JOHNNY BOY
New Member
Anyone use these tractors much.
Universal tractors
- Thread starter JOHNNY BOY
- Start date
JOHNNY BOY
New Member
I have a 550 super edition of these. As the name says a super little tractor. That good on diesel you would nearly forget to put it in it.
8100
Member
- Location
- South Cheshire
A farm up the road had one around the 1980s a little 4x4 @ 60hp I recall. The lad who drove it had a high opinion of it .
Dman2
Member
- Location
- Durham, UK
Had 2 here in the late 70s. good enough for what we paid.
Seem to remember one of the optional extras was a seat
Seem to remember one of the optional extras was a seat
Llewellyn93
Member
- Location
- South Shropshire
Haven't got any pics of the front of the old beast but we've got a 550 DT. Got a quicke power loader on the front and spends most of its time on the log spitter. We are 3rd owners from new was sold by Bryan Jones in bishops castle. They are ok you get what you pay for!
We had two 445s,first (and only tractors bought new).Finished life on yard scraper :-( Good tough tractors made in Romania to Fiat design.Dad ran the two with inline Kidd single chop harvesters,on a good day could clear 2 acres between milkings:-D Power farming!!!!!!!
JOHNNY BOY
New Member
My father bought a 550 super universal back in 78 i think, for the tidy sum of £4,400. Put over 20.000 hours on her till she finally gave up the ghost. More neglect from him than anything in the end.
Had a 640 dt, a 650 and i bought a 550 super again in the spring of 2012 more as a small run around for him. Checking cattle and so on. She's always doing something now. All the bigger tractors stay in the shed now unless theres something requiring more power.
Had a 640 dt, a 650 and i bought a 550 super again in the spring of 2012 more as a small run around for him. Checking cattle and so on. She's always doing something now. All the bigger tractors stay in the shed now unless theres something requiring more power.
pycoed
Member
- Location
- Pontarddulais, UK
My 445 DT. Does heavy topping of rushes with 5' topper, moves ton bags (shackles welded halfway along the loader arms), works an old Twose back actor & shifts loads of logs with bucket & transit box. Also rusts gently in the rain for the last 9 years but always starts. (Gear selection requires a ouijah board!)
Last edited by a moderator:
JOHNNY BOY
New Member
JOHNNY BOY
New Member
Hi there @pycoed. Seems most of the universals over there are four wheel drives. Only seen one four wheel drive of that series in Ireland ever. Is that what the dt stands for in the model description
pycoed
Member
- Location
- Pontarddulais, UK
Yes the DT means 4WD, there was also a model with same size wheels front & back -like a County, but I can't remember what the letters for them were (pretty rare - I've never seen one)
JOHNNY BOY
New Member
pycoed
Member
- Location
- Pontarddulais, UK
DTCE here you go:-
JOHNNY BOY
New Member
As well as the design, fiat also sold universal the tooling for these cracking wee tractors.
When they decided to stop making themselves and sell onto universal, Fiat definitely threw baby out with the bath water!
An island farm off port appin that I worked on as a teenager had a 550dt. Things did break, but could be fixed without recourse to involving the mainland.
For example, one of the gear selector rails was broken. In theory it needed to be barged across the water to be split for a new rail. Instead, I took the top cover off the box, and was able to join the two broken parts together with stainless steel seizing wire. The fix was still working fifteen years later when they sold it!
When they decided to stop making themselves and sell onto universal, Fiat definitely threw baby out with the bath water!
An island farm off port appin that I worked on as a teenager had a 550dt. Things did break, but could be fixed without recourse to involving the mainland.
For example, one of the gear selector rails was broken. In theory it needed to be barged across the water to be split for a new rail. Instead, I took the top cover off the box, and was able to join the two broken parts together with stainless steel seizing wire. The fix was still working fifteen years later when they sold it!
They were dirt cheap at the time, and surprisingly reliable, especially since they were made from worn out tooling that fiat thought too expensive to be worth renewing.
john432
Member
- Location
- Carmarthenshire
My dad bought a new 445dt back in the early 70's, was a good little tractor for the time, I remember the steering being heavy for me at the time! They came with a big wooden crate of tools, and parts, greasegun, oil pump,air pump, spare bulbs.etc etc. The dealer took out a lot of stuff from the crate, but forgot the list, spare injector, piston and more on the list. Today one has to pay 40 times the price for a tractor,and your lucky to get a pair of overalls!
- Location
- South West
They are still available are they not? Became a Case JX so whichever Farmall super seeded that is a Universal and also available in blue and manufactured in Turkey!
Last edited: