Oh, Man! You Gotta See This!

A young feller over at the site on the other side of the street posted this picture.

Is that one sharp lookin' outfit, or what!?

Nothin' prettier than an old IH that has just crawled out of the shower.

Allan

My new 1066 was delivered to me in 1975 on single wheels and with chloride. That tractor just has too much torque for 2 tires and at 1,000 hours the rear tires had so many bulges, one could not go down a paved road in high gear. Turning with large tillage equipment would roll the inside tire flat even with 18 lbs. air. The tractor would also leave wheel tracks in soil, tillage equipment would not smooth out. It caused the use of a lot of 4 letter words drilling grain or planting corn.

I then dumped the chloride, bought 4 new tires and a set of dual rims thinking my problems would be over. Yes the duals and new tires went 9,000 hours, also ended the wheel track problem. However a new problem came along, duals want to go straight ahead. From there it was a constant battle on brakes and front end parts. I once saw my operator drop a front wheel in a dead furrow and rather than roll the wheel went under soil surface. Didn't even slow 1066 down, we did recover the front wheel under the disk. I hate to see what would happen this narrow front, Farmall Hs and Ms didn't have a lot of weight out front compared to 1066 or 1086.

Since that time I have operated a lot of 4x4 tractors. Those 24 inch tires up front make them ride much better, and with power they turn much better. I can see the conventional 4x4 for harvesting equipment, but a lot of that is becoming self propelled. The reason I say articulated, much more economical steering system to maintain.

These old older, large, two wheel drive tractors just don't cut it anymore. Too expensive to play with and will not comptete in the field. Oh, you can say they are cheap to buy, yes I agree, but you start walking 1,000 to 1,500 hours per year on them, your trips to the parts counter wont be cheap.

This gets back to different areas use different equipment. I have nieghbor that has 15 late model John Deere tractors from 150 HP up some are front wheel assist and some are rear wheel drive only but no articulated tractors. This is a family operation that has grown from 2 JD Gs forty years ago to an operation that farms and owns thosands of acres in 2 countys with millions of dollars worth of good late model equipment and you can be sure they are in no danger of foreclosure. They also own John Deere dealership and keep tractors, cotton pickers and combines only a few years then sell them and bring out new ones. Remember hearing person that started this operation remark years ago that no tractor that had had major repairs would ever start a crop for him and it seems to have worked for him.

Did you notice that she is nosed downhill too? Bet it was set up to run the ol' "grandstand pulling" field. :>)

Allan

Ain't that the darned truth? I don't like anteaters of any kind. Trucks, pickups and for darned sure not on a tracor.

'Nother thing I can't get used to is the Front Wheel Assist either. They may be the cat's meow, but not for this old lad. :>(

Allan

Shoot, who knows? Maybe a grandstand tractor? I’ve sure never heard of a narrow front on one.

Not sure 'bout the baby. Might be breached and I might have to get out the old calf-pullin’ chains. :>(

I have a bunch of additional ‘odd-man-out’ type parts coming this week, so hope that they don't start throwin' paint at 'er just quite yet.

Although, gotta admit, I am startin' to get a little "antsy" over the old pup. :>)

Haven’t heard a 966 run since that day I crawled off my old one at the farm sale. Heck, who knows? I might even get a little emotional over this one; it has been a darned long wait. :>(

Allan