KIWINZ Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 as a younger member of the farming community ive been lucky to grow up with what i would call conventional tractors eg; bonnet cab small front weels and larger back ones but not now and to me they look cr@p and all of the other words im not allowed to say meaning the new fendt and the new new jcb the fendt!!! http://www.farmtoysforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=18552.0;topicseen the jcb!!! http://www.farmtoysforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=18228.0;topicseen as you can see things have changed a lot since ive been arround Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Ferguson Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 Good point.... I wonder what tractors will look like in 2100 - we see concept cars... well.... us old farts did back in the 70's and 80's and a lot of them do look something like the cars we see today.... I guess you can't agrue with the laws of physics though... tractors will probably not change that much... I hope Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FW Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 Thing is though mate, they've evolved for a purpose to improve outputs whilst reducing inputs, so if it does a lot more, does it matter if the machine is not as traditional. Plus these are probably still just some ugly ducklings.....just like when Trantor's, Unimogs and the first Fastrac's came out I suppose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KIWINZ Posted November 15, 2007 Author Share Posted November 15, 2007 fair shout i guess at my age i could still be classed as a fuddy duddy!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deere-est Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 Good point.... I wonder what tractors will look like in 2100 - we see concept cars... well.... us old farts did back in the 70's and 80's and a lot of them do look something like the cars we see today.... I guess you can't agrue with the laws of physics though... tractors will probably not change that much... I hope I don't remember, being a young, agile and somewhat boyishly good looking lad. ... . . . but I did hear of the fuss the Sierra first made when it superceded the Cortina. .. . then came the Cavalier from Vauxhall in it's later guise and now look what we have - Lexus copying Merc, BMW saloons losing that four headlamp look and everthing else looking about the same. Jag using designs from the 60's for their modern efforts.. .. Massey have gone back to round headlamps. ... could this be a start of ultra modern with retro styling? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav836 Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 I have to admit that the newer shaped tractors don't appeal to me as much as the ones of the 80's and early 90's when I was growing up. If you compare the 10 series Fords to their latest T series models, which one has more character to it? the same applies to the 50 series and new 30 series JD's, MF's and all the other manufacturers. In the 10 years that I have been working with them the rate of change has been phenominal, just look at the then new Valmet 8200 which was the first new tractor I drove, then its modern day T series equivelent bristling with all the electronics as an example, yes they make life more comfortable, but which one was the greatest pleasure to drive? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light Land Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 I have to admit that the newer shaped tractors don't appeal to me as much as the ones of the 80's and early 90's when I was growing up. If you compare the 10 series Fords to their latest T series models, which one has more character to it? the same applies to the 50 series and new 30 series JD's, MF's and all the other manufacturers. In the 10 years that I have been working with them the rate of change has been phenominal, just look at the then new Valmet 8200 which was the first new tractor I drove, then its modern day T series equivelent bristling with all the electronics as an example, yes they make life more comfortable, but which one was the greatest pleasure to drive? I'm with you on that Gav,well said. [move]IH 1455XL,FENDT 515,FIAT 110-90[/move] [move]ALL THE WAY 8) [/move] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nashmach Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 Give me gearsticks spouting from the floor any day sort the men from the boys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPN Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 Give me gearsticks spouting from the floor any day sort the men from the boys The more gearsticks the better! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fendt-man-matty Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 i say to say i realy dont like the way the transmission is on the new tractors, all about 100 buttons, i know it makes it easier in some way but i prefer the good old powrquad/powrquad plus. prefer levers to buttons Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nashmach Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 The more gearsticks the better! A man after my own taste - nice 110-90 turboed ;D or 3600 with 11 bales of silage behind her up a hill ;D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav836 Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 i say to say i realy dont like the way the transmission is on the new tractors, all about 100 buttons, i know it makes it easier in some way but i prefer the good old powrquad/powrquad plus. prefer levers to buttons Powerquad is still too easy compared to the ones I learned to drive on, when you can perform a down change on the move in a non synchro mesh gearbox without it being too painful on the ears then you're a tractor driver Got quite good at that carting bulk fertiliser with a R reg 6600 on a 10t AS high tip, this tractor in fact Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bremner_metallica Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 i liked the mx arnge of the case i thought the wer quite basic. we have had the 170 135 100 and 110 and they ave all been really good goin tractors but of corse you cant go wrong with a 1390 or an old nash!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allis8550 Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 You might think some of the new designs look outlandish, but remember ,people said the same about the first 4x4 pivot-steers, and nobody thought the Challenger rubber tracked crawlers would catch on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fendt Fahrer Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 I think with time people get used to anything. I used to hate those rounded bonnets when they first appeared. But I feel quite comfortable with them now. Most importantly ,they serve a purpose so it makes sense to have them. If technology on tractors would stop to evolve we would have a serious problem. Just imagine tractors still being the same as 70 years ago. No PTO, no Hydraulic outlets, no 3 pt hitch, no 4WD etc. How about the cabins, all of the progress made in cab construction is for the good of us and makes life a lot easier. In time todays modern transmissions will be standard and then obsolete, just like everything else. If the manufacturers dont evolove they will go obsolete instead of their product. I do still like the looks of lets say a Ford 7600 or a county . My son, who is 14 ,thinks these old fashioned tractors look like the come out of the middle ages and are ugly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
britainswomble Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 Sounds like some of our members are "Maturing" (Getting old). I made similar comments about modern trucks as the ones I'm reading here. If you grab hold of a gearstick that goes straight into a gearbox; you know that when you move it something will definitely happen. You are never quite sure with electrics; whether it will always work as well as it does when it's new, or when it will fail. You usually get a warning that all is not well with a mechanical gearbox, which allows you to get something done about it before it lets you down completely. The same goes for E.C.U. controlled engines. If an old one stops; the first thing you do is check for fuel delivery, clean or change the filters, bleed it out and away it goes again. New ones stop and there is absolutely nothing the average driver can do to get it going again. Main dealer only repair. The mechanic can't do much without a laptop with a diagnostic program, and even then the information can be misleading. I also read of a farmer who nearly gave up trying to harvest his cereals, having got stuck with his new combine. He dragged out a twenty five year old combine to finish the job. He said it was a lot lighter on the ground than the new one. New and old have their place. New has operator comfort, output in terms of speed, power and lift capacity, necessary to make modern farming efficient and profitable. Old is a good reliable standby, still capable of a good days work, has character in terms of looks and quirky foibles. Happy memories of when you were a child, wanting to grow up and be able to drive one. The big advantage of old is the ready supply of spare parts, minimal downtime in the event of a breakdown and above all, a tractor that's fun to drive and isn't depreciating in value at all. My idea of heaven; driving a cabless Super Major in the summer, mowing, tedding and baling with a conventional square baler. Ploughing in the late summer, feeling the heat from the gearbox, listening to the sound of a hard working engine with a light haze of exhaust smoke so everyone can see it's earning its keep. I'm not sure we have moved forwards that much. Around here we used to rip up and down the fields pulling 3 14" furrows on the back of a Ford 3000. On the same farm we now see a NH TS 125 pulling a four furrow 14" reversible, A Ford 4000 will pull a three furrow 14" reversible at a good speed. I sometimes wonder if the new ones are really value for money. What do you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mc cormick Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 ask me i think newer ones are better. i may be young and only starting to drive but how did you live without front suspension and cab suspension. i could no drive a tractor without front suspension a last drawing silage because you would have a pain in your back in an half an hour. i hate even if i have to move on around the yard it is just painfull and uncofortable. how did you live without a ram in your hitch to push it out so you can see it when you are picking up a trailer. where i work nobody wants the two legends with no suspension everybody wants one of the four mc cormicks or the class because they are just so m uch more comfortable. i nearly alwaya get on of the mc cormick either one of the two 04 mtx 140 0r the new 05 mtx 135. the new mtx 135 is now my favourite but we only got that when we had to cut the maize but he just kept it. but i had one of the mtx 140 for the summer it was so comfortable and noting every went wrong with it. but now that im back a school and the others are driving it is now ruined it now needs a new seat and the pto fixed and it is now never clean unlike when i had it. so for me it has to be newer the better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THEBRITFARMER Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 ***In reply to Mc Cormick*** I think it's more of a case of you don't miss what you have never had. I am sure many have had a stiff neck, sore back etc after farming but I would imagine the body gets accustomed to it (kind of like going to the gym for the first time ) While there are still many jobs that are "hard labour" I think for the most part these days we just have it way to easy....and with all these devices that are supposed to save us time I wonder if they really do at all and if they do where is it then :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav836 Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 The ones I learnt to drive on didn't have a hitch, only a drawbar, the only one on that farm with a hitch was the Valmet when I was there so I got quite good with bottle jacks and a chain on the lift arms. Still have to use that technique at times as well with the bigger tractors. Trouble is anyone starting out thses days on tractors is spoilt with luxury on a lot of farms Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mc cormick Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 know some pleople with new tractors are luckly. but i know that new ones still have their problems but with one of the legends to lock the hitch you have to put a cocrete block to it and reverse back so that the lift arms wil lift high enough. The one thing i hate is the young lads drawing earth with the new tractors and the they cant reverse if you meet them with a full load of silage and they have a empty dumper. it could take them 10 to 20 minutes to reverse 100 meters. then they also think they own the world because they have a john deere or new holland and dooley dumper with 16 ton of earth. ask me you should not be able to drive on the road until you can reverse. plus the only reason they drive the tractors because they leave school when they are sixteen and they got a job straight away because of the building boom. but know their is now work for them beacuse their is know buildings been build. so know thwy are looking for jobs but cant drive a tractor proppley because they where never shown. in dudlin people can do a course on how to drive a tractor an dumper. it not that hard beacuse you can see over the dumper when you reverse. so only give somebody a new tractor if they can drive it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyB Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 It is all an age thing I think. The first tractor I drove was a MF 135 on a muck scraper, at that point (about 20 years ago) it was just about to turn the corner into 'classic' status. I do have some affection for the 135 but not as much as say the second tractor I drove which was a JD 2040S which was nearly new at the time and now is probably in or very nearly in its 'classic' years. The tractors I like the most, were new when I was growing up and I dare say that anyone of a similar age now (14-18) likes what they use now and will consider them the best shape/style/comfort/performance etc. for the rest of time It's like a tractor generation versus age generation ratio Sorry that sounds like a load of cods whalop! But it makes sense to me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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