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Statesville, NC | Keeping the two cylinders in the line longer was good for two reasons. First, fuel economy. Nothing could touch a two cylinder diesel for fuel economy. The 720/730 held the record until the mid 1980's. Second, it gave them more time to develop and test the new generation tractors, so they didn't have the major failures that IH had at that time.
Deere also did the right thing focusing on building bigger tractors earlier. Ford did real well from WWII through the '60's when the demand for smaller tractors was still good, but they also had problems building a bigger tractor, the 6000. By the '70's the market was flooded with small, older tractors so the manufacturers didn't build any. In 1976 the smallest JD was the 2040 at 40 pto hp. Nothing smaller but lawn mowers. Then they started the deal with Yanmar to build smaller tractors as more people bought small acreage to maintain but not really farm. | |
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Which was the Better Machine for its Era?
