# 24 HP tractor



## Ryun Kasten (May 3, 2018)

I am looking at buying a new John Deere 24 HP tractor. Would it be able to run a single bottom plow, 6ft disc, and a 5ft brush hog without issues?


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## RC Wells (Dec 26, 2008)

I suspect the real answer is maybe. If you are only doing an acre or so, and sticking to a 14" bottom on the plow, it would likely do what you want if your soil is easy to till. The six foot disc is pushing the envelop depending on if it is offset or tandem, and blade spacing. The 1 and 2 family of tractors are hobby farm units. My opinion is those series of Deere are for the person that will be using them a couple hours a week for light duty, yard work, stall cleaning, lawn mowing, etc.


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## bbirder (Feb 26, 2006)

Personally, I think you will not be satisfied. I have a 50 hp and sometimes wish for more. Depends on the compaction of the ground for plowing and the amount of grass for mowing. Like RC stated that size is mostly for hobby farming.


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## Ed Williams (Jun 13, 2019)

I have a 1953 NAA, 33HP, that I have not been able to do a lot of jobs due to a lack of power, and a weak 800 rear lift. The problems I encountered were not with horsepower, but rather with the gearing of the 4 speed transmission. In many cases, the tractor travels too fast to take advantage of the available HP. I recently acquired a 1970 Ford 4000,55 HP, for about what I have in the NAA. The 8 speed transmission puts the NAA. to shame. Shop wisely. Try to match the work you need to do with the tractor you purchase. I think you will find that a tractor in the 40 HP range will be more in line with your expectations. Lack of power can be very frustrating. My NAA will pull a.2 bottom plow, but really strains. I switched to a rotary tiller, and the lack of power causes surging with the governor and a tilled plot than looks like a washboard. Ran over the same plot with the 4000. It maintained a constant 1800 rpm, and the garden plot is level and smooth as a baby's butt. Remember that on a standard configured tractor, you are only getting 60% of the rated HP applied to the ground. Need to factor that in when working with implements.


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## bmaverick (Feb 20, 2014)

Look for a 30Hp John Deere or Yanmar instead. Mine is a JD 850 aka Yanmar YM2610. I have 6ft disc double row King Kutter, and a 5ft brush hog King Kutter without issues. 

As for a single bottom plow, it depends on these factors:
- Soil type
- days from last soaking rain
- how deep of a bottom plow
- size and weight of bottom plow (not all are the same) 
- has the area been turned over before? No large rocks nor tree roots to hang up plowing.

I've successfully done a bottom plow. The thing is, make sure the tractor is DIESEL and not gas. Diesel will give you the needed torque from the engine to do the job. Gas will sputter out fast. 

What JD model are you looking at? This will really help to determine the type of bottom plow. 

Also, why bottom plow? Unless you are laying in-ground conduit, most folks these days opt for a better implement called a PTO 4ft to 6ft wide tiller instead. Less to go wrong on the tractor. And your 24Hp Deere can manage it nicely.


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## bmaverick (Feb 20, 2014)

Here's what a till would look like and how nice of a field you would get. 

Both shown here are CUT tractors too.


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## bmaverick (Feb 20, 2014)

Here's a JD-850 with a disc harrow. Oddly, the guy is tilling in very dry dusty soil and no added weight onto the harrow. Else the tilling would look beautiful. 




 
For the bottom plow, a JD-850 or better diesel would work.





Still, a rotary PTO tiller would save on driving the field twice with 2 different attachments. Although if the field is grown over, either method requires a brush hog on a low setting to cut and a rake to remove the weeds-n-seeds.


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## deerhide (Oct 20, 2016)

A 20hp. Ford 8n will operate that equipment.


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## Ed Williams (Jun 13, 2019)

8N would be marginal at best. Rotary tillers were not in existence in their day. See my post with the 53 NAA at 33 HP. The old tractors are geared too high for the modern equipment. I have to make 4- 5 passes going deeper each pass to even be able to use the rotary. It still leaves washboards. Have to run the Troy bilt when finished with the rotary to get rid of the washboards. If you like to double or triple the work, go ahead and get an underpowered tractor. My King Kutter weighs 750 lbs. The NAA with an 800 lb lift struggles to lift it. The 4000 makes 1 pass, even with grass and corn stalks, and you are done. 8-9 inches deep and fine dirt, no clods like I get with the NAA. The 4000 maintains a constant 1800 rpm, no lurching like with NAA, and no washboarding. Get a tractor with the proper gearing to handle the modern equipment.


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## deerhide (Oct 20, 2016)

Ed Williams said:


> 8N would be marginal at best. Rotary tillers were not in existence in their day. See my post with the 53 NAA at 33 HP. The old tractors are geared too high for the modern equipment. I have to make 4- 5 passes going deeper each pass to even be able to use the rotary. It still leaves washboards. Have to run the Troy bilt when finished with the rotary to get rid of the washboards. If you like to double or triple the work, go ahead and get an underpowered tractor. My King Kutter weighs 750 lbs. The NAA with an 800 lb lift struggles to lift it. The 4000 makes 1 pass, even with grass and corn stalks, and you are done. 8-9 inches deep and fine dirt, no clods like I get with the NAA. The 4000 maintains a constant 1800 rpm, no lurching like with NAA, and no washboarding. Get a tractor with the proper gearing to handle the modern equipment.


Ed, I do agree with you that the 8n is a poor choice for a tiller. I have used a tiller on an 8n(with the pto shaft catI adapter) in cultivated ground and like you say, it goes too fast, but it still tilled. I have plowed with a 2 bottom Dearborn plow and used a light brush mower on the 8n. The old ones are quite capable of a lot of things, such as going over 40 mph with a load of hay (boot lace on the carb)before the rain came down.


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## Ed Williams (Jun 13, 2019)

The 8N and NAA are both great tractors. 90% of the small family farms started with these tractors. My father-in-law had one of each. Don't know the year of the 8N, but the NAA is a 54 because it is still there. Not running now, but in restorable condition. He will not sell. Anyway, I think the world of these tractors. I have owned my NAA since 1974, still in very good operating shape. I will not sell it either. But they do have their limit at ions concerning some of the modern implements. My NAA will handle all of the equipment listed except for the 5' rotary tiller. Yes, it does pull it. Yes, it will til the ground. However, it does a poor job in getting the disired results. It takes 4-5 passes to get to t h e full depth of the tiller aND get t h e soil broken up fine enough for planting. The King Kutter I am requires 30 PTO horsepower. I am marginal at best. The 8N has 23.24 PTO horsepower, which I s below the minimum requirement. The K I ng Kutter is a 6 blade, which requires more HP than a 4 blade. That's why I advised to be careful with the tractor and implement purchases to make sure everything is compatable. I did not know the King Kutter required more HP t h an a std 4 blade. I was only interested in t h e gear to gear drive vs a chain drive. This has caused frustration due to the under power plus a lot more work. With the proper tractor, 4000, it is 1 pass at full depth, soil finely broken up, all top cover completely broken worked into the soil, and no wasted effort at all. Wanted the fellow to review his purchases for the right fit of tractor and implements so he would not wind up frustrated with results like I have been the past 4 years since purchasing the tiller.

I have a 2 bottom Ford plow, I think it's 12", a 6' tandem 3 pt disc, and a 6' brush hog that the NAA handles very well and does a fine job. The only problem is the tiller. If I had known the HP requirements difference between a 6 blade and a 4 blade, I would probably made a different implement choice to better fit my needs. It pays to be informed, this stuff is expensive.


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## bmaverick (Feb 20, 2014)

To the OP's requirements, don't go too old for a tractor. Sure, the 8Ns and NAA tractors are fine for light work, BUT these do not have 'live' PTOs. What is meant by this is, whilst mowing, you change gears to go into reverse, the mower spins down as the clutch is used for an older tractor. On newer tractors, changing from forward to neutral and reverse still keeps the PTO 'live' and active without spinning down. 

I had an old Ford 8N too many years ago. It was good for basic stuff like grading the drive way, ran the bottom plow, but on full throttle and bounced the dickens out of me, moved a few small trailers around, worked alright moving a few inches of snow off the drive way ... in reverse. 

Before I got my JD-850, I looked at and almost bought a Ford 4000. The problem was, the owner was moving that day, didn't have all of the parts on hand and it was out of fuel. It ran alright for the first 3mins. It sat for 9 years prior. The owner used it to help build his house. Afterwards he just left it in the shed. hmmmm. Sounded like a project tractor. I didn't have time in my life for another project to take on. BUT, a good working Ford 4000 would be ideal really. Don't stick to one brand as a loyalist. I can only give you what I've experienced. Just like the folks here do as well.


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## Ed Williams (Jun 13, 2019)

It has been so long I'd forgotten about that problem. With the 6 ft brush hog, THE NAA handled the mower fine, but the mower would manhandle the tractor. When you pushed in b the clutch, that big flywheel you were towing would literally push you 40-50 feet before you could stop. I kept good brakes, and this was with both rears locked. Many scary rides over the years. You learned to think ahead and prepare. Lost a lot of good money because I refused to mow fields I was not familiar with. Finally found a slip clutch increaser that converted the smaller splined pto to the std 1-3/8 and separated the tractor from the mower drive shaft. Best thing since sliced bread. Now could press clutch and stop tractor while mower free wheeled behind. Have to replace slip clutch every 3 yrs or so, but well worth the expense by poviding safety.. Extra mowing jobs around house more than pay for this replacement. A must also for using the tiller.


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## bmaverick (Feb 20, 2014)

Ed Williams said:


> It has been so long I'd forgotten about that problem. With the 6 ft brush hog, THE NAA handled the mower fine, but the mower would manhandle the tractor. When you pushed in b the clutch, that big flywheel you were towing would literally push you 40-50 feet before you could stop. I kept good brakes, and this was with both rears locked. Many scary rides over the years.


That is the reason why over-run clutches are placed onto the PTO output shaft first and then the PTO drive shaft to the mower. This is basically a sprag gear set internally. NEVER get rotary spin to lunge forward the tractor again. It's now US law for all new tractors since June 1983 with a PTO shield. Also, these things should last more than a mere 3 years. I'm going on 5 now without issues. These should last 20 years or more. They come with a grease fitting too and can be taken apart to clean. 

https://www.tractordata.com/articles/technical/overrunning-pto-clutch.html


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## Ed Williams (Jun 13, 2019)

It gets plenty of grease each time before mowing and take down and cleaning every year. I agree it should last longer. I get them from Tractor Supply because they are close and cheap. Have heard their units have this problem where others don't. Thinking of switching to different brand. Any suggestions for a replacement unit? Tractor Supply does npt sell replacement parts. Says they are unavailable. So buy a new unit each time. Sounds like they just distribute a Chinese unit.


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## bmaverick (Feb 20, 2014)

Ed Williams said:


> It gets plenty of grease each time before mowing and take down and cleaning every year. I agree it should last longer. I get them from Tractor Supply because they are close and cheap. Have heard their units have this problem where others don't. Thinking of switching to different brand. Any suggestions for a replacement unit? Tractor Supply does npt sell replacement parts. Says they are unavailable. So buy a new unit each time. Sounds like they just distribute a Chinese unit.


Check out Hoyetractor.com and Weaver's Compactractor.com Both have stock. Fredricks has them too, but email or call for pricing first. You will need to mention tractor type and number of splines with the spline OD size.


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