SEVEN GRAND FORD

1975 FORD 7000 ALL-PURPOSE

- JIM ALLEN

As Ford updated it’s tractor lines in preparation for the swinging ‘70s, they realized the Thousand Series lineup was going to have some gaps. The updated four-cylinder 5000 model had debuted for 1968 and was a great tractor that had sold very well. Thing is... there was a big gap between it and the six cylinder naturally aspirated 8000 and there would be an even bigger gap with the even more powerful turbocharged 9000. The answer was the new 7000, which debuted in September of 1971 for 1972.... but it wasn’t an all-new tractor design.

The latest version of 5000 was a robust, 256ci four-cylinder tractor in the midsize weight range (see https://www.dieselworldmag.com/diesel-tractors/five-grand-ford/). It was rated for 67 PTO horsepower in a 1968 Nebraska test. For 1971, Ford added a turbocharger to the platform which delivered a boost to 83 horsepower. They called it the 7000. That wasn’t all. Ford had designed a new torque-sensing load control device and the 7000 was the first tractor to carry it. It combined upper and lower link sensing so the draft control system worked equally well with mounted or semi-mounted implements.