Ford 981 vs 901

[Dwarner]

Hello all, this is my first post here, appreciate any feedback. I recently purchased a ford row crop tractor, it is red and white, with 901 SOS decals on the hood. Despite that, I’ve noticed that the transmission appears to have gold demonstrator paint poking out from underneath the flaking red paint with “981” stamped into the casting. There are no other signs of gold anywhere else on the tractor. Since the S/N is stamped on the transmission, I’m going to assume that i won’t be able to use it to figure anything on the tractor since it’s not original. Are there any differences between a 901 and a 981? If there are any differences how can I nail down exactly what I’m working with? Sorry if this is a novice question, but I haven’t ventured this far back in vintage. I only purchased the tractor for the rear wheel weights and power adjust rims, so I did very little research into the model, but my curiosity has now been peaked. I haven’t been able to find anything explaining exactly what the differences are.

 

[old]

Hello all, this is my first post here, appreciate any feedback. I recently purchased a ford row crop tractor, it is red and white, with 901 SOS decals on the hood. Despite that, I’ve noticed that the transmission appears to have gold demonstrator paint poking out from underneath the flaking red paint with “981” stamped into the casting. There are no other signs of gold anywhere else on the tractor. Since the S/N is stamped on the transmission, I’m going to assume that i won’t be able to use it to figure anything on the tractor since it’s not original. Are there any differences between a 901 and a 981? If there are any differences how can I nail down exactly what I’m working with? Sorry if this is a novice question, but I haven’t ventured this far back in vintage. I only purchased the tractor for the rear wheel weights and power adjust rims, so I did very little research into the model, but my curiosity has now been peaked. I haven’t been able to find anything explaining exactly what the differences are.

901 is the series of the tractor and there are a number of models in the series of the 901. There is the 941, 951, 961, 971 and 981.
The 841 has a 4 speed transmission
951 has a 5 speed
961 has a 5 speed but has a double clutch giving it live PTO.
971 and 981 have the SOS

 

[LarrySTN]

Hello all, this is my first post here, appreciate any feedback. I recently purchased a ford row crop tractor, it is red and white, with 901 SOS decals on the hood. Despite that, I’ve noticed that the transmission appears to have gold demonstrator paint poking out from underneath the flaking red paint with “981” stamped into the casting. There are no other signs of gold anywhere else on the tractor. Since the S/N is stamped on the transmission, I’m going to assume that i won’t be able to use it to figure anything on the tractor since it’s not original. Are there any differences between a 901 and a 981? If there are any differences how can I nail down exactly what I’m working with? Sorry if this is a novice question, but I haven’t ventured this far back in vintage. I only purchased the tractor for the rear wheel weights and power adjust rims, so I did very little research into the model, but my curiosity has now been peaked. I haven’t been able to find anything explaining exactly what the differences are.

Your Ford appears to be a 981 (select-o-speed with 2 speed/ground drive pto) the 971 is a select-o-speed with single speed pto.

 

[john in la]

A 981 is a 901 just like a GT fastback is a mustang. The 8 just tells what options the tractor came with.
Think of it this way.
Ford. Ford
901. Mustang
981. GT fastback.

 

[shaun wallace]

Your Ford appears to be a 981 (select-o-speed with 2 speed/ground drive pto) the 971 is a select-o-speed with single speed pto.

The ground drive has been deleted or never installed.

 

[Dwarner]

Thanks for all the feedback guys, makes total sense now. I suppose Ford just replaced the “8” on the decal with the SOS wording next to the “901” my next post won’t be this goofy, I promise