Here at the Vintage Masssey Ferguson 135 we obviously only have eyes for one model of tractor.  So when we saw a video of 120 135 tractors working in one field we had to share it with you.

You see, we spend far too much time drifting into YouTube Fergiland.  We particularly liked the continual line up of the tractors working along the furrow with their ploughs.  One after another, after another, after another.  Bliss!!

Here is the clip…

One of the good things about the 135 is that it’s really positive with the steering. This is very useful when doing rowcrop work, such as the swede harvesting in this video. I think the harvester is a Boswell Turnip Harvester, but correct me if I’m wrong.

As we can see,the standard tyres fit between the rows without the need to put rowcrop wheels on and the lightweight tractor will travel in most conditions. The 135 is still been used today for many jobs on the farm, 45 years after its introduction.

One of the reasons we all love our 135’s is because they are just so good to drive. When I am in the seat I just feel so connected with the tractor and the land; It’s hard to describe what I mean, but hopefully you will understand. This video of a Massey Ferguson 135 really brought home to me just what fun these little tractors are. And boy, is this guy having fun.

A good snowy winter scene with a blade mouned on the back of the tractor. In fact the blade looks like a reasonable weight to have stuck out some distance so that the front end of the 135 is light-on (as we say in our part of the world). One foot on the brake and it’s fun time!

I was surfing Youtube today and what was I looking at? The Massey Ferguson 135 videos of course. There’s quite a few videos on there of our favourite little red tractor, but one in particular caught my eye. The 135 in this video is hauling a trailer across a boggy landscape.

The tractor is well equipped for the job. It has dual wheels on and is pulling a trailer that also has duals and quite large diameter tyres with a self-cleaning tractor style cleat. What I noticed is that when we get the camera shot of the clevis-type drawbar, we can see there is a ground sped pto drive to the trailer wheels. This rig is clearly put together to work in these boggy conditions, and we see the back axle of the loaded trailer go down on one occasion. Then all of a sudden, the driver loses the front wheels of the tractor in a wet hole.

We can now see how boggy the land is, and how capable the tractor/trailer combination is at traversing this landscape. The driver tries to reverse out of the bog, but the front wheels just remain completely burried for what must be 15-20 meters. It just shows how good the 135 is with the duals at staying on top of the turf. I think they need wider wheels at the front to reduce the ground pressure, or maybe a driven front axle.

This film just goes to show how useful and versatile the MF135 is. No wander they are still been used as work horses today all over the world.

This tractor and trailer combination reminds me of another similar rig I saw recently. This time it was a Ford 8210, front wheels removed and connected to a stone cart via an artic chassis. The rear wheels on the stone cart were driven by the ground speed pto of the 8210. The machine was been used for backfilling, working alongside a Mastenbroek trencher laying drainage pipe in some peaty soils. The drainage contractor said the cart was superb in wet conditions and the driver was pretty skilled at hiting the stone chute of the trencher. I know it wasn’t a Massey, but it was an interesting machine to see working.