Ford tractor equivalent of MF 390?

[John 1594]

Difference is I'm speaking from an actual ownership experience of a 1490 tractor that was 3 years old and looked tidy in appearance when it was bought. The fact it was replaced after 3 years for a 7 year old IH 885xl that had more hours on the clock and stayed with us for a further 7 years should give an idea about just how crap the DB was.

So you have said...i can only speak for having owned the 1494 over a decade and ive never even had the rocker cover off it...horses for courses. 1490s took a while to get right, if you bought a 79/80 version its understandable, i have one now, but thats an 83 and i know what to do to make them right (pusher fan for instance)

i had fords before i chose to move to DB, what swung it was watching a 4600 spin helplessly trying to pull a 2f plough while a 990 went past it pulling 3....things like that stick in your mind for ever

Oh, and the fact that the 2 majors i had (both supposedly the best tractors of their time) were hopless clumbsy and unrealible to the death compared to the 990 grandfather then had

i was never destined to get on with them

 

[Kevtherev]

This argument still going......

 

[Drillman]

So you have said...i can only speak for having owned the 1494 over a decade and ive never even had the rocker cover off it...horses for courses. 1490s took a while to get right, if you bought a 79/80 version its understandable, i have one now, but thats an 83 and i know what to do to make them right (pusher fan for instance)

i had fords before i chose to move to DB, what swung it was watching a 4600 spin helplessly trying to pull a 2f plough while a 990 went past it pulling 3....things like that stick in your mind for ever

Oh, and the fact that the 2 majors i had (both supposedly the best tractors of their time) were hopless clumbsy and unrealible to the death compared to the 990 grandfather then had

i was never destined to get on with them

1490 was an A plate 1983/4 model with the 94 series style hydraulic console in the cab.

Can't comment on those old cabless museum pieces (of any brand) as I've never been unfortunate enough to have to use one in anger.

 

[John 1594]

1490 was an A plate 1983/4 model with the 94 series style hydraulic console in the cab.

Can't comment on those old cabless museum pieces (of any brand) as I've never been unfortunate enough to have to use one in anger.

what could you have afforded to buy when you was aged 14..without asking your parents for a loan.....

majors were cheap...i later found out they were cheap for a good reason...it took me 6 months to save up for a 990....it was worth it

 

[FonterraFarmer]

Is that what they were made from


its worth noting however, that certain members (namely one in particular) seem to be obsessed with a single fault with a single machine, which was more than liekly caused by abuse and lack of maintianence it recieved from a previous owner

but fail to believe there was a huge long running issue with the entire range of engines in their favoured brand


any guesses?

Who ??? Maybe some of us do R&M on our machinery, hence the lack of breakdowns and actually having to "fix" machinery, no need to blame previous owners , thats just an excuse, sort it out before you start useing it , rather than complaining afterwards for something you should have done , but you chose not to...?

 

[FonterraFarmer]

This argument still going......

It no arguement, you need two or more people for an arguement!

 

[John 1594]

Who ??? Maybe some of us do R&M on our machinery, hence the lack of breakdowns and actually having to "fix" machinery, no need to blame previous owners , thats just an excuse, sort it out before you start useing it , rather than complaining afterwards for something you should have done , but you chose not to...?

How can you tell short of stripping it down to compnent parts before using it?

I was 2 years old when the 15 was new, and 21 years old when i bought it....how was i to know what it had done for the 19 years inbetween!!!

I knew some of the history of it, i knew the hydrashift had been rebuilt, i didnt know why at the time but later found it it was due to it never getting regular oil changes and the owners wife always leaving it in 4th when she set off. I also found out a few years later that they managed to pull the headstock off a dowdeswell DP7 when it was on the 15, "hit a bog oak with it" so they said!

 

[John 1594]

It no arguement, you need two or more people for an arguement!

well your here now, you count as 3, on your own

 

[Grouse]

This David Brown argument is fecking childish - it never changes - FFS John are you still in the playground ?

 

[Drillman]

what could you have afforded to buy when you was aged 14..without asking your parents for a loan.....

majors were cheap...i later found out they were cheap for a good reason...it took me 6 months to save up for a 990....it was worth it

Oh I will admit I never bought that 1490, drove it a fair bit though. And quite a few other tractors of various brands we had to hire or borrow to cover for it when it had yet another hissy fit.

Edit. Eventually we managed to offload it onto a potato acid spraying contractor. So I doubt it made it to 10 years old before dissolving.

 

[John 1594]

This David Brown argument is fecking childish - it never changes - FFS John are you still in the playground ?

Did i start it?

id suggest not....

 

[Grouse]

Then just ignore it - don't bite - it's predictable that you always will and then end up going on about how perfect DB's are and how shite every other make from the 80's was

 

[FonterraFarmer]

This David Brown argument is fecking childish - it never changes - FFS John are you still in the playground ?

+1

 

[multi power]

what could you have afforded to buy when you was aged 14..without asking your parents for a loan.....

majors were cheap...i later found out they were cheap for a good reason...it took me 6 months to save up for a 990....it was worth it

This above post explains everything. I have never ever touched a major but I'm well aware how awkward they are no wonder you liked the 990, a Swiss watch in comparison I would think
But good on you for getting off your backside and buying a tractor in the first place. Just a shame a 165 would have been way out of your budget.
I very nearly started with a 1594 myself

 

[cfr1964]

That's the one usually known more for his size than tractor

I only know him vaguely but aye he's a big lump of a boy
We looked at his 6810 at Erskine tractors before he bought it
It was a French spec tractor , originally badged as a 7410 and as you say had 38 tyres and a 40 k gearbox which you didn't get on British Fords at that time

 

[manfromhill]

I only know him vaguely but aye he's a big lump of a boy
We looked at his 6810 at Erskine tractors before he bought it
It was a French spec tractor , originally badged as a 7410 and as you say had 38 tyres and a 40 k gearbox which you didn't get on British Fords at that time

Served him well for a lot of years and pee'd all over a lot of bigger tractors at silage time

 

[cfr1964]

Served him well for a lot of years and pee'd all over a lot of bigger tractors at silage time

We had 2 6810s from the same place
They went very well too
Charlie who was the workshop foreman at the time liked to make sure tractors they sold went well

 

[Drillman]

Thing is all these tractors such as the DBs, ford 10 series etc are now knocking on for 30 years old. Unless they have been wrapped in cotton wool or extensively refurbished they are bound to have seen better days. I certainly haven't come across a 10 series ford in recent years with less than 8000 hrs on the clock.

 

[FonterraFarmer]

Did i start it?

id suggest not....

Well it wasn't me!!!, Anything I said was related to the 1594 , that was demonstrated locally in the late 80's, when the said tractor was NEW, if you what to argue that fact, you can with the farmer who brought the Fiat instead. Time to move on John, change the record....

 

[Drillman]

I was just referring to the scrap heap we were once unfortunate enough to own. Moved on to bigger and vastly better things now