I was looking at a 9N one time, but I was scared to buy it! I didn't have a pilot's license, so I was scared to even start it up!
After buying my farm, naturally I needed a tractor. Well money was a bit tight with the big down payment, so it was used tractors that were within the budget. I found a nice, relatively clean 9N, So we go there and this guy in overalls is telling us all about the tractor and what has been done to it.
“ It has new wings!" Evidently the tongue-tied gentleman was trying to say it had a new set of rings.
!
My uncle and I look at each other with the same confusion and then the light turns on at the same time. Both of us hold back laughter!
It had other problems so we turned down the offer.
But his catch line of
“ It has new wings!", became our little saying when we came upon a questionable or silly deal we were trying to work.
'
This is what I eventually bought. An international Farmall SuperM..
Most Super M's were equipped with the row crop front end, the two little small tires matteo the front had an angle close together.
Mine had the wide front end.
It was way more tractor than I needed, but it needed work and the price was definitely right.
I definitely learned a lot of new stuff working on this tractor, but I got everything function mechanically the way it should. Man what a beast!! It could get a lot of work done, but it was a gas hog and a half!
You would think with that big huge heavy engine in the front, you were safe from the front end coming up, but that just wasn't the case! I bought a two row turning plow for it and it would pull it like there was nothing there! When I was busting fresh ground for the garden, I did have some hard clay parts fairly shallow. You definitely had to be quick on the clutch, because the front end would come up really quick when it hit the hard clay!
I also used it to pull out the remainder of a big oak tree that had been hit by lightning. That was a bit hairy !
I used that tractor for about a year and a half and decided I needed a tractor with a front end loader.
That's when I bought a Ford New Holland 1720 4 wheel drive compact tractor. What an absolute little workhorse! In addition to the front end loader, I had an extremely varied array of different three point attachments that I could use to get work done on the farm!
Let's see if I can remember them all!
A cement mixer,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, It mixed a lot more than just cement.
A single row bottom turning plow and a middle buster plow
A 6 foot wide shredder Mower
A PTO driven 6 foot wide finish mower
A gang of ground driven Toro Reel mower................. It was given to me and was used to mow the landing strip at the Airpark at the end of my road. I had to rebuild all five mowers. That was on the verge of the lifting capabilities of that tractor, but it could knockout the front lawn in nothing flat and with a golf course grade finish.
A one row cultivator
A box blade and a single blade that could be angled and could be used to push material............... Mainly used for road building and maintaining.
A single row planter
A grain drill
A 6 foot wide disk
A 5 foot wide rototiller
A 5 foot wide chain harrow
A post hole Digger/ augur
A spray rig with a 15 foot boom with also a handheld sprayer wand
I think that's it! LOL! I had that tractor roughly 23 years. I replaced the front tires once and my uncle fried my clutch by letting his foot set on the pedal while shredding the pasture. Those were the only two repairs that I had to do to the tractor.
If you need you or ever in the market for a compact tractor. 4 wheel drive is the only way to go. A two wheel drive compact tractor Just cannot do anywhere close to the work a 4wheel drive tractor can with the exact same PTO horsepower. A front end loader on a two wheel drive tractor is just a plain waste..
Although it would definitely be an overkill on this little bitty place I have now, I definitely have jobs that it could do!
That was definitely a good tractor! It was so integral in the entire operation of my little farm.