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02/13/12, 03:27 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 16,317
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The Ns will be here long after we are gone = AND like Frankenstien, Still going, just made outa many parts LOL. Just kidding. I aint got much again them. I just dont like them. Never sat on one, so I cant comment much.
Ms sell pretty regular around here. Around more so than Hs.
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02/13/12, 06:23 PM
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Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 403
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That's pretty land. What part of the country you in?
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02/13/12, 06:33 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 1,022
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I would say you were working on wildlife plots..looked pretty good to me,I used to own a 4010 JD also had a 600 Ford and a 2N, Now I have a 950 JD Diesel, just bought my son an 8N for his birthday in Jan, he loves it.....
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02/13/12, 06:33 PM
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Banned
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Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Blue Ridge mountains
Posts: 107
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That's ok Matt.
You seem smart enough to ignore those people that "already know it all."
Most of the folks on here are friendly and helpful and the one or two that aren't stand out like a sore thumb.
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02/13/12, 07:24 PM
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Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Missouri
Posts: 89
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fatrat
That's pretty land. What part of the country you in?
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Central Mo, thanks
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02/13/12, 07:28 PM
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Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Missouri
Posts: 89
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RonM
I would say you were working on wildlife plots..looked pretty good to me,I used to own a 4010 JD also had a 600 Ford and a 2N, Now I have a 950 JD Diesel, just bought my son an 8N for his birthday in Jan, he loves it.....
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Yep, I enjoy plotting. I also do a couple acres of sweet corn and pumpkins
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02/13/12, 07:33 PM
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Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Missouri
Posts: 89
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wingnut64
That's ok Matt.
You seem smart enough to ignore those people that "already know it all."
Most of the folks on here are friendly and helpful and the one or two that aren't stand out like a sore thumb.
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Thanks. I'm no fight starter, just don't agree in my experience you can get more tractor than an n for same money. Only tractors I see cheaper are drawbar tractors with no hydraulics. If someone only has 2 grand to spend, telling them to go get a 4,500 Massey 35 is no help. As a man who has turned under sod by hand, plowing several acres and discing it in an afternoon, after mowing several acres in the morning of 4 foot grass, you can get a little giddy over them.
This is my workhorse now:
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02/14/12, 06:47 AM
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Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: NW corner of Ohio
Posts: 467
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Thanks for sharing those pictures, I really enjoyed them. My hubby has an old 900 that he bought and restored 4 years ago. When he got it running and repainted, we drove it around the property while I sang the Green Acres song to him, lol. It sure has been a handy bugger to have around!
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02/14/12, 08:16 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: MN
Posts: 7,610
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Nice beefy disk! Could use something like that.
Up here in the north 8N's actually were not that popular. The IHC H & M were the popular ones, with various JD tractors of the same age. My understanding is the N was popular and everywhere in tobacco country, as a small tractor was useful for many decades in those areas. 'Here' there was a progression of bigger, more hp, needed, to keep up with row crop dairy farms.
The N has come back down in price a bit, but for half a decade or so, people were asking five grand, and was hard to find even a beater that would sell for less than three grand. Meanwhile, a Ford 850 or a 40 hp International with 3pt and live hydralics were selling for $1800..... H & M's were in the 900-1500 range.
I guess things were different in your location, but 'here' that is what has caused a bit of a smirk when people look only to buy an N because 'they are the best'.....
'Here' they cost more than a bigger, newer, more feature-filled tractor. A little upside down. Still, an N is a great little tractor for it's age, if you can find them priced right.
--->Paul
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02/14/12, 08:29 AM
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 16,317
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Thats the way it was here too, or where I grew up. Hs and As mostly with a few AC thrown in. Funny, the WC showed up more than the WD did. I guess people who bought them were like the people who bought Fordsons. Once a that was enough. Uncle got a 41 M in 61 thereabouts. Bro has it now evewn tho its mine. Only M I knew about in that part of the neighborhood.
Dad got a B in 62 thereabouts, a 50 B, And neighbor got an H JD in around 64. He already had an H IH
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02/14/12, 08:41 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: MN
Posts: 7,610
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Dad's first tractor was an H with loader, then he got an Oliver 88 for real tillage power. He got a bum shoulder so got an ICH 300 with the quick hitch, could raise & lower the Case combine without reaching back. Shoulder got better, but that 300 became the workhorse on the farm, mounted planter, cultivator, ran the baler with the TA, ground feed all winter. Was the do-all tractor until the Ford 960 came in 1969 I think, first 3pt on the place.
Dad traded the Ollie 88 off for a Ford 7700 in 81, I still have all the listed tractors otherwise.
Oliver & IHC were very popular in both my dad's and mom's families. There were many Deere families a little farther away, but we weren't one of them. Oliver was very strong in the area, see more of them still than Ford/New Holland. AC had it's followers, Massey was almost unheard of. Neighbors were mostly IHC and Oliver with a dash of AC and Deere thrown in.
I've kinda gone Blue, with the 960, 1720, 7700, TW-20, and 5000, tho the others still earn their keep.
--->Paul
Last edited by rambler; 02/14/12 at 08:46 AM.
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02/14/12, 08:46 AM
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 16,317
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Dad got a blade for the M. IH. It was a pain. It had cables that had wedges on each side to try to align it. But, no matter how we got it adjusted, it wouldnt stay straight, Dad got a 300 also, but that was after I left the farm. He really liked it, as I remember,
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02/14/12, 09:17 AM
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 5,205
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Okay, you got me on my soapbox again....... Though everybody here has made a stab at trying to define "homesteading", what if you took the 1950's concept of the diversified family farm, and scaled it down into a homesteading model? That kind of a smallholding would require a small tractor unit, that for the most part, the N Ford seems to fill.........(okay, and a few others, too) Trouble is, like everyone has said, no independent PTO, no live hydraulics, and you are depending on a unit that in its earliest models, is now 73 years old. Not trying to scare anette here, but I do think about that every time I climb aboard my 41 9N and start it up. This thing could let me down--just when I need it. (It has a few times already, but so far, nothing that some wrenchiing and fifty bucks couldn't handle).....But, you never know...........it's still tired, old iron.
I don't rely on my "modified" homestead in such a way that if something went wrong I would starve or lose the place, but if that were true--and I think many here on this forum do--then I would be looking for something far different and far more reliable--and maybe even custom tailored to fit my small homestead needs. Right now, everything I see is the 4WD compact tractor--as advertised in MEN and other places, complete with the just gotta have features, like armrests, cupholders, buttwarmers, and of course, a front bucket and a backhoe digger. And a very expensive price tag that puts it out of range for frugal-minded homesteaders looking for a debt-free and basically independent life......
So, whaddya gonna do? If you want something that's affordable, reliable, and useful for small homestead work--what would you like to see? Any engineers???? What would you build?
geo
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02/14/12, 09:26 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: MN
Posts: 7,610
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You summed it up well - The compact diesels of the last few decades were born on Chineese mini farms, and are ideal for homesteading use. Older or grey market ones can be found for under $3000, newer better featured more parts and service ones will cost much more.
Old farm tractors of America's past have held up well, will have parts supply for a long time to come, older ones are pretty sparce on features or saftey, but will get the job done.
A person is actually getting quite a bit for $2500-3000 in these old USA tractors, or decades old imported compact tractors.
--->Paul
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02/14/12, 10:40 AM
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Five Oaks Ranch-in SW AR
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Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: SW AR
Posts: 292
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Geo, you are nice. You wont scare me, I grew up poor with lots of stuff that only started sometimes. ...I used to drive a geo, how's that for a wrinkle???
Anyhoo, we have the tractor, and I have learned a lot about it from these threads. We got it for a good price. DH wants to get a for real new tractor some day, but we dont like to carry debt and it will take a little saving to get there. He's looking at the JD 500 series, cause we want to be able to hay this place.
Tractors surely invoke a lot of feelings, huh?
__________________
I am a great believer in luck. The harder I work, the more of it I seem to have.
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02/14/12, 10:59 AM
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 16,317
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Feelings? Why wouldja say that? its only iron and rubber LOL lol
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02/14/12, 11:10 AM
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 5,205
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Quote:
Originally Posted by anette
Geo, you are nice. You wont scare me, I grew up poor with lots of stuff that only started sometimes. ...I used to drive a geo, how's that for a wrinkle???
Anyhoo, we have the tractor, and I have learned a lot about it from these threads. We got it for a good price. DH wants to get a for real new tractor some day, but we dont like to carry debt and it will take a little saving to get there. He's looking at the JD 500 series, cause we want to be able to hay this place.
Tractors surely invoke a lot of feelings, huh?
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A real geo Nova, or a geo Metro?. The Nova was a Toyota Corrolla with skin by GM, and the Metro was a Mitsubishi if I remember right. I bought the Nova new then my son and daughter proceeded to wear it out, which they couldn't do.
There are enough old geezers like me here that use this forum as their cracker barrel to wax nostalgic about the days when we all lived and breathed the farm life with the very tractors we talk about today. The Ford, or really any old tractor depends on its condition when you get it, and how well you keep it maintained--and of course, how well you treat it. The YT N-series forum is really good for learning all the tricks of the trade as it pertains to your tractor.
My preachiness is that the nostalgic talk leaves off and still makes a very wide gap for the beginning, serious homesteader...... As you say, you would like to get something new or newer some day. The old iron is a good stopgap, but I wouldn't bet the farm(homestead) on one. I really believe that the lack of something affordable that is specifically designed with homesteading/smallholding in mind is the real limiting factor for the future success of the lifestyle. Yet, my preaching usually falls on deaf ears, 'cuz I don't think there are really that many like-minded folks here.....Okay, enough preaching....
geo
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02/14/12, 11:20 AM
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Five Oaks Ranch-in SW AR
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Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: SW AR
Posts: 292
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it was the Geo Spectrum, a grandiose name for such a vehicle... we called it the "speck", cause that's about how big it was 
stopgap is the perfect descriptor for the N, its a way to keep my pastures under control without spending fifty thousand dollars...
__________________
I am a great believer in luck. The harder I work, the more of it I seem to have.
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02/14/12, 11:33 AM
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 5,205
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Quote:
Originally Posted by anette
it was the Geo Spectrum, a grandiose name for such a vehicle... we called it the "speck", cause that's about how big it was
stopgap is the perfect descriptor for the N, its a way to keep my pastures under control without spending fifty thousand dollars... |
Forgot about that one, and the Prism....At least it wasn't a Vega....second only to the Yugo...
geo
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02/14/12, 11:46 AM
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Idaho
Posts: 649
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MattC
Lazy J- I am about 5'10 and 250 and I agree on getting on and off. The early Ns only had pegs, the newer ones have running boards. Only tractor harder to mount in my experience is a Allis wd45. I have noticed that Farmall Ms are going cheap these days. I guess they are too big for lawn mowers and to fit in most garages. I'd like to have an old IH to play. Sort of the classic american tractor in my mind.
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Dad has an 8N and a WD. The ford is a breeze to get onto compared to the WD.
We use the WD for the mower and baler, larger plowing and discing. The ford for most everything else. Neither one is a "do all" tractor, but compliment each other fairly well.
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