Wide front

[flying belgian]

It occurred to me today that I have never driven a wide front tractor without power steering. All of our 2 cylinder jd's were tricycle. None had power steering. First I drove with wide front was Case 700 and that had power steering.

Does wide front steer easier in field? Especially with cultivator hanging on front. The jd 60 was a bugger for a 10 yr old kid.

 

[stevieb49829]

My "wife" doesn't steer worth crap, especially her front! However, I have both versions of a Massey Harris 101 Jr, and I'd say the "wide front" steers as easy as the narrow row crop, except when you get those two narrow wheels started into a turn they tend to jerk the wheel out of your hand, go cross-ways, and start plowing a furrow. My wide front is all new pins, bushings, grease and added thrust bearings so it's smooth. steve

 

[Tgrasher]

That spell check has a mind it's own. Two identical tractors, Case 300's, one wide front, the other narrow. The wide is harder to steer, especially when setting still.

 

[mudcreek183]

My wife doesn't steer well either , new shoes ,front end alignment . No matter what she always ends up at Hobby Lobby.

 

[Absent Minded Farmer]

Had a wide front Farmall H that steered as good as a narrow. No PS on either.

Mike

 

[Tony in SD]

We only had one tractor with power steering when I was on the farm And it didn’t work. It was all Armstrong Power Steering.

 

[Kow Farmer]

I had a WD45 AC tractors for many years with a wide front and a loader on front. No power steering either. Steered decently for me anyway, especially once you get rolling even with the loader full of materials. Kow Farmer

 

[Bob Bancroft]

It occurred to me today that I have never driven a wide front tractor without power steering. All of our 2 cylinder jd's were tricycle. None had power steering. First I drove with wide front was Case 700 and that had power steering.

Does wide front steer easier in field? Especially with cultivator hanging on front. The jd 60 was a bugger for a 10 yr old kid.

AC WD and WD45 with wide fronts steered fine. But that didn't carry over to the D series! D14 without power steering was miserable. I totally agree on the JD. Ours was a 50 with four row cultivator. And I was also 10. I don't know what my father was thinking. I can tell you I would never send a 10 year old out with that outfit.

 

[dlbuck]

It occurred to me today that I have never driven a wide front tractor without power steering. All of our 2 cylinder jd's were tricycle. None had power steering. First I drove with wide front was Case 700 and that had power steering.

Does wide front steer easier in field? Especially with cultivator hanging on front. The jd 60 was a bugger for a 10 yr old kid.

I don't know about her power steering, but when we took a shower her front was always sparkling clean.

 

[flying belgian]

It occurred to me today that I have never driven a wide front tractor without power steering. All of our 2 cylinder jd's were tricycle. None had power steering. First I drove with wide front was Case 700 and that had power steering.

Does wide front steer easier in field? Especially with cultivator hanging on front. The jd 60 was a bugger for a 10 yr old kid.

Took me this long to edit my title mistake.

Anyway follow up question..I don't think I ever saw a front mount 4-row cultivator on a wide front 2 cylinder. Did they even fit?

 

[Tim in New York]

Our Case 430 without power steering was not fun to use, especially in the woods. After Dad died, I got the tractor, but quickly sold it. Compared to my IH 2424 of the same vintage with hydrostatic PS, the Case never got used. Wish I had kept it now for sentimental reasons, but I needed a lawn mower more than the 430 at the time.

 

[Loosehandle]

It occurred to me today that I have never driven a wide front tractor without power steering. All of our 2 cylinder jd's were tricycle. None had power steering. First I drove with wide front was Case 700 and that had power steering.

Does wide front steer easier in field? Especially with cultivator hanging on front. The jd 60 was a bugger for a 10 yr old kid.

I have an jd A with wide front steers about the same as tricycle front. The turning radius is much larger and you wouldn't be able to pivot on one rear wheel while cultivating

 

[Fixingfarmer]

Have a farmall super c that I bought a wide front end and had it on for awhile. Steered just as smooth and easy as the narrow except couldn’t turn quite as short. It got switched back for that reason. The wide front end is worth as much as the tractor

 

[Brendon-KS]

I've got a Farmall 350 wide front without power steering. When there's a heavy load in the IH 2000 loader you don't try to steer when you're not moving. Without a load, especially when moving, it's not bad. I used to have a late-model Deere B single front with a 9.00x10 front tire. If it got a little low in pressure it was very difficult to turn the steering wheel when you weren't moving due to all the tire smearing against the ground.

 

[Leroy]

Took me this long to edit my title mistake.

Anyway follow up question..I don't think I ever saw a front mount 4-row cultivator on a wide front 2 cylinder. Did they even fit?

We had the A with 4 row on narrow front and also a B with a 4 row with narrow front.. Yes you could get a 4 row or even a 6 row on the wide front 2 cylinder models but in my area they were not sold. Now the AR standard tread A was a different story, Way harder to steer. Very few row crop tractors with wide front ever sold in this area. The single row semi mount or 1 row fully mount or 2 row mounted pickers made a wide front not usuable on those tractors. I had the 2 row fully mounted pickers. And then the wide front cost more and most thought they were not worth the extra cost. When the Roll-A-Matic came out that made the narrow front steere easier more like the wide front.

 

[davidpick]

I also have a IH 504 w/ PS, sweet, Thank you

 

[Rich'sToys]

We never had power steering on anything for a long time when I was growing up. We had a MM UB, an AC WD-45, and a Ford 8N, all with wide fronts. They seemed to steer OK--at least it seemed so, probably because we were used to them. None of those ever had a cultivator on them. We had a John Deere A with a 4 row cultivator. As mentioned, that was a whole different story!

Later on, we had a Farmall 350 and 560 which both had power steering. Definitely an improvement over the others!

 

[Hayfarmer]

We never had power steering on anything for a long time when I was growing up. We had a MM UB, an AC WD-45, and a Ford 8N, all with wide fronts. They seemed to steer OK--at least it seemed so, probably because we were used to them. None of those ever had a cultivator on them. We had a John Deere A with a 4 row cultivator. As mentioned, that was a whole different story!

Later on, we had a Farmall 350 and 560 which both had power steering. Definitely an improvement over the others!

I inherited a JD430 with #35 loader from my uncle. No ps so you learn to plan ahead, turning wheels when moving. Even though I have rebuilt the front end it still isn't easy. I don't use loader on it much anymore for that reason.

 

[jwal10]

Dad had a DC Case with wide front, no power steering. It was not easy for a little guy. He also had a 400 wide front no power steering, it was OK. I had 1 Farmall M with power steering, not much better than all the ones I had without power steering. I used Farmall M's for a lot of lighter farming operations. Spraying, roller harrow, spring tooth, spreading fertilizer, etc. I had a 300 Case, very easy to steer without power steering. I have a bunch of 300, 330 and 350 utilities without power steering, 2 with light loaders, no problems....James

 

[TheBartman47]

When I was a kid, we had a JD 50 with rollo-matic front end... it had power steering, but not (it leaked so bad we quit putting power steering fluid in it and just dealt with it being hard to steer, but wasn't too bad once rolling). We had a 60 and 730 with wide front end, both had good power steering and were easy to steer in the field. Turning around at the end of the field would use left or right brake to help it turn. Same with the 4020... with a big heavy 3-point mount cultivator and no weights on the front of the tractor, it could literally pivot on one back wheel turning around, sharper turn than what the front wheels could do without holding a left or right brake. Pulling a tandem on the draw bar couldn't make too sharp of a turn, and so the wide front end tires would turn fine without needing to apply a left or right brake.