Double Cubs revisited

[Patbretagne]

I promissed to send a picture of the Doe double Fordson Super Major that is very saught after in UK and commands very large sums of money!
In fact this was not just a passtime to stick two tractors together but a commercial success.

Sorry for the delay Pat

[beaconlight]

Pat I imagine that it is articulated. Is that correct?

Bill

[Patbretagne]

Yes it's articulated, sorry about the hazy photo, will try better next time, you can see one of the steering rams , there is one each side and a complicated lot of hydraulic and electric wizardry to change gears, clutch, start, stop etc. interesting to see, long to drive, pulls more than the skin off a rice pudding!
Pat

[johnbron]

Pat, How many of these were made and what was there main purpose in agriculture or whatever they were made for?.

[beaconlight]

From the look of it it would pull the hide off an elephant.

Bill

[Bigdog]

I have seen a few tandem set-ups over the years. Agri-engineered right on the farms. Driving factor back then was that guys needed the increased capacity but had no second operator available or could not afford to hire someone. So they found a way to run both at once.

[johnbron]

A bit of history on this tractor


In all, 289 Triple Ds were sold between autumn 1958 and autumn 1964. Units were exported to Germany, Ireland, Nigeria, Russia, Sweden, Uruguay and the USA.
Replacement of the Fordson Super Major with the new 5000 in 1964 sent the company back to the drawing board and a more powerful, stronger and up to date tractor was born – the Doe 130. This easily outperformed the Triple D, but by the time the 150 was introduced, there was increased competition from other manufacturers to produce high powered four wheel drive tractors, and so production ceased in 1968.

[Patbretagne]

And as they say in France "Et Voila!"
They were used in UK if my memory serves on the flatter large fielded parts of the country like the fens in the east and were used with extra large tools mainly for trailed ploughing. I believe even though the 3 point linkage was beefed up the constant lifting forces needed for the extra large ploughs etc was too great so towed stuff was the main use.
The fens are of nature a bit wet also. They are found in other parts though.
There is a set of articles in Tractor Collector which if I really put my mind to it could be copied and sent over to you Jon for interest.
Pat

[WKPoor]

I've got a book at home that has a picture of one of those units Interesting.

[Jack Donovan]

Those are exactly like the Minnelopis Moline's i was telling you about Pat.

[Patbretagne]

Can you find a pic Jack? Never seen a mm double
Pat