What is the best cultivating tractor? First off, it depends on what you are planting, how much you plant and how you plant it. I assume you are talking about doing close cultivation, as most most rip-up-the-centers cultivating has been replaced by weed killer.
To cultivate multiple rows requires planting multiple rows. You aren't going to plant one row at a time and get the spacing accurate enough to cultivate more than one. Two-row also requires twice the tooling and twice the work to change set-ups from one crop to another. Close culitivation requires close observation. Therefore ANY front mount cultivator will be better than ANY rear mount. You need an unobstructed view straight at the row.
Throw those criteria together, the best 1 row cultivator is the Super A through 140 series. I leave the old A out of this list because of no hydraulics and harder to find/use implements. Fast-Hitch (100-140) is nice if you use the tractor for other implements but irrelevant to cultivating. Second place is the Cub. Lower power, less speed flexibility and the single circuit hydraulics move it to second place. A lot of implements are easily found for either model. A begrudging third goes to the Allis G, competitive with the Cub but more costly, harder to find implements, often hand lift, hard to find parts. There are a number of Super A "clones", one batch from the 1950s, another from after the 140 was discontinued. I didn't consider them, as production numbers were low and they typically had their own problems.
If you can and want to go to 2-row, first place goes to the B or BN. Granted, it lacks hydraulics, but the work visibility is superior to anything with the seat in the middle. You also sit lower then you do on a C or larger. Better to look forward and a little down than sideways and way down. I give second place to the C and Super C. Anything bigger isn't needed for 2 rows.
Specific question about 140:
Biggest problem to look for is if the entire tractor is simply worn out. They were so good that owners just kept using them. Check for wear in the pedals, the steering, the shifter etc. Specific problem/abuse areas to check are cracked housings: mounting flanges at front of engine block, front bolster and the top of the final drives. Look at the studs where the drawbar mounts to the final drives. Check the left side of the engine block (high, behind carburetor) for freeze cracks. Drive it in each gear and listen for transmission noise.
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Today's Featured Article - Listening to Your Tractor - by Curtis Von Fange. Years ago there was a TV show about a talking car. Unless you are from another planet, physically or otherwise, I don’t think our internal combustion buddies will talk and tell us their problems. But, on the other hand, there is a secret language that our mechanical companions readily do speak. It is an interesting form of communication that involves all the senses of the listener. In this series we are going to investigate and learn the basic rudimentary skills of understanding this lingo.
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