By Jeremy Davy

The story of our Case IH 5240 Maxxum began as a mystery. My dad told us we were getting something toward the end of summer but didn’t tell us what it was. The only clue he gave us was that it had chrome on it. My mind ran 3,000 different directions trying to figure out what it was.

One warm summer’s day, my wondering and waiting finally came to an end. After some strenuous work throwing bales down for the bedding chopper, I came out of the mow toward the house. I heard the rumble of a truck coming over the hill, and there it was — the first glimpse of our 5240 50,000th edition. I was a pretty excited 14-year-old, as it was the first new tractor we had ever purchased for our farm near Rubicon in Dodge County, Wis.

After the trucker took it off the low boy, I started to admire the cool factory features that this 5240 held along with only 1,000 others. Starting from the hood, it had fancy decals that proved it was one of the 1,000 50,000th edition 5240s. The chrome stack coming out of the hood shined like a diamond under the cool blue sky that day. Some of features significant to the 50,000th edition were a brass plate on the fender signifying what number tractor made it was — ours was 233 — the cab windows were tinted, and there was a center cap on the steering wheel that also stated it was a 50,000th edition Maxxum. Under the hood, the tractor came equipped with the 5.9-liter, 12-valve Cummins that cranked out 105 horsepower. The transmission is a 16-forward-speed, 12-reverse-speed partial power shift. My dad purchased the tractor for $45,000 brand-new in 1996.

The 5240 has pretty much done everything on the farm. It has hauled manure; planted corn, hay and soybeans; hauled countless loads of self-unloading wagons; and mixed thousands of batches of feed. Doing all this work it, has accrued 20,000 hours and worn out at least four sets of tires.

This tractor is by far my favorite tractor, mainly because I’ve spent countless hours piloting it through the fields and down the roads. It has helped our farm grow from 100 cows to more than 300 cows. It is the one tractor that’s never left me stranded. It’s like your best friend; you know you can always count on it.

To have your favorite tractor featured, email or send in a photo of yourself with your tractor, along with a 300- to 400-word write-up about the tractor, to: [email protected] or Wisconsin Agriculturist, P.O. Box 236, Brandon, WI 53919.