On Jan. 2, 2011, at the ripe old age of 96, Harold Brock from Waterloo, Iowa, died peacefully at his home. So what, you ask? Design Well, because Harold Brock was in charge of the design phase of two of the most popular farm tractors in U.S. history — and for two completely different manufacturers. Ford and Deere & Co. Transmission woes In 1959, Brock’s boss insisted upon putting an automatic power-shift transmission into the new Ford x01 series tractors. Brock refused to approve the transmission after testing the thing, believing it to be a defective design that would prove to be unreliable. Brock wrote later, “I suggested that if they wanted to put the transmission into production they should obtain a new chief engineer. This they did. They fired me and subsequently put the transmission into production.” Almost immediately he was approached by Deere & Company’s Waterloo Product Engineering Center to help with the design of the replacements for the venerable and popular line of two-cylinder tractors. Meanwhile back at Ford, an automatic transmission called Select-O-Speed was made available on Ford tractors. The Select-O-Speed transmissions have been reviled as no good ever since, although some operators had no problems and love them. Tractor legacy Brock was put in charge of the design group for the Deere 4020 tractor, which he said would not go to production until all the bugs were worked out of the power shift transmission. The model 4020 was introduced in 1963 and featured the first successful full powershift transmission, along with many other improvements. The Brock John Deere 4020 remained in the Deere lineup until 1968 when several design changes were made but the powershift transmission remained the same due to it's flawless operation, and many are still earning their keep on American farms today.
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Today's Featured Article - Restoration Story: Fordson Major - by Anthony West. George bought his Fordson Major from a an implement sale about 18 years ago for £200.00 (UK). There is no known history regarding its origins or what service it had done, but the following work was undertaken alone to bring it up to show standard. From the engine number, it was found that this Major was produced late 1946. It was almost complete but had various parts that would definitely need replacing.
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