70s tractor poll

Best tractor produced in the 70s


  • Total voters
    69
think meath farm opened in the 70s. Peter told me the whole story at the last open day but I was more focused on the lovely new 7r series deere sitting on front of me.
Ive relatives in the North East , Timmons started selling tractors in the late seventies but didnt get the JD dealership until 1980 or perhaps 1981 ?
 
my father had a IH 784 up until the mid eighties , perhaps he just didnt mind it very well but he never had a good word to say about it bar " it was fast on the road " ? ( I was too young to remember much about it ) , used to say he " should have bought a MF 165 at the time like his neighbour did, he bought the international brand new too
 
my father had a IH 784 up until the mid eighties , perhaps he just didnt mind it very well but he never had a good word to say about it bar " it was fast on the road " ? ( I was too young to remember much about it ) , used to say he " should have bought a MF 165 at the time like his neighbour did, he bought the international brand new too
sounds alot like my uncle. Said they traded in their 135 for a 674 in the mid 70s. He said his father was constantly complaining that it was too hard on diesel and too heavy, that the only good thing about it was it was speedy on the road. They ended up trading it in, in the late 70s for a 148.
 
sounds alot like my uncle. Said they traded in their 135 for a 674 in the mid 70s. He said his father was constantly complaining that it was too hard on diesel and too heavy, that the only good thing about it was it was speedy on the road. They ended up trading it in, in the late 70s for a 148.
Are you sure it was a 674?
The 674 was a great tractor in the field, but only did 15/6mph on the road.
The 574 was a good bit poorer in the field, but was a pocket rocket on the road, did 22/3mph.
 
Are you sure it was a 674?
The 674 was a great tractor in the field, but only did 15/6mph on the road.
The 574 was a good bit poorer in the field, but was a pocket rocket on the road, did 22/3mph.
Probably a 574. He reckoned it was so quick because it had 36 inch wheels on the back.
 
my father bought a Ford 7000 circa 1987 , truth be told it was well shook by the time he got it , think it was moved on around 1995 , never seen many 7000,s around but loads of Ford 5000,s
 
Probably a 574. He reckoned it was so quick because it had 36 inch wheels on the back.
When I started farming I bought a fairly shook 574 from the few bob I had saved up. the tachometer was not working and governor was not set properly. I was young and foolish, but still I hadn't the bottle to see how fast it would go, but I did push it to near 35mph, I still reckon I could have got it to do well over 40mph.
 
When I started farming I bought a fairly shook 574 from the few bob I had saved up. the tachometer was not working and governor was not set properly. I was young and foolish, but still I hadn't the bottle to see how fast it would go, but I did push it to near 35mph, I still reckon I could have got it to do well over 40mph.
So he reckoned. Said it would easily surpass 25mph
 
What was the reason for that? Different gearbox?
There was a few different options for the 74 series in terms of speeds, you could have a fast 674 too. I remember looking all of this up when I owned one, it was the slightly quicker one topping out at about 22mph.
 
I would have drawn silage with a 784, it had the lightning strike gearstick on the left and the trailer tipping lever on the right that you could catch with your heel easily. First day out with a full trailer and I got down to open a gate in front of me. Got back to tractor after catching the tipping lever accidentally with my big foot and the load was well up in the air, only reason it didnt lift the tractor was the back wheels were full of water for traction. That tractor was the only one in the outfit that could fly up a greasy hill no problem fully loaded. Plenty of power, stopping wasn't as good. It was fast though.
 
We still have a 454 from new.had a 784 from mid eighties to early nineties.
I can't see how anyone could compare them to a 135 or 148, having fifty percent more hp and much bigger
My father always liked them for comfort, again not comparable to them Masseys,a reliable but v.basic tractor
the ih had side gears and a decent sound proofed cab.the kick able spool valve was a serious pain alright.
My father drove a half hour journey with it pulled which blew the hydraulic pump,a right pain to change that too
Mechanically,they weren't very reliable.
Bursting steel hydraulic pipes under the cab was a regular occurrence which involved taking the seat out among other things,not fun either.
The fiat 880 5cyl that replaced it was three times the tractor in power ,ability and reliability
 
We still have a 454 from new.had a 784 from mid eighties to early nineties.
I can't see how anyone could compare them to a 135 or 148, having fifty percent more hp and much bigger
My father always liked them for comfort, again not comparable to them Masseys,a reliable but v.basic tractor
the ih had side gears and a decent sound proofed cab.the kick able spool valve was a serious pain alright.
My father drove a half hour journey with it pulled which blew the hydraulic pump,a right pain to change that too
Mechanically,they weren't very reliable.
Bursting steel hydraulic pipes under the cab was a regular occurrence which involved taking the seat out among other things,not fun either.
The fiat 880 5cyl that replaced it was three times the tractor in power ,ability and reliability
A neighbour had a 454, 52 was on the bonnet which was the HP I presume
 
A neighbour had a 454, 52 was on the bonnet which was the HP I presume

There were an awful lot of IH tractors around here , from the the beginning of that "Worldwide" 74 series . Kieran Cummins in Rathdowney sold them IH up to 01 when he closed .
Yes 454 was 52 hp . Few of them local
I always thought them a good torquey engine , seemed to pull better than the 484 which replaced them in 1978 .
There were dozens of 574, 674 , 784 and 885s around , and they mainly gave good accounts of themselves.
 
There were an awful lot of IH tractors around here , from the the beginning of that "Worldwide" 74 series . Kieran Cummins in Rathdowney sold them IH up to 01 when he closed .
Yes 454 was 52 hp . Few of them local
I always thought them a good torquey engine , seemed to pull better than the 484 which replaced them in 1978 .
There were dozens of 574, 674 , 784 and 885s around , and they mainly gave good accounts of themselves.
This one had a raspy sound, seemed a capable tractor
 
There were an awful lot of IH tractors around here , from the the beginning of that "Worldwide" 74 series . Kieran Cummins in Rathdowney sold them IH up to 01 when he closed .
Yes 454 was 52 hp . Few of them local
I always thought them a good torquey engine , seemed to pull better than the 484 which replaced them in 1978 .
There were dozens of 574, 674 , 784 and 885s around , and they mainly gave good accounts of themselves.
454 was 3 cylinder im sure. I still going locally. Brakes seized in it regularly
 
Are you sure it was a 674?
The 674 was a great tractor in the field, but only did 15/6mph on the road.
The 574 was a good bit poorer in the field, but was a pocket rocket on the road, did 22/3mph.
Drove both but couldn't see any difference in speed, a 475 had a Perkins 212 engine, 62 hp.
 
The 1st tractor o can remember here were the 674 and 444 IH. Learned to drive on the 444 with the grandfather. Spent any time I had with the ould man in the 674 sitting on the ledge were the back window shut to with one had out the side window holding on to the bar that came up round the tops of the parking/indicator light. The boss always brings up me falling asleep on it while with him ploughing. I ended up on his knee while he belted away. Remember him pulling off with a load of beet, two front wheels up in the air and away. She was traded in 93 for the 85-90 and that was some step up. Radio, sun roof fully unclosed cab. Bloody luxury youth of today have
 
454 was 3 cylinder im sure. I still going locally. Brakes seized in it regularly
We never had brake problems,they are still fine.they were hydraulic brakes ,fed from the backend oil somehow.
The handbrake was a different story,the band went regularly and a cab off job to replace it, going by the book.
Some lads did it by jacking up the cab.
Ours had the cab off for the handbrake in the late eighties,was a rattlier cab afterwards.
It's now mostly on the logsplitter , probably doing 2 weeks work a year or more sometimes.
Took it out to pull a side delivery rake for a kind of vintage day last summer.
Actually it does a day with a fingerbar mower under fences around drains annually as well.
Not bad for a 45y.o tractor
 
I never knew our 674 actually had a handbrake,it never worked from day 1 the foot brakes only worked once,you had to pump them to stop.👎
It was traded against a new 4wd 290 in 1986,I remember it turned up in the Isle of Man when it was supposed to be going to Ireland.
 
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