ARTICLES

Minneapolis-Moline G-1000 Series Tractor
By Jim Janssen

My name is Jim Janssen. I worked for Minneapolis-Moline from 1950 to its demise in 1971, starting out in the branch sales office in Hopkins, Minnesota. Then I was a blockman at Willmar, Minnesota and later sales manager at the Fargo, North Dakota and Kansas City, Kansas branches. After that, I became branch manager at Peoria, Illinois and from there went to Omaha, Nebraska as western regional manager for White Farm Equipment from 1972 to 1989. Thus, I've had quite a bit of experience in the United States west of the Mississippi River.

After reading an ad in the Prairie Gold Rush tractor magazine asking for someone with knowledge of Minneapolis-Moline Co. and its products, I contacted Richard Hain and he suggested I write about products in the 1960-1990 period. Since Minneapolis-Moline became White Farm Equipment in 1972, I chose the G-1000 series since it was very popular in the area I worked and therefore I had a lot of experience with it.

The G-1000 was the first 100 horsepower plus row crop tractor to come to the United States market. It was introduced in the spring of 1965. The first production of just over 100 units was sold to a select group of farmers all over the United States. They agreed to keep records of its performance in all areas and report back to Minneapolis-Moline engineering and sales people. Their suggestions and complaints were all reviewed by Minneapolis-Moline and the first full production was planned for the winter of 1965-66. One of the original purchasers of the test tractor was Wayne Kennedy of Kimball, Nebraska. He liked it so much that he bought four more in the next two years. He bought these five tractors from the dealer, Foland Farm Machinery at Sidney, Nebraska.

I met Mr. Kennedy in the '70s when I was working out of Omaha. Prior to the tractor's production, dealer meetings were held in all branches to acquaint the Minneapolis-Moline dealers with all the facts and figures on this new model. This was the biggest and most extensive introduction the company had ever done on any one single piece of equipment. The main features of this first 110 horsepower row crop tractor were as follows:

1. The whole purpose of this tractor was ?built for those who farm big.?

2. It was built in both diesel and LP-gas models with a few gasoline models available in the initial production. (These really ate the fuel.)

3. The 504 cubic inch engine produced 111.00 horsepower in the diesel version and 110.76 in the LP-gas version. These were both PTO horsepower (Nebraska test number 954-974-975). Other tractors in this class had engines of 301 to 404 cu.in.

4. This horsepower on both models was developed at 1800 RPM. Other tractors in this class ran at 2000 to 2400 RPM.

5. The tractor had only a 20 inch wide frame to giver the operator maximum visibility and maneuverability. 6. The final drives were much heavier than in previous tractors such as the G-VI. Minneapolis-Moline engineers finally learned that you can't have 100 plus horsepower up front and final drives from 80 horsepower units.

7. The 504 cubic inch engine was six cylinders with blocks cast in pairs with a heavy cast iron oil pan and three main bearings crankshaft.

8. The G-1000 had a basic five speed transmission with two speeds in each gear. This shift on the go was called ?ampli torc.? It gave a 25 to 30 percent reduction in each gear, providing speeds of 2.25 mph to 18.05 mph in forward and 1.86 mph to 3.57 mph in reverse.

9. The weight of the tractor was 10,1000 pounds (diesel) and 10, 250 pounds (LP) with no extra equipment. This was about 1,500 pounds heavier than other tractors in its class.

10. The turning radius was 12 feet, 3 inches without brakes and fuel capacity was 40 gallons (diesel) and 39 gallons (LP).

11. The tractor came standard with both 540 and 1000 RPM PTO shafts. You could just hook up to the shaft that fit your implement.

12. The hydraulic system was a 9 cylinder Vickers piston pump which supplied the power to the power steering and draft sensitive three-point hitch and remote hydraulics. This system was much improved over earlier models.

13. The tractor was easy to service. Hood and grills could easily be removed by toggle latch and quarter-turn fasteners.

14. The G-1000 was also available in a Wheatland version. This is a fixed front I-beam axle and no three-point hitch, just remote hydraulics.

15. The G-1000 had tremendous pulling power. The 1800 RPM 504 cubic inch engine gave it a drawbar pull of 14,443 pounds at 2.22 mph. Compare this to a JD 4020 at 11,249 pounds at 2.63 mph.

16. The tractor was priced correctly as the G-1000 diesel had a list price $8,882 FOB factory. This was up to $1,000 less than comparable models even though they had 15-20 less PTO horsepower.

In late 1967, a new model G-1000 was introduced as the G-1000 Vista. It was basically the same tractor as the G-1000 except it had a higher operator's platform and more convenience operator controls. Operators really liked this high platform as it gave them great vision and was up and out of the dust. A disadvantage of this raised platform was that it covered up all the hydraulic lines so if they had to be worked on, it was quite a job. It also had a larger diesel fuel tank (56 rather than 40 gallons). The Vista went back to the original Minneapolis-Moline color of ?prairie gold,? not yellow and brown as previous tractors had been since about 1963.

The G-1000 Vista was also available as a wheatland and row crop model. Both were available with full time power front axle. Minneapolis-Moline was a pioneer in the use of power front axles on tractors. It also was available with a three speed ample torc which gave it 15 forward speeds and three reverse speeds. A factory installed cab was also available for $995. The g-1000 Vista was produced until 1969 when it was replaced by the G-1050.

In summary, the G-1000 and the G-1000 Vista were very powerful tractors, comfortable to operate and had a long life with a minimum or troubles. On the first and second production of G-1000s, purchasing changed to a different rear axle bearing without telling engineering. These bearings failed in some cases and caused ring gear and pinion failure. As soon as this was discovered, the company had a program to change these bearings. Competition got wind of this and said it was a poor ring gear and pinion. The word got around and it certainly didn't help the G-1000 reputation. In retrospect, though, there were very few rear end failures in the G-1000 where the bearings were changed. These tractors today, even though they are 35 years old, command a good price and still good a job for the owner at a very reasonable upkeep cost. They were built for those who farm big and are still doing it. Total production of these two models was 7,397. This is small compared to the numbers of John Deere and IH, but one must remember that most of the MM tractors were sold in states west and south of Minnesota. Total tractor sales in this area was not as large as in the corn belt and east, so the MM sales in this horsepower class were about eight to 10 percent of the market.

Another feature of these two tractors was that dealers discovered you could install the MM HD 800 cubic inch engine in these models without too much expense. Of course, the HD 800 engine was only available in LP or natural gas but when installed, it was hard to beat for power. By adding turbo chargers and speeding up the engine RPM, you could get up to 600 to 700 horsepower. To do this, the engine parts all had to be balanced. MM built a G-1000 Vista with a turbo charger and balanced HD 800 engine while I was in Peoria. We took this to the Louisville Tractor Pull in 1969 and won first place by quite a margin.

I worked with a farmer in Atwood, Illinois who ha three G-1000 Vistas with standard HD 800 engines'that is, no turbo chargers and running at 1800 RPM. He started with just one unit but liked it so much he had two more built by the dealer. In 1969, to have a 200 plus horsepower tractor was something, as this owner stated: "I always wanted a tractor that if I wanted to go slower, I throttled back and if I wanted to go faster, I throttled up without shifting regardless of the load I was pulling."

White Motor Co., which owner Oliver since 1962 and Minneapolis-Moline since 1963, decided in 1970 to discontinue both brands and start White Farm Equipment co. This was the end of the low RPM high torque MM engines. White Motor Co. did not believe in building engines. Their theory was to buy them. They used purchased engines on all their tractors from this period on. Possibly this was the way to go as the Cumming engines used in the later White tractor proved very successful in horsepower, fuel economy and long life. That is another story.

Top /\