Ford 4000 3 cylinder gas tractor

[Thumbcocker]

Recently Mrs. Thumbcocker and I had one of these follow us home. We named him Hank. Hank runs like a sewing machine and came with a hefty front end loader with new cylinders and lines. The serial number says hank was born in 1965.

We have big plans for Hank; clearing trails in our woods, cutting firewood, bush hogging, blading, and garden preparation. Some questions:


How big of a bush hog, disc, blade, or pto mounted tiller can Hank handle? We would like to bush hog small saplings so a smaller swath in exchange for performance is ok with us. Is a pto mounted tiller worth the investment or should we just shop for a disc?


Any advice for 4000 or similar tractor owners would be appreciated.

[rockrat]

Probably a 5' bush hog, or a 6 ft blade or a 5' pto tiller, maybe a 6'

[labradigger1]

5 hp per ft of bush hog cut, 25 hp =5' bush hog.
Lots of info on ford 4000's on the web.

[lightman]

This sounds like the 1968 Massey that we used to own. Massey and Ford were about the same thing for a few years. The engine was a Perkins diesel block that they made into a gas burner for a few years. The block had plates over the place that the injection pump would have gone. We used a 5ft bush hog on ours and it handled it fine. Heavy Johnson or Bermuda grass could bog it down but it cut weeds and brush ok. Tillers don't seem to load a tractor up as much as mowers do so I would expect it to handle a 6ft tiller ok.We used a disc on ours and it was a little wider than the rear tires. It did fine except when it was muddy, then you were pretty much out of business. Unless it is a commercial model the front end is a little lite so take it easy when you are loading up the loader.

[jcren]

5' accessories should be a good match. What do you want to till? Tillers are great for gardens, but can be damaged breaking ground for new beds or deer plots. Broken disc blades are much cheaper than gearbox/chain drive damage caused by hidden stumps and rocks. Tillers break ground finer, faster, and disc may need several passes to get a nice seed bed.

[kfarm]

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[Rockydog]

There were two different Ford tractors designated with the number 4000. The first was based on the earlier 801 and 901 series tractors and had a 4 cylinder engine. IIRC the change over in models occurred in about 1965. The later series 4000 had a 3 cylinder engine and was a totally different design with a more modern look. It also had better hydraulic systems. I owned one of the latter in a narrow front row crop version in the 1970s. I pulled a 3-14 mounted plow with it and had a mounted Ford Corn Picker for it. It was about 45 HP as I recall. A very nice, handy tractor.

Your tractor will handle a 5' bush hog depending on how large the brush etc, is. If just mowing pastures it might even handle a 6' model.

Tillers are another story. Depending on your soil type a 5' tiller might be an overload. Tilling can be very slow going depending on cutting depth, soil moisture, ground cover and a variety of other issues. If you are forced to travel very slowly due to being under powered soil tends to get over worked. Acceptable for a flat garden but food plots or other areas on a slope will erode terribly with even a moderate rainfall.

I'd opt for the disc or perhaps a spring tooth digger followed by the disc.

Enjoy the tractor it's very handy and sized just right for a hobby farm. RD

[rancher1913]

rockydog's got a good description but I think it was early 70's that the design changed. if yours has a more rounded front its an earlier version and if it has a more flat front with a plastic cover that pulls off for radiator access its a later version. this will mater when you need parts, which any new holland dealer will have. mine is the later model and is a real workhorse for its size, we pull a 15 foot rod weeder, 10 foot double disk, and corn wagons. it helps that we have duels for ours. if you have a loader they probably robbed the remote to run it so you will need to make sure you can unhook the loader if you need to use remote hydraulics.

[Mk42gunner]

My neighbor had a diesel 4000 that ran a six foot Lilliston type mower just fine in heavy weeds and grass. How the mower itself would have handled saplings I don't know, but it mowed my fields that had been fallow for three years fine when I borrowed it a few years ago.

I really wanted to buy it when he moved to town, but it went for way north of $8500. It did have just a bit over 1600 hours on it though; it was essentially a new tractor.

Blades-- Get one that will cover your tracks. You can always take a smaller bite if you need to, but leaving tracks gets old.

Tillers-- Another neighbor has a five or six foot one that he mounts on a 40-45 HP John Deere. It does okay on gardens that have been worked, not so good at breaking ground. Very slow and it takes several passes to prepare a seed bed.

For gardens, I would rather plow it once in the fall then disc it twice in the spring.

My take on tractor mounted tillers is if they were so great, you would see all the farmers using them in fields. I haven't seen one in a real crop farming situation yet.

One last thought, loaded tires make a big difference in how well ground engaging equipment works.

Robert

[Rockydog]

Robert, You are right on with the tiller comments. I had a neighbor that used a Howard Rotovator tiller exclusively for about 15 years on his 180 acre farm. He used a 6 foot model on a 3020 John Deere. In last years corn stubble it wasn't too bad and moved fairly fast, but in using it to break up alfalfa hay fields to rotate to corn it was maddeningly slow. Almost had to scratch lines in the dirt to see if he was moving. When he retired and sold the farm the new owner had to bring in a subsoiler to break up a hard pan that was down about 5" from the surface. It was a wonder that crops grew at all. Tillers are great for gardens not so much for large plots of land. RD

[DLCTEX]

We were Ford Tractor dealers in the 1960's and 1965 is when the change to the Perkins engine came out. The 1965 model was available in the fall of 1964 IIRC. I was doing a tune-up on a customers's gas engine one at his farm. I laid out the points, condenser and plugs in preparation and the farmer said I was a plug short. I said I wasn't, there's three and this is a three cylinder. He looked at the engine and said if he had known it was a three cylinder he wouldn't have bought it.

[TXGunNut]

Gotta love little tractors. Funny thing is my grandfather ran a pretty good sized farm with about the same horsepower as my little BX Kubota, other grandfather got by on 2 or maybe 4 horsepower....the hay and oats fueled type of horsepower.
I wish I'd found an old Ford tractor but my little orange tractor will serve me well for as long as I need it with little muss or fuss...and yes, the hydraulics are pretty awesome.

[GabbyM]

Depending upon where you are mowing. A six foot bush hog would be a tight fit along most fence rows. We have a five foot behind our Ford 8N. No problem with power. I regularly mow some of the Amish neighbors fence rows. Usually with five foot you are right up against the post while bumping the corn with the other side.


Thing to look for in a bush hog is one with a clutch to save your transmission when you hit stuff. Our old unit does not have a clutch and we got to split the old tractor and install a new PTO shaft a couple years ago after the tractor fell into a ground hog hole grounding the blades.