JaRo, post: 446387, member: 292 wrote: Keep in mind FM 1960 was still a two lane highway back then.
Think it was Brian Newsome who said he could remember when it was called Jackrabbit road. That was farther west down 1960 though.
Learned a good lesson on towing limits with an old Dodge Ram 50 / standard / no power steering. We had a 19' Renken with an inboard 4 cylinder we used to like to take down to the bay on some weekends. The Ram 50 never really had a problem towing the boat, until we went to negotiate the ship channel bridge, which was made worse when I decided to fill the boat up on the way with fuel where the price was better.
The towing limits aren't limited to how much you can pull on flat ground, but also how you are able to stop on a steep downgrade.
Thought I was going to throw a rod downshifting and trying to stand on that brake on the ship channel bridge.
R.J. Schneider, post: 446384, member: 409 wrote: That was good! 🙂
Drove an old Ford tractor .. once. Old guy I knew said he needed help getting his tractor from Humble to Porter. We get to his place and he says 'there's the clutch, that's the brake, and there's the gear shift. I'll follow you in the truck'. I think the gas was on the steering column but, it's been a couple of decades now.
It was his truck and tractor, so I guess he gets to choose.Somehow I managed to get that tractor to his place in Porter without wiping anything out when he tells me 'I didn't need to take off in first gear'.
When I was in high school I would help a couple neighbors cut tobacco after we finished ours. Coo Chambers and his wife Maureen were in their 70's, but they both would work at it in the mornings until about 10:30, when Maureen would go the the house and fix dinner (lunch to you city folks). Then we'd get back to the tobacco patch and work until dark if necessary. Coo had an old Massey Ferguson with no lights on it, and he was about blind, wore glasses thick as coke bottles. I remember one night we finished and there was no moon, so Coo wanted me to drive the tractor back to his house. They lived in a hollow at the bottom of a pretty long crooked hill, so I sat in the seat and he stood on the drawbar behind me. Only light was the sparks flying out of the muffler, but he knew exactly where his driveway was, and tapped me on the shoulder when we got there. I was lucky to be able to keep it between the ditches.
I don't know if you could actually flip a tractor taking off in first gear wrong, but It felt like it. anyways
R.J. Schneider, post: 446409, member: 409 wrote: I don't know if you could actually flip a tractor taking off in first gear wrong, but It felt like it. anyways
On an old Ford, you'd have to really, really rev it and drop the clutch fast to even consider the possibility. They weren't terribly powerful. I do recall getting the front wheels of the 8N off the ground when jerking at a stubborn load on the end of a chain.
I don't think the 8N had planetary gears on the outer axle which would limit the torque to the wheels.
OK guys, I hate to hijack this thread but....
I got caught up in a half-hour's worth of looking at tractor wrecks on youtube. I was just about to do something productive and I came across this most amazing video...you gotta watch it.
For all you guys that think you're bigger and badder than your feminine counterparts; pay attention to this fine example of a solid corn-fed farm girl. It took me the entire 2:17 video to realize she's pitchin' this hay while barefoot. This is a good example of why we use the term "yes ma'am" a lot down here . 😉
[MEDIA=youtube]fIVAlV8YVF0[/MEDIA]
paden cash, post: 446434, member: 20 wrote: she's pitchin' this hay while barefoot.
Must be Amish...
RADAR, post: 446436, member: 413 wrote: Must be Amish...
If that's what Amish women wear when they work outdoors, I wanna see what they wear when they're cookin'...
Bill93, post: 446429, member: 87 wrote: On an old Ford, you'd have to really, really rev it and drop the clutch fast to even consider the possibility. They weren't terribly powerful. I do recall getting the front wheels of the 8N off the ground when jerking at a stubborn load on the end of a chain.
My Grandfather had both an 8N and a 9N. I spent more than few hours driving them. Mostly just moving from here to there to work them. Then I got off and Grandpa actually ran them.
The only time I recall getting the front wheels of an 8N off the ground was with a three-point hitch type eight-foot tandem disk. Hit the lever to lift, slam on one brake, make a very tight U-turn, hit the lever to drop the disk, drive where you needed to go. The disk was heavy enough that the front wheels barely stayed on the ground when it was lifted out of the ground. Made driving from field to field a little tricky without using the brakes to steer.
Bill93, post: 446429, member: 87 wrote: On an old Ford, you'd have to really, really rev it and drop the clutch fast to even consider the possibility. They weren't terribly powerful. I do recall getting the front wheels of the 8N off the ground when jerking at a stubborn load on the end of a chain.
I couldn't tell you which model tractor this was. This looks a lot like the tractor here.
I do know it could get out from under in first gear.
R.J. Schneider, post: 446527, member: 409 wrote: This looks a lot like the tractor here.
The venerable 8N. It looks a lot like your tractor to us city folk, but it has about half the horsepower.
That's an 8N for sure. The gas tank is directly over the battery which is why you can see a little door in the hood directly in front of the steering wheel. Behind the driver's left foot is the on/off lever to engage the power take-off. By raising the rear end an inch or two off the ground you could remove the eight lug nuts on the rear wheel, pull it off and install it on the opposite side of the tractor. As shown the bell is inward for normal operation, By moving it to the opposite side the bell is outward. This then moved the width between the tires such that it would properly straddle row crops for cultivating, spraying and similar chores. In the area between the left front wheel and the radiator cowling you can see a series of holes through the support beam. Remove the bolt and you could slide the beam outward to line up with the rear wheel in row crop position. The one shown above is nearly identical to a 1951 model we had. The 1950 model we had was a wee bit different in appearance but everything else about it was identical.
Here's a grainy pic of my 8N. The title says 1953. And I don't believe that can actually be correct as they quit making the 8N in 1952. If it bothered me that much there is a world of info and parts online for these old warriors. I should check it out, but I'll let the probate attorney earn his money when the time comes. 😉
Mark Mayer, post: 446529, member: 424 wrote: The venerable 8N. It looks a lot like your tractor to us city folk, but it has about half the horsepower.
I made the mistake of using the word 'old'. It was an old Ford tractor but that's not it. Blue and gray, or blue and white, I can't remember but, it wasn't a riding mower, and the pedals and gas lever are wrong.
Of course my memory might have totally faded and it may have been this tractor
Scariest ride was when I was cleaning the interior of the Ram 50 early one Saturday. About 9:30 I ran out of beer and knew I needed to make a mile trip to the store for beer and smokes. Really wasn't in the mood to wrestle the bench seat in and bolt it and the seat belts down.
Grabbed the milk crate beside me and rolled back out of the driveway with no problem. There's a reason vehicle seats are fixed, and you can't just throw bean bag chairs or lawn chairs into your vehicle.
That Ram 50 didn't have power steering and when you're sitting on a milk crate and let out the clutch the milk crate leans back, letting your foot further off the clutch..leaning you back more..letting your foot further off the clutch. The whole thing happens at an insane clip throwing you backwards into the back of the cab, then crashing forward as the gear limits out, which throws your feet back into the clutch and accelerator.
Making a turn was even worse with the milk crate going backwards and sideways, making you tug on the steering wheel sideways.
Somehow managed to get into second gear and on my side of the street before a sheriff's deputy passed by. That was a good lesson.
A note on the trailer hitch disconnection thing, when I was a kid in early teens I can remember going to the local landfill and the vehicle next to us at the tip face was offloading soil from a large single axle trailer. There was a boy of my age and his Pa shoveling it off and they had arranged it so that they had unloaded the front end first - the end closest to the hitch - leaving the back fully loaded. Then they decided to unhitch the trailer so that they could push it away from the unloaded stuff. The boy set about undoing the hitch and I presume it was one of those wind nut arrangements because at some point the thing suddenly sprang loose with the weight of the soil on the back of the trailer. Unfortunately the boy had his face close to it and the springing draw bar whacked him smack on the nose with such speed and force that his face literally exploded in blood. Never forgotten that.
[USER=409]@R.J. Schneider[/USER]
Jerome Increase would be proud. That's Mr. Case to some.
Naming your kid Jerome is one thing but saddling him with Increase for a middle name insures he will grow up to be some sort of ne'erdowell and amount to nothing. ;);)
Mrs. Cow reported today that she has a student named Scott. It turns out his middle name is Free. Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeez.
