Recommend a Good Tractor

pelevin

Can anyone recommend a good tractor for a beginner looking to give up cycling and get into tractor driving?

rp

Here you go:

Wishbone Ash

John Deere 8410 was my favourite!

on_the_nickel

Pricy, but it's what the professionals use....

pelevin

That suggestion from rp looks like it might be ideal to get me gently into the swing of things. The John Deere would of course be a beautiful machine but I think it might be a bit too good for me at this stage. "Look at yer man with the f....g John Deere. Langer."

eeeee

Get a handy wee New Holland/Ford. Blue goes with everything and you can stand out from the red and green masses. The Ford 4630's a handy little machine if ya can get one. 60hp I think and 4 wheel drive. Ya don't need a big new machine wit lots of power. Better to know how to use a small one than blunder around in a big one

QueensGael

The Massey is classy, but the Zetter is better!

quozl

If you're in no rush then you could do worse than go up to the Bohernabreena tractor run in the summer. It's a handy cycle up and there's hundreds of tractors there.

You might even get to go in a fire engine like my twin boys did.

Would you not consider a jet plane though instead? Less good for the ploughing but much more useful if the Ruskies invade.

rp

pelevin wrote: »

"Look at yer man with the f....g John Deere. Langer."

Mycroft H

Fiatagri 80/90. They're your only man. Ours even has a radio.

pelevin

quozl wrote: »

If you're in no rush then you could do worse than go up to the Bohernabreena tractor run in the summer. It's a handy cycle up and there's hundreds of tractors there.

You might even get to go in a fire engine like my twin boys did.

Would you not consider a jet plane though instead? Less good for the ploughing but much more useful if the Ruskies invade.

You're leaving me behind with this talk of jet planes but getting to go in a fire engine in Bohernabreena sounds very exciting.

pelevin

Mycroft H wrote: »

Fiatagri 80/90. They're your only man. Ours even has a radio.

A radio? I don't think you should be driving a modern tractor and listening to the radio at the same time.

eeeee

We'll even the wiper works on ours

You radios should be put out? Wait till Ya see the super GPS in the new ones. No more missing bits when spreading fertiliser ( which you only see when it's too late naturally!) and setting seeds etc. It's amazing. We are still in the gps-less age of measuring the previous tracks and having a good guess at home. Much harder on a good dry day to get an even coverage!

Beasty

Brought up with David Brown and Massey Ferguson, but when I started taking it seriously in the 70's Internationals were the thing. Remember seeing an old Fordson burst into flames and the panic that ensued as my dad was trying to start it

Got to say though the modern tractors are much better, particularly on Strava segments ....

rp

Beasty wrote: »

Got to say though the modern tractors are much better, particularly on Strava segments ....

If you are losing your KOMs to tractors, time to buy that CX bike

Beasty

rp wrote: »

If you are losing your KOMs to tractors, time to buy that CX bike

I'm not losing any to tractors, but one or two may have benefited from a lead out ...

eeeee

Beasty wrote: »

Brought up with David Brown and Massey Ferguson, but when I started taking it seriously in the 70's Internationals were the thing. Remember seeing an old Fordson burst into flames and the panic that ensued as my dad was trying to start it

Got to say though the modern tractors are much better, particularly on Strava segments ....

We had an international at home for about 15 years it was a great machine. Only one front window, no doors or other Windows and no floor but out was an absolute breast to Work. Went like a clock. Had no handbrake though. So sad to see it go. Have a 95 Ford now with Windows and doors and 4 wheel drive and a floor and everything. The international was the upgrade to a super dexta, which we still have. No cab or floor, left and right brake. Hand throttle. Awesome machine, the first thing I learned how to drive. Our farm is on a hill and when we started making round bales of silage taking one on the back of the dexta used to make the front rear up off the ground up the hill so you had to steer with the brakes if you had to turn. You wouldn't have a ten year Old doing it now! Happy memories

cdaly_

Beasty wrote: »

I'm not losing any to tractors, but one or two may have benefited from a lead out ...

One or two tractors?

Beasty

cdaly_ wrote: »

One or two tractors?

Different tractors at different times - trying to give 2 of them a lead out at the same tme would be ridiculous ....

nilhg

gadetra wrote: »

We had an international at home for about 15 years it was a great machine. Only one front window, no doors or other Windows and no floor but out was an absolute breast to Work. Went like a clock. Had no handbrake though. So sad to see it go. Have a 95 Ford now with Windows and doors and 4 wheel drive and a floor and everything. The international was the upgrade to a super dexta, which we still have. No cab or floor, left and right brake. Hand throttle. Awesome machine, the first thing I learned how to drive. Our farm is on a hill and when we started making round bales of silage taking one on the back of the dexta used to make the front rear up off the ground up the hill so you had to steer with the brakes if you had to turn. You wouldn't have a ten year Old doing it now! Happy memories

If the bales didn't all roll down to the bottom ditch when let out of the baler then it's not a proper hill....

When the bottom ditch can't stop the bales then the fun starts.....

pelevin

Beasty wrote: »

Got to say though the modern tractors are much better, particularly on Strava segments ....

I think that's a bit of a cod though. Imo the Irish Farmers' Association should step in and make it that Strava segments should be on 70s equipment at the latest, otherwise it's more about the equipment than the driver.

eeeee

nilhg wrote: »

If the bales didn't all roll down to the bottom ditch when let out of the baler then it's not a proper hill....

When the bottom ditch can't stop the bales then the fun starts.....

Ha ha ha ha exactly! Oh God the curses... We have them stacked beside the shed which is like this: \. Stacking then is fairly nerve wracking when you haven't been at it in a while!

Beasty

When I wer' a lad we had a binder - the straw stooks were a lot lighter than the bales that followed. Then everything went into the thresher, powered by a traction engine.

Those were the days....

... of real graft (fortunately as a kid I managed to avoid the really hard work!)

outfox

Where's Ford2600 when you need him?

531

I can't recommend a tractor but there is a John Deere bike in Wexford!

http://www.wexfordwheelers.com/index.php/2012/12/page/2/

sbs2010

Everyone knows the best bikes and tractors are Italian:

http://www.lamborghini-tractors.com/en-EU/

Wishbone Ash

gadetra wrote: »

....The international was the upgrade to a super dexta, which we still have...

The Super Dexta - that brings back memories. I learned to drive in a 1963 one. The gears were so easy to jam if you didn't move in very straight lines. I loved the little pedal under the seat for locking the differential.

The worst tractors I've driven were Universals - no redeeming features whatsoever. Romanian built crap which would refuse to start every second morning.

It's funny how youth and foolishness go hand in hand. I was asked to bring one from Swords to Rush years ago. The only problem was that there was no clutch and it was stuck in 4th gear. No bother says I. I had to start it by putting it on a trailer and run start it down the rear ramp and once I got going I couldn't stop until I reached my destination as I had no clutch. I could accelerate and brake a little but if I allowed it to stall I'd be stranded. Needless to say, making the right turn at Blake's Cross in heavy traffic (pre-motorway days) was squeaky bum time. I wouldn't do it in a fit now.

Beasty wrote: »

When I wer' a lad we had a binder - the straw stooks were a lot lighter than the bales that followed. Then everything went into the thresher, powered by a traction engine.

Those were the days....

...and the 2 hundredweight bags of corn! :eek:

nilhg

sbs2010 wrote: »

Everyone knows the best bikes and tractors are Italian:

http://www.lamborghini-tractors.com/en-EU/

Classic Italian is the hardy Fiat 110-90, the only place you'd see a Lamborghini around here is on the bog.

eeeee

nilhg wrote: »

My uncle had one of those. We had the dexta at home. I thought it was the last word in tractor awesomeness at the time! Most reliable machine he ever had.

Rambling Man

I used to be into them before I took up cycling. I'm an ex-tractor fan.

Wishbone Ash

Rambling Man wrote: »

... I'm an ex-tractor fan.

I could use you in my bathroom - the one I have is useless!

pelevin

Rambling Man wrote: »

I used to be into them before I took up cycling. I'm an ex-tractor fan.

It's not all one-way traffic so. Interesting.