Narrow Front vs Wide Front?

I like wide fronts for makeing hay so you dont crush as mouch crop, but other that safty, stubitially. But for small tractors i would perfere Narrow fronts you can put a tractor anywhere , you can turn sharp, and i always thought they made the tractor like a tank because they were one piece and not a clumsy wide front in front. So what do you perfer on small tractores wide or narrow?

Edited by R.W - 16 Jan 2011 at 11:06am

Just depends on what the job is.

you are right Dick L, a wide front just makes you feel safer on a side hill, but any tractor will turn over don't anybody fool yourself on that.

I consider myself old school so I believe that you can't beat an old NF as a cultivator tractor though you'd never get done with today's acreages. They also work the best come fall for getting all the equipment squared away backed into the old machinery shed. Other than those 2 tasks, I'll go with the WF for increased stability. Notice I didn't say guaranteed stability.

I'll have to agree with Eldon. A narrow front end is great for many reasons...fitting more tractors in a shed/barn easier,for use as a plowing,discing,brush hogging,etc. tractor on flat to gently rolling ground. However,if I'm logging or dragging firewood tops through the hills and hollows like I do,then you'll only see me doing so with a wide front tractor for safety reasons. Don't get me wrong,you can overturn a wide front end tractor just the same,but I think that's because some people get a little brave knowing this. That's why I always have and always will have respect for machinery. It has no feelings!  Rick

I'll take a wide front over a narrow front, I think they have a safety advantage, and in my own opinion, I just like the looks of em better, Darrel

I'm not saying which is better WF or NF. I was working at a dealership years ago and saw a 460 Farmall go over sitting on flat ground, the setup guy was unloading a disc that was hooked to one side of the loader  (tractor had a WF) and he lifted the disc up and backed away from the trailer and the tractor when over on it side. The guy jumped off just in time. They will all go over. Don

It is common knowledge to older farmers who were around a lot of rollovers in the 50s and early 60s before wide front ends were popular that the nfes rolled quicker, were harder to steer ''no powersteering'' and ruffer to ride on. Some only kept  nfe on farm for a cornpicker.. Why dont the still make them if they were so great?

I think the NF are just as safe as the WF....if your on a very hard flat level surface and driving Real slow.Maybe they are good for steering in tight places in a building, but I don't buy are use a tractor just for that purpose.Other than a corn picker tractor I have no use foe them.I know some people like them so it's a buyers market where I live because you can't hardly give one away.BStone

DonBC, 

Your stability triangle includes the 2 rear tires and the pivot of a wide front or the narrow front. DonBC is right that the center of gravity shifts a little with the wide front versus the narrow but it is a matter of an inch or 2 difference in tipping. most of the older wide fronts weren't built heavy enough to prevent a roll over once it starts, they would break off. I still think that it is a false sence of security and if your are running that close you are just asking for trouble down the road. Personally, I get nervous way before the tractor would come close to a roll over. I have never had to send $500 to rebuild a narrow front. 

For me it depends on use. My Farmall MD I just got, I bought it partially because of the WF. We do a little baling hay so not only does it not run over the hay, I can take turns a little bit shorter and quicker with the rake on a little slant. I shouldn't say I'm never careful enough, but I don't get in a hurry. If I hurry I forget something and it seems like safety is the first to go.

I would say the best job for a narrow front is a post hole digger. At least for the people who like their post to be exact. I know some guys that had a NF 3020 and it was probably their most solid tractor but it just sit in the shed with the post hole digger for fence building unless too many of their other deeres were broke and had to use it.

Yeah, Don- I suspect that some of the guys didn't follow the 'pivot point' reference.

What he's referring to, is that when the tractor rolls from side-to-side, the 'pivot point' of the front of the NF tractor, is where the tires touch the ground.  On a WF, the 'pivot point' is where the axle contacts the tractor frame... the axle pivot.

Let's say (just for the sake of reference) that the tractor's center-of-gravity is right down the middle of the crankshaft. 

Measure the distance from center of crankshaft, to the axle pivot of a WF.  Let's say that's 10".

Now measure the distance from center of crankshaft, to the 'pivot point' of an NF... that is... where the NF's tires touch the ground.   That's gonna be more like 40" or so.

Difference:  10" vs. 40 inches. 

Now, take a bob-weight on a string, and tie it to the center of the crankshaft. 
Put both tractors on the same hill... sideways.  Measure the distance between the pivot point... and where the bobweight's string is.

Bobweight is telling you where the tractor's weight WANTS TO GO.  Notice the distance between where the bobweight is, and where the tires contact?  With the WF, the tractor's weight wants to go somewhere that's still INSIDE the envelope of rolling wheels. 

Now, if you do a 'true' center-of-gravity, you have to do it on all three planes.  With the weight of the wheels, ballast, transaxle, etc., that means the actual center-of-gravity of the machine is somewhere more towards the CENTER of the tractor... say... somewhere in the middle of the transmission.  IF you have an NF tractor, where the wheels are spread really wide, and ballasted low, not only will the center-of-gravity will be low, the WHEEL PATH will be so wide, that the tractor's total center-of-gravity will  always pass WITHIN the path, rather than outside the path.

Regardless, my preference, is still to be nowhere near the machine when the tipover point is found.

I like the wide front for mowing the ditch. With the wheels on one side on the road and a front wheel running along the edge where you can't see if there is a hole or washout, you don't find that hole or washout with the back wheel which almost guarantees an upset. Otherwise, NF tractors can take up less space on a trailer or shed. I can mow parts of the ditch with my wide front CA that I wouldn't dare try with the D17 with it's NF.


Edited by Brian Jasper co. Ia - 17 Jan 2011 at 4:23pm