tricycle

[xring 223]

have opertunity to get a 900 ford. my question is on the feasibility of useing it to brush hog and snow removal? I live in very hilly WV. Tractor is in great shape power steering is the only problem pump is missing thanks for your thoughts

 

[Jim in Ma.]

You didn't say , But for snow removal with a loader will be tippy or unstable.
With a plow ti should do real good and turn on a dime. Just my opinion

 

[Fordfarmer]

I had a 901 wide front that I used for plowing snow. Worked well. Should be a good match on a 5'-6' brush hog, too. Many of the 900/901's have inoperative p/s systems. Some were bought with manual steering. On a narrow front tractor of that size, manual steering shouldn't be a big negative, unless you plan on having a loader on it.

 

[Harvey 2]

A tricycle tractor isn't as stable on hills as a wide front. But if a man is careful, they can get by. One thing I like about a tricycle is you can turn in a shorter circle.
I knew a farmer from WV., and he told me he couldn't bale hay with a round baler as the rolls of hay would all roll down hill and crash into the barn.

 

[old]

Well to tell the truth be it a tractor with a wide front end or a narrow front end both can/will flip if you run them the wrong way. Ya a narrow front may flips a tad bit easier but not by much. Note the picture of this 8N the guy drive along the hill side and if it had not been for the tree he would have been dead as it was he busted up his knee and went to the hospital for that

 

[Will Gumbert]

Is it a single wheel front or dual wheel? If dual, then you can make it slightly more stable by mounting the front wheels dished-out if you want to mow on hilly terrain. Still advise going straight up and down hills....-Will

 

[souNdguy]

I LOVE to mow with a ford rowcrop.

last year I use dmy bigger diesels to tame the brush for the 1st cutting of the year, and from then on I hogged it with ford rowcrops.

here's a pic of a 950 that is literally a mutt made out of about 7 other tractors.. mismatched parts and a radiator out of a junkyard compact car... semi sloppy steering ( partially corrected ) from way too far worn out parts.. but still turns sharper than a ag chassis.

next pic is my 740 with a mower..

last pic is my 4000 wide front. it currently has a fertalizer spreader on it.. but earier this year I had a mower on it knocking down some weeds behind the barn... i like it almost as much as the trikes to mow with.. and all of the rowcrops better than an ag chassis.

 

[Dell (WA)]

xring.........NEVER use a tri-cycle on HILLSIDES. Eazy recipe for tilting over. Tri-cycles are good for row-cropping; pasture is NOT a row-crop. DON'T do it!!! You can find better 4-wheel wide-stance tractors. ........respectfully, Dell

 

[old]

Dell why not tell the truth and say NEVER use any tractor on a hill side go up and down never along. ALL tractors can/will flip on a hill side as my picture shows and yes it had an ORC on that 8N

 

[s19438]

as with any machinery a little common sense goes a very long way. in other words, if it looks too steep then it most likely is.

 

[Kirk-NJ]

You can always change it out to a wide stance like soundguys blue tractor.
A used pump should set you back $300/$400
You can alway add some additional weight to the uphill tire but caution should always be used with RC's on hilllsides.
Kirk

 

[xring 223]

going up and down a hill sounds right but you still have to turn around on the hill
Where and how do you get a wide front on your 4000 that looks great.

 

[showcrop]

Buy that 900! In fifty years on tractors I have had three very close calls to tipping over and all of them were on wide fronts and I own five narrow fronts. Keep in mind that all wide fronts pivot in the front and on a side hill can allow the up hill rear to get off the ground before the front comes onto the stop, and that can be too late. If you load your tires and put a set of pie weights on the back, you would have to drive around blind folded to tip it over.

 

[Will Gumbert]

You can buy a complete wide front axle from classified ads ocassionally on this site or from one of several salvage yards that specialize in Ford tractors. Two that come to mine are Long Lane tractors and Arthur's tractors. Expect to pay around $400 to $500. I have a 961 wide front and I got a narrow front pedestal for it to convert it to a dual wheel NF, but I want to convert it back and forth. It's not hard to do. -Will
Here's the wide front axle on my 961.....

Now, this is for a 901 series and early 4000, I'm not sure if the same axle assembly will fit on a 900. I know the NF pedestal is different on the earlier tractors. Someone here will know.... -Will

 

[Royse]

We don't have the same hills in my part of Michigan that you have there,
but I've never had any trouble using the narrow fronts.
The only tractor I ever came close to rolling over was a Farmall A with the
offset engine. I had the engine side down hill. Stupid kid at the time.
As others have said, the NF turns shorter and steers easier, great tractors.
With any tractor (or lawn mower) you should go up and down hills, not across.

 

[old]

That is the point you go to the top where it is flat or back down but you NEVER turn around on a hill or you end up like the guy in my pictures where he slide side ways down the hill till the tree caught him and he with the tractor did a 180 sending him to the hospital but he was close to the morgue

 

[Kirk-NJ]

The later 900 had the interchangable front end pedistal.
I believe you can still do it on the early model but you have to chance out the whole front end.
They also made some aftermarket WF. Not sure about changing or swapping on them.

Kirk

 

[WayneIA]

You fellas are missapplying the use of a rowcrop(960 etc)tractor.(Having a little fun here.) The rowcrop was built so Ford had a tractor to put a 2 row mounted corn picker on. These pickers were built in the old Wood Bros factory in Des Moines Iowa, built by Iowans to pick Iowa CORN.
As a side not. The last national corn picking contest was held in Hastings NE in 1963. Of th 9 states there, 7 had Fords. The top 3 places were Fords. Enough bragging. LOL

 

[souNdguy]

it boils down to which front pedistal the machine has. if it has the older 1 piece front pedistal, it will not accept the oe ford wide front. many people have put newer 2 piece pedistals on the older machines so thay can accompdate the single wheel or dual wheel narrow, or dual wheel wid OE ford fronts.

now.. for the single piece pedistals.. there were a couple aftermarket companies that made a conversion wide front end. schwartz was one of them. somewhere I have a pic of a 900 with a schwartz wide front conversion.

weird looking thing. still have the old pedistal stub hanging down..

 

[souNdguy]

the later units came with a 2 piece front pedistal, letting you change out to a single or dual wheel narrow front or a wide dual wheel front, all OE ford.

the older untis had a single piece pedistal for dual wheel narrow fronts. some aftermarket co's made a conversion for the single piece pedistal for a special non OE wide front. schwartz was one of them.

if your machine hads the 2 piece pedistal.. you can fit a wide front. some older machines have been swapped to the 2 piece pedistal as single piece pedistal parts are becoming harder to find.

i'd only turn around on flat areas.. or areas of only VERY minor slope.

 

[souNdguy]

yep.. a couple made non OE wide fronts for the single piece pedistal. schwartz was one of them.