Best tractor of the 80's

John 1594 · Mar 22, 2015

Drillman said:
Fair comment but the majority of the 4wd conversions used for heavy work were Ford based.

there were more conversions that just 4wds, what about all the leyland skids that ended up as JCBs, or the DBs used as tug tractors, you ever seen a ford based tug?

The benefit of the ford was parts interchangability, all the blocks were of the same pattern, 3, 4 or 6, you could just rip the old porous engine or shagged out selcto speed box, and replace it with a manual box, 6 pot engine and a 4wd schlinder or selene axle

John 1594 · Mar 22, 2015

Flat 10 said:
Do you grow beet John? If so you need a DB cyclone!

No but if i did ive have a tornado with a 1494 hydra as the power unit

RimmerF140 · Mar 22, 2015

Drillman said:
But why was it that most if not all the conversion companies based the majority of there products on the Ford skid unit?

Also gearboxes (8 speed at least) and backend were heavily built and could easily take the power of the bigger 6 cyls. Plus the industrial engines could be used in them with very little work, and they were pretty strong engines

Drillman · Mar 22, 2015

John 1594 said:
there were more conversions that just 4wds, what about all the leyland skids that ended up as JCBs, or the DBs used as tug tractors, you ever seen a ford based tug?

The benefit of the ford was parts interchangability, all the blocks were of the same pattern, 3, 4 or 6, you could just rip the old porous engine or shagged out selcto speed box, and replace it with a manual box, 6 pot engine and a 4wd schlinder or selene axle

Again fair comment but I will still maintain the Ford skid unit was the preferred choice for the majority of the big names of the 60,s-70,s and 80,s.

two-cylinder · Mar 22, 2015

Drillman said:
Fair comment but the majority of the 4wd conversions used for heavy work were Ford based.

Tradition played a part, County had been a customer of Fords from 1948, and Roadless from 53.
If the Ford skid suited the application why change?

John 1594 · Mar 22, 2015

Drillman said:
Again fair comment but I will still maintain the Ford skid unit was the preferred choice for the majority of the big names of the 60,s-70,s and 80,s.

and what happened to the big names when ford built there own 4wd............they all went out of business overnight.

Eggs and baskets, if that had came up with better ideas, instead of churning out cheap ford conversions, they might have stayed in business a few years longer

ford were pathetically slow catching the boat both with factory fitted 4wd and 6 cylinder engines

smcapstick · Mar 22, 2015

John 1594 said:
and what happened to the big names when ford built there own 4wd............they all went out of business overnight.

Eggs and baskets, if that had came up with better ideas, instead of churning out cheap ford conversions, they might have stayed in business a few years longer

ford were pathetically slow catching the boat both with factory fitted 4wd and 6 cylinder engines

The conversion boys were doomed, Ford-based or otherwise. When the job goes in-house, the privateers cannot compete.

RimmerF140 · Mar 22, 2015

John 1594 said:
and what happened to the big names when ford built there own 4wd............they all went out of business overnight.

Eggs and baskets, if that had came up with better ideas, instead of churning out cheap ford conversions, they might have stayed in business a few years longer

ford were pathetically slow catching the boat both with factory fitted 4wd and 6 cylinder engines

Even though I'm a ford man I can't disagree with that last sentence. 7810 should've been 15 years earlier than it was.

RimmerF140 · Mar 22, 2015

John 1594 said:
and what happened to the big names when ford built there own 4wd............they all went out of business overnight.

Eggs and baskets, if that had came up with better ideas, instead of churning out cheap ford conversions, they might have stayed in business a few years longer

ford were pathetically slow catching the boat both with factory fitted 4wd and 6 cylinder engines

Even though I'm a ford man I can't disagree with that last sentence. 7810 should've been 15 years earlier than it was.

RimmerF140 · Mar 22, 2015

John 1594 said:
and what happened to the big names when ford built there own 4wd............they all went out of business overnight.

Eggs and baskets, if that had came up with better ideas, instead of churning out cheap ford conversions, they might have stayed in business a few years longer

ford were pathetically slow catching the boat both with factory fitted 4wd and 6 cylinder engines

Even though I'm a ford man I can't disagree with that last sentence. 7810 should've been 15 years earlier than it was.

Drillman · Mar 22, 2015

John 1594 said:
and what happened to the big names when ford built there own 4wd............they all went out of business overnight.

Eggs and baskets, if that had came up with better ideas, instead of churning out cheap ford conversions, they might have stayed in business a few years longer

ford were pathetically slow catching the boat both with factory fitted 4wd and 6 cylinder engines

The same can be said for many other tractor companies that have fallen by the wayside over the years.

CNH for example is a company that has in effect been the result of many mergers over the years to include DB, Case, IH, Ford, Fiat and New Holland. To my knowledge with the exception of the arctics and Magnum/T8 series the rest of the current CNH range owe much of their lineage to Ford and Fiat. The rest have fallen by the wayside or have been sold off.

two-cylinder · Mar 22, 2015

Ford lost the plot in the Early 80's, yes they introduced in-house 4wds, but the Rubik-cube gearbox wasn't the best idea, Engine's went porous and their pricing was way out?
Why was the Super Q so dear? Loosing sales the Secura came in.
and why were they still using the dated thousand series dash panel?

massey765 · Mar 23, 2015

RimmerF140 said:
Even though I'm a ford man I can't disagree with that last sentence. 7810 should've been 15 years earlier than it was.

i am a massey man, and the same could be said about there 699 ,15 years to late....hell they could have had a 599 back in 1976

multi power · Mar 23, 2015

massey765 said:
i am a massey man, and the same could be said about there 699 ,15 years to late....hell they could have had a 599 back in 1976

they did put a 6 354 in a 188 back in the 70s, feck knows why they didnt put it into prouduction

mb86 · Mar 23, 2015

John 1594 said:
there were more conversions that just 4wds, what about all the leyland skids that ended up as JCBs, or the DBs used as tug tractors, you ever seen a ford based tug?

The benefit of the ford was parts interchangability, all the blocks were of the same pattern, 3, 4 or 6, you could just rip the old porous engine or shagged out selcto speed box, and replace it with a manual box, 6 pot engine and a 4wd schlinder or selene axle

John 1594 · Mar 23, 2015

mb86 said:
View attachment 129648 View attachment 129648

Not in this country im presuming

mb86 · Mar 23, 2015

John 1594 said:
Not in this country im presuming

Did the us navy on the bonnet give it away?

John 1594 · Mar 23, 2015

mb86 said:
Did the us navy on the bonnet give it away?

More the fact its based on either a 9/2/8n. it wouldnt have the weight or the power to drag fully laden 4 engine bombers about like the DB taskmasters did, they were ballasted up to over 5 tonnes to do that

mb86 · Mar 23, 2015

It is a 9n. Weight. 7250 lbs

smcapstick · Mar 23, 2015

mb86 said:
View attachment 129648 View attachment 129648

They look pretty well ballasted-up to me.

Best tractor of the 80's

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