fuel economy. This problem could be fixed by a two-barrel carburetor and a cylinder head with an intake port for each cylinder. Another problem that had cropped up was the pressed-steel front end supports used on the “A” and “B” Tractors. While these were stylish and eliminated the need for spark plug covers, in heavy service they sometimes cracked under the loads created by loaders or by four-row cultivators in checkplanted crops. It was found that a cast-iron front end support could be made that was unbreakable in field service, and that it could be cast and machined at a lower cost than producing the stamped-steel version.

“Live” power take off (PTO) had been introduced by a Deere competitor in 1948, and this was a feature that many farmers wanted. So a system was worked out to drive the PTO gear train at all times the engine was running, with a lever-operated wet clutch system to give “live” operation. For those who didn’t want this feature, a conventional transmission- driven PTO would be provided. “Live” hydraulic power was also among the wants of many farmers, and this development had already taken place. A governor-driven hydraulic system had been optional equipment for the Model “H” Series Tractors, and a better system had been introduced with little fanfare for the styled “AR” and ”AO” Tractors. It was a simple matter to adapt this feature to the new row-crop tractors and combine it with the outstanding Powr-Trol system already in production to make the finest hydraulic system on the market.

One other problem was easily fixed. The grille screen openings of the row-crop tractors were large enough to let small pieces of field trash and dirt through. The dirt and trash tended to eventually plug up the shutters, which prompted many owners to remove the shutters in an effort to stop overheating. That was fine for a while, but then the passages through the radiator cores would plug up, and either high-pressure water or air was needed to clean them out. Luckily, a solution was at hand — simply adopt the fine-screen type of fluted grille screens used on the Model “R”, which could be easily cleaned by simply running the fingers of a hand down the flutes. The holes in this screen material were small enough that anything passing through them would also pass through the radiator core.

At Dubuque, fewer changes would be needed. The Model “M” engine had been designed with increases in power in mind, so more power wasn’t a problem. The biggest problem that faced the Dubuque engineers was at the rear of the tractor. To gain even better competitive advantage in the small tractor market, a better system of attaching integral equipment was needed. The Quik-Tatch system used on the “M” Series Tractors was innovative and worked reasonably well, although depth control and fore-aft leveling of some rear-mounted implements fell short in some situations. The ideal solution was to adopt a three-point hitch somewhat like that used by the Ford 8N and Ferguson tractors. However, there was some reluctance to do this because of concern about infringement of the Ferguson patents. Even so, for the winter testing season of 1949, “M” Series Tractors headed south to Deere’s testing facility at Laredo, Texas, equipped with experimental three-point hitches on their rockshafts.

During the period that the new tractors were being