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Farm Tractors in Military Service

Danl

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Lyman Maine
Danl M915A1 case farm tractor

Just about everything that is used in civilian life has been used in the military. If you are asking if there are any M-Series or tactical farm tractors. Nope. Wayne
your misstaken I got aa army farm tractor got it in fort hood best tractor I have tires a loaded 86 horse real hard puller
 

mdhammer

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St. Cloud, MN
Military Tractor

Does anyone know of any farm type tractors that was used in military service? I have a friend that is a big tractor puller that was wanting to make one up as a military tractor but I have looked on this site as well as my military books and cannot find anything.

I could have sworn I have seen one in the past somewhere in a picture.
I am new here so bear with me. I have 5 Minneapolis Moline tractors. Case made many as well IH, John Deer and Allis Chalmers.ZASI.jpg

I am actually selling the one you see. Listing it at $8,000. There were only 515 engines made, most believe that less than half the engines actually went into tractors. Does anyone know how I put this in the classifieds??????
 

Oros35

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Location
Pittsburgh PA
Bringing back an old thread.

I have 3 of the military Minneapolis Molines. One ZASI like above and 2 UTIL-M tractors. All were Army Corps of Engineers tags. I've been compiling a list of remaining ZASI, RTI'-M, and UTIL-M tractors remaining. I know of around 25 ZASI's, just a handful of RTI-M's and about 15 UTIL-M's.

I'm going to restore one of the UTIL-M's this year and sell the other.

Minneapolis Moline made a lot of military equipment throughout the years. Most in very low quantities too. Many experimental things that were the building blocks of modern equipment.
 

KougarSmith

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Livonia, MI
On the same track as this, I have a Massey Ferguson MF35 Utility Tractor. This tractor was purchased by the Army Corp of Engineers (with Brass Tag) and USAF marks on it. Massey Ferguson made these tractors in the fall of 1963 and there was only 167 of them. I am having issues find information on these any where, as well as the finding the meaning of some of the marking. Is there anyone who could help of point me in the right direction. I have talked with the Army Corp of Engineers in Washington for 3 months and got nothing from them, I am a member of the group FENA (Ferguson Enthusiasts of North America, www.fergusonenthusiasts.org) this group has given me the most information about the tractor. I have pictures of my tractor and of one that had been restored. I would like to restore the tractor that I have, however I want to put the marking back on it to honor where it served. I would also like to find out the history of what it did and where it served. Thanks for the help
 

NormB

Well-known member
1,220
72
48
Location
Cloverly,MD
Here's a twist.

I'm seriously considering buying a small tractor-loader-backhoe (Kubota BX25D) due to cost constraints and I'm not planning on doing any serious farming on my place in TN (might not grow soybeans and let the gov't pay me).

For the occasions I MIGHT want to plow, till or disc harrow, I'm thinking I could fabricate a 3-point mount off the pintle/bumper and use my HMMWV for that.

160hp, 5300 lbs and better tires vs. 25HP at 2500 lbs (with me on it) and much smaller tires.

Anyone know of the reverse of this thread? Using MVs as Farm tractors?
 

rustystud

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Location
Woodinville, Washington
The Army and Marines used a lot of International Harvester dozers also. The TD-9 especially. Also the TD-14 is very common.
My father almost bought a pair of 1940 TD-9 dozers. One was set-up with a reel in back to lay cable and the other had a bucket in front. Not very common for a dozer to have a bucket in those days. I still own three IHC TD-6 dozers and a TD-18 dozer. The TD-6's are all 1943 models and the TD-18 is a 1956.
I forgot to mention my TD-9 dozer. It is a 1942 model.
 

M543A2

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I have a T-9 International crawler tractor with a military tag on it, probably mid to late 1940's. I do not remember exactly what the tag says. It was evidently an artillery tractor, has a large winch on the back. The T-9 was a gas engine model.
 

M543A2

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As I understand it the Minneapolis Moline NTX TedG and doghead talk about was used on aircraft carriers. A friend of mine had one he went to Florida to get and then restored. I think he has sold it now.
 

M543A2

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Reference the question about military vehicles being used for farm use, my M37 and M715 have been used to pull a grain drill drilling wheat on cold days and pulling wagons. My M135 was converted with a dump frame under the bed for hauling grain until I retired it. I currently use my 5 ton dump for grain hauling.
When I was about 8 years old I remember visiting one of my father's friends who had a WWII Jeep with a three point attachment on the rear. He had a one bottom plow and 6' disc he pulled with it. He was where the soil was sandy so it did not plow very hard. I never got to see him use it though.
 

frank8003

In Memorial
In Memorial
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Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
One 3 seconds search of mine on military tractors became a new lifetime search. Thank you for the diversions, [basically destroying whatever the heck it was I was thinking about.]
I know a lot of "farmers" that just about love this kind of information.

http://olive-drab.com/od_mvg_vehicle_id_bulldozers_ww2.php

18 seconds

http://www.gasenginemagazine.com/tractors/world-war-ii-airborne-tractor

ditto, and on and on and on
reminds me of Her
anyhow

https://books.google.com/books?id=H...page&q=WW ll seabee tractors airborne&f=false
 
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Firebrand

Member
70
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8
Location
Charlestown, NH
Both Two-Cylinder and Green Magazine have shown pictures of Deere machines selected for military service over the years. Some were painted bright yellow with added military signage and numbers. Others had darker colors per their host units' requirements. I've seen nicely restored units from Army, Navy, and Air Force and most did include brass tags.
 

rustystud

Well-known member
9,280
2,988
113
Location
Woodinville, Washington
One 3 seconds search of mine on military tractors became a new lifetime search. Thank you for the diversions, [basically destroying whatever the heck it was I was thinking about.]
I know a lot of "farmers" that just about love this kind of information.

http://olive-drab.com/od_mvg_vehicle_id_bulldozers_ww2.php

18 seconds

http://www.gasenginemagazine.com/tractors/world-war-ii-airborne-tractor

ditto, and on and on and on
reminds me of Her
anyhow

https://books.google.com/books?id=H...page&q=WW ll seabee tractors airborne&f=false
I like that picture of all the dozers. I have three 1941 IHC TD6 dozers and one TD9 dozer myself. I have to have them hauled off for scrap though ! The one TD6 was my fathers and ran until 15 years ago when I got it on its side and ran the engine out of oil before I could shut it off. The other two TD6's where parts dozers. The TD9 ran but the steering clutches are totally rusted shut. It goes great forward and backwards ! My wife gave me the "ultimatum" the other day. Either I get the new shop or I keep the old dozers and trucks. I went with the shop. I had promised her over ten years ago that I would clean-up the side yard of all my old cars and trucks. Now that I'm pretty beat-up and cannot do all the stuff I had planned I have to settle on my "Deuce" and the "Deuce/IHC 4X4" I still plan on building up. If I had more time and the body to do it I would love to build up the 5 ton version of the IHC M-5-6 6X6 I have, (don't remember the designation right now) but it will be going to the scrapper to. Such is life.
 
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