The Roots of 4wd Tractors

By: Dave Mowitz

Discovered in the photography archives of the Nebraska Tractor Test Museum, the fuzzy black-and-white image of the Rogers Brothers tractor is a glimpse back to when tractor design was in its infancy and any concept was worth a try. Rogers Brothers and other little-known manufacturers, such as Heer, Fitch, Nelson, and Olmstead, were pushing the then narrow limits of tractor design by embracing a newfangled concept of applying power to all four wheels.

The concept was sound as this meant more power was put to the ground, but the engineering to accomplish this required greater final drive costs. In the end, manufacturers would embrace powering only rear wheels both for engineering simplicity and cost savings. Yet today, more than 100 years after those pioneering efforts in all-wheel drive, the vast majority of tractors over 80 hp. employ either front-or four-wheel-drive.