weird thought. new vs. old tractors

So I have been looking for a tractor for a while. My experience with a JD 2010 has left me a little gun shy. But in the search for the perfect tractor it dawned on me. What is missing on all the newer (post 1970s) tractors under say 40 hp?...... CROP CLEARANCE. So I realize this will probably never change but I have to ask why. With the growing popularity of small organic farms you would think the market for small row crop tractors would come back. There is a couple companies making a "modern" G allis. While there not flying off the shelves they do have small but steady sales. . You would think if someone did the same with a Farmall A or Allis B it would have the same or even a little better sales as a "G" is some what limited in design. Last I checked the "New" G sold for about $10k. But put that in perspective a Cub Cadet xt3 sells for about $6k and that is basically a lawn mower. And a 25hp Massey Ferguson (gc1500??) sells for about $9k with no attachments. If people are willing to drop $9k on the Massey which is more or less a nice garden tractor you would think there would be a market for a similar tractor with crop clearance and the ability to pull a full 16 inch plow or maybe two. Just a Thought. Sod Buster.

Somewhere in around the mid or late 1980's ? John Deere and Ford both sold high clearance offset tractors. Might be able to find one of those ? The JD was a model 900hc

Could it be that crop clearance was a necessity for cultivating crops well into their growing season, back in the 40's and 50's when these were built? Where as now we have herbicides to control weed from very early in growth. Think about an H Farmall, you were probably still cultivating the weeds out of corn when it was 24" tall in 38" rows before the corn could shade out them out. Now one pass of Roundup when corn is 10" tall and in 30" or maybe even 24" rows. Anything later use a high crop sprayer.

I fall into the hobby farmer category and spent much of this year on a search like you are doing. I settled on a Massey 1635 because I could get a good deal on a low hour machine that had no computer or emissions stuff. It will be my last working tractor (still dragging home the antiques) so I needed to get something that would last and I could work on if need be. Crop clearance wasn't a factor for me, might be for others.

In the early 80?s all the companies put one out including IH and Kubota. When tobacco started a downturn, most manufacturers stopped producing offsets because they were the last big users of offsets.

Crop clearance and non-adjustable front wheels are disadvantages. I bought a New Holland 48 horse with front wheel
assist. Very handy tractor and I use it a lot. But for cultivating corn, rotary hoeing, or spraying taller crops, I
go to the JD 2010 row crop-utility. The other problem with the new holland is the exhaust blows down in the very
front, so it stirs up dust pretty bad right in front of where the air cleaner is when disking and such.

For what they'd have to sell for though,you could but several Farmall As and do complete nut and bolt restorations on them.

The "modern Allis G" is made by Tuff-Bilt and per their website the cost is just under $13,000. At
only 1300 lbs weight and with a Cat 0 hitch it too is more of a garden tractor - it has about the
same size, engine power, and weight (and thus work capacity) as my Power King 2418 garden tractor
or Massey GC2300 sub-compact. As rrlund pointed out for the cost of one of these new tractors you
could buy a much larger vintage row-crop tractor like a Farmall Super C, have it completely rebuilt
to like-new condition, and have twice the tractor in the end. You'd probably even have money left
over to add a few attachments. This is the problem with new tractors designed to fill a small
niche market - there simply isn't enough sales volume to make them cost-effective compared to
refurbishing an older machine.

Not quite sure what you are looking for
that you can't find. The Deere 5045E is a
37 pto hp tractor, it doesn't have row crop
bar axles, but should still be able to
match most any row width.

I have a Hines H-1600 built in the early 80's that looks like what Tuff Bilt copied to build their tractor gave 1000$ for it a few years ago in good shape,so there are alternates
around.

I have Allis D-10, D-14, D-15, and a D-17 Hi Crop. Any of these would be ideal for what you are talking about. They are easy to drive and there are attachments for them. May take some time to get the attachments, but they are very dependable tractors, easy to service and parts are pretty easy to find. These were built between 1957 and 1967.

There are still a lot of Farmall 140s,130s and the like in Virginia and NC that are left over from tobacco days and they sell real reasonable and parts still available
so there is really no need for a new tractor of that type at this time.Kubota was building an offset 1 row tractor don't know if they still do or not.

(quoted from post at 18:43:29 11/29/17) I have Allis D-10, D-14, D-15, and a D-17 Hi Crop. Any of these would be ideal for what you are talking about. They are easy to drive and there are attachments for them. May take some time to get the attachments, but they are very dependable tractors, easy to service and parts are pretty easy to find. These were built between 1957 and 1967.

Click to expand...

I found a D14 about a little over an hour away. Been thinking of checking it out.

For a product to be successful there has to be a significant market demand for it these days. There is no more "build it and they will come." If you do that you will almost certainly fail.

That there are no small row crop tractors out there is because the market analysts have crunched the numbers and determined that there just isn't enough demand to make developing and marketing one profitable. To develop one these days would mean complying with all the OSHA and EPA regulations, which is expensive, making the tractor expensive, leaving it with a limited market in the face of all the cheap antique tractors still out there doing the job just fine.

That's right, nobody is going to spend $32,000 on a new John Deere offset cultivating tractor for their organic farm, when their $1500 Farmall Super A works, and if it breaks down, they just have to go on Craigslist and buy another.

I don't really know what I would do. I bought a new JD tractor and it was defective and the dealer and company wouldn't make it right. I finally had to give it back. Then I bought a old tractor and it's nothing but trouble. I spend more time repairing the tractor than using it. Now recently I find out the newer tractors have all this environmental crackpot devices the cars do so I guess I'm stuck with being Mr. Goodwrench.

The problem with a lot of the older tractors is implements depending on the area. Here the farm crisis of the 80's saw most small farmers retire or fail. Many of the "made to fit" implements were not wanted or needed for the bigger guys who survived and picked up a lot of land cheap. So they went for scrap. Now both the yuppie types who think that stuff make good yard art and collectors who want to show a tractor with an implement have driven the price through the roof. Not uncommon to watch a 1 bottom trailer plow that's broken sell at auction for 300 bucks or so. Because parts are no longer available a collector buys 2 or 3 of the same model to make one. Mounted cultivators have all but disappeared too. In my area try to find a fast hitch, snap coupler or eagle hitch implement in poor condition for under 500. So for the small sustainable or organic guy here it's gotta be 3 point. Some of the old implements are spendy but you can buy new implements with good parts support. Plows, disk, cultivators, sub soilers, rear and box blades, post hole augers can be bought new. The problem is that for older row crop tractors you can spend well over 1K, near a tractors value, to add a 3 point and the hydraulics to run it. For a lot of the smaller guys and hobbyist that's not affordable. Not when you gotta buy the tractor, hitch, pump, hoses and valves plus the implements. No association but just one company's offerings https://www.howseimplement.com/ . Try finding a mounted cultivator for an A, B or C Farmall in these parts that's complete and usable.

Rick

So what was the unsolvable problem or what did the john deer do that was the problem. Was it not a warranty repair or something the tractor would not do.