Actually Harley was owned by AMF and the bikes produced in those years are some of the worst HD's ever made. There used to be a commercial on TV about an investment company that took a chance on refinancing HD. This might be when HD went back to being family owned. HD's also use Japanese parts on their bikes like Mikuni carbs. and other parts. John Deere is good at marketing but their agriculture business was suffering enough that they had to look at other markets to get into. That's why JD got into the commercial turf equipment business. John Deere outsources more equipment than anybody else. Had JD just stuck to Ag. equipment, maybe they would have been forced to sell out as well. Luckily they have some smart people who did something before that happened. Every manufacturer has had some exceptional models and some real duds. Any tractor that sold over 300,000 units when there was other competition available, had to be a good product. Considering the Farmalls out sold the JD's, I don't think it's because they weren't as good. Ford and Ferguson out sold both of them. JD, IH and every other maker adapted the 3 pt. hitch to their tractors. They didn't have to. They did out of necessity. Without a 3 pt. hitch, they wouldn't have sold many smaller tractors. Look at the market today. Almost every tractor under 100 HP or so has a 3 pt. hitch. If a manufacturer tried to sell a 50 HP tractor without a 3 pt. hitch, how many do you think would sell? Thats why even old tractors with 3 pts. still command a good price. The 2 cylinder JDs were unique and that's probably why they get a better price. It doesn't necessarily mean they were any better. JD's have always been higher priced. That doesn't make them better either. Restore a MM UDLX if you really want to get a good price for a tractor. You might have a shot at breaking even. Dave
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Today's Featured Article - Madison's County - by Anthony West. Philip Madison has been a good friend of mine for quite some time. He has patiently suffered my incessant chit chat on the subject of tractors for longer than I care to remember, and on many occasions he has put himself out, dropped what ever it was he was doing, to come and lend a hand cranking handles, or loading a find onto a trailer. Although he himself has never actually owned or restored a tractor, he was always enthusiastic and always around helping with other peoples projects.
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