Tractor appreciation thread

roKWiz · 29-08-2021, 02:03 PM

Going over a few pictures I've taken from various shows and working onsite.
Anyone else admire the looks and engineering of these things ?

Tractors / Dozers /oddball farm machines, post a pic of what you have or seen.
Here a few to get us started.........

jaydee · 29-08-2021, 04:17 PM

Great idea for a thread.
Love the 2 Ferguson Greys in tandem.
I'll have to go look for some old ones I have somewhere.

Rob 351 · 06-09-2021, 08:48 AM

A few old JD’s. I took these pics in Moline Illinois a couple of years back.

five 7 · 06-09-2021, 02:58 PM

roKWiz · 06-09-2021, 04:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by five 7

image

Now there's someone who didn't appreciate his tractor.

slowsnake · 06-09-2021, 04:45 PM

I remember my time using an old Fordson Dexter, I thing it's in the first pic, grey in colour, would run on kerosene if needed, lots of grunt too!

Cheers Billy

Pis-ton broke · 06-09-2021, 08:29 PM

and the early fergusons were death machines, because they only had a single stage clutch.

if you were slashing and have to stop, you depress the clutch and the tractor keeps going, because the kinetic energy (stored energy) in the slasher blades, kept the tractor going forwards. it killed many people.

roKWiz · 06-09-2021, 08:38 PM

Just for you PB,

some more

**Burnout** · 06-09-2021, 08:57 PM

Here's a real one:

Pis-ton broke · 06-09-2021, 09:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Burnout

Here's a real one:
image

has a bench seat, thats unusual.

Pis-ton broke · 06-09-2021, 09:10 PM

thanks rokwiz, i,ll post some pictures my tractor later. its 1969 fait 650 , a bit newer than the ones pictured.

**Burnout** · 06-09-2021, 09:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pis-ton broke

has a bench seat, thats unusual.

The Chambermaids all had bench seats. Aussie made. That photo the 'gravel maker' put up has been highly modded.

jaydee · 06-09-2021, 09:42 PM

Drove these recently helping my cousin at seeding time.

and my favourite, because it's a Ford.

hayseed · 06-09-2021, 10:07 PM

Old 6030 John Deere fitted with 2 GM 8V71's..

roKWiz · 08-09-2021, 04:24 PM

Nice Jaydee.....and hayseed.

Some less modified real ones for Burnout

Crawlers.

Rob 351 · 08-09-2021, 06:58 PM

Love those old Ford 8700’s. We had a 6700 when I was a kid and was a great tractor. Still going strong today with 12000 hours on it with it’s current owners.
We, like many others, have long since moved on to John Deere’s but still miss those old Fords...

**Burnout** · 08-09-2021, 09:35 PM

We bought 6 of these into Aussie in 1972.
Used to sow 1000AC a day. Big gear back then.

roKWiz · 09-09-2021, 08:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Burnout

We bought 6 of these into Aussie in 1972.
Used to sow 1000AC a day. Big gear back then.
image

VT903 powered to by the look. Steiger ?? Unusual exhaust arrangement.

**Burnout** · 09-09-2021, 08:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roKWiz

VT903 powered to by the look. Steiger ?? Unusual exhaust arrangement.

Canadian machines. Good machine, we used chains to reduce wheel slip, filled the tires with drillers mud too.
Used a Massey-Ferguson air seeder behind it. Also Canadian.

Sent from my SM-A305YN using Tapatalk

roKWiz · 09-09-2021, 08:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Burnout

Canadian machines. Good machine, we used chains to reduce wheel slip, filled the tires with drillers mud too.
Used a Massey-Ferguson air seeder behind it. Also Canadian.

Sent from my SM-A305YN using Tapatalk

Looks the business, just reminded me of these.

**DJR-351** · 09-09-2021, 09:50 AM

On my uncles farm in WA we had a Versatile 875 and an old International 4586 (Manufactured by Steiger) amongst a smattering of smaller stuff...

One year, after a mate on another farm put his XB GS Ute into a tree breaking both ankles, i went and gave them a hand during seeding season driving their 4x4 Tractor, it was twin Chamberlain Super 70's connected in tandem the same as the bottom pic, SW Western Australia in mid winter with no cab, in the AM i dreamt of going back to my uncles farm lol

five 7 · 09-09-2021, 10:04 AM

Not exactly a tractor but the engineering co i worked for had the agency for FMC log Skidders. There was always one in the workshop either a new one or one in for repairs mainly track rebuilds. The sound of that blown Detroit screaming is something else. The track system was from tanks and perfect for boggy swamps and did little damage.
https://youtu.be/ZsW7pRq38MQ

roKWiz · 09-09-2021, 06:24 PM

What a bang up job and don't the kids love it.....

Tonz · 09-09-2021, 06:47 PM

rokwiz thats funny. Last week I started going through all my old photos, fair go me as a 13 year old watching sheep dog trails, me wearing blazer, white shirt and tie. grandkids just about had a fit laughing.

BENT_8 · 10-09-2021, 10:51 AM

Great thread topic RW.

I grew up on a hobby farm and so from a very early age i was getting around on tractors.
One of my earliest memories are of Dad buying an old International and loading it on to a car trailer behind his XY Fairmont, the thing was so heavy it literally lifted the back end of the Fairmont off the ground as he drove the Inter up the ramps and then sank to the bump stops once he had it in place, couldnt get away with driving home loaded like that these days.

My first drive was of an old Fergy TEA20, Dad showed me how to get it moving, how to steer and how to stop and said go for it, i think i was 10 and out ripping up with an old disc harrow in tow.

When i left home at 15 i got a job working on a cereal farm on the Yorke Peninsula and started driving big stuff.
First off was a 4wd Deutz and then the they turned me loose in an 8 wheel John Deere state of the art thing with air seeder, cultivator, rollers and prickle chain all hooked up, must of been best part of 100ft in length, you just banged in the GPS coordinates and it did the rest.
I'll never forget the day the boss and i spent ages seeding a huge acreage only to realise the air seeder wasnt working, lol.

My old man was born in Ireland in the 1933 and was auctioned off at 8 years of age to farmers to help feed the war effort as his parents had both died and he was an orphan, they couldnt afford tractors so he helped the farmer turn a Model T into one which he used to operate.
He used to tell stories about how sketchy it was due to the contour of the land as the old T wasnt overly stable in those conditions.

Rob 351 · 10-09-2021, 01:17 PM

How many young fella’s in their day learnt how to drive on an old Fergie? I learnt on an old 65 Massey.
Loved the story of your dad Bent 8, and I bet he would have been able to tell a story of two in his time!

Pis-ton broke · 10-09-2021, 04:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BENT_8

My old man was born in Ireland in the 1933 and was auctioned off at 8 years of age to farmers to help feed the war effort as his parents had both died and he was an orphan,

wow , i haven,t hard of this before. my guess is he grew up a hard but fair man.

roKWiz · 10-09-2021, 05:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by five 7

Not exactly a tractor but the engineering co i worked for had the agency

Other heavy machinery is fine here.

Here's one I followed around this morning. He hammers the large blasted granite into various sizes for different applications. I'll pick out square edged 300mm sizes and down for what I need.

and a couple I get use on a regular basis.
Love this JCB Telehandler.

**Rallye Sport** · 10-09-2021, 06:53 PM

Those JCB Telehandlers are a great machine. Super comfortable and easy to use, I've spent a few hours in one, it made an amateur like me looking like a pro in no time.

I worked in a large wholesale nursery as a junior that had a 50+ fleet of Massey greys and an equally large boneyard of parts tractors. They all had different characters there were fast and slow ones, rough and smooth ones. It was the luck of the draw which one you got for the day.
The place has been modernized now and I often wonder where they all went, that and the vintage bowsers we used to fuel them with.

I'm currently 'tractorless' at the moment after finishing up a the golf course but I'm starting at a new one next week and can't wait to see what they've got for me there

BENT_8 · 10-09-2021, 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pis-ton broke

wow , i haven,t hard of this before. my guess is he grew up a hard but fair man.

No, brutal, hence my leaving home at 15 with nothing but a back pack of clothes and the word of mouth of work 150km away.
When a 15yo chooses hard labour in a sweatbox factory over home and school you know theres something very wrong but it was a different time and you didnt report it.

The only time he was anything like a Father was on a Friday evening between his 3rd and 10th stubbie, outside of that he was either psychotic or dangerous.
He'd knock the **** out of me for looking tbe wrong way but needed a carton of **** to put down a fly blown lamb.

In those few hours he was 'normal' he'd talk about his life and i was sceptical as i couldnt imagine that until i met his siblings in the UK in 88 and they confirmed it.

He was 5ft and pure muscle, i once watched him walk in to a horse compound and knock a stallion out with one punch as it tried to trample a foal that had rolled under the bottom rails of the corral.
Laid out 6 coppers in the old Elizabeth hotel in the 70's before they could control him and took him out stark naked.
I was sceptical of this too until i met one of them 20yrs later who asked my surname, said it was unusual and asked if any relation, i said yes and he closed his note book and walked away.