazing collection to see 2.5 hours away from home for us