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Re: Tandem Tractors?
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Posted by john d. on June 05, 1999 at 09:43:32 from (206.141.74.34):
In Reply to: Tandem Tractors? posted by pete-tex on June 05, 1999 at 00:26:24:
I'm another old fart in Indiana! These things were used around here in the very late 50's and early-to-mid 60's. I can remember seeing 4 or 5 different setups of the type described in the post below at the Indiana State Fair when I was still in high school. I recall seeing several tandem units made from M Farmalls, some from Allis WD45's, and a few Moline units. The quick and easy way was to simply build a "basket" on the drawbar of the lead M, drive the second one's front wheels into that basket, chain it down tight so it couldn't move, and run throttle and clutch controls to the front. A few guys went to the trouble to remove the front wheels and build a hitch that accomodated the front bolster of the second tractor.
Since these tractors had standard drawbars, not 3pt. hitches, they were typically hitched to 5, 6, or even 7 bottom pull-type plows of the 14" or sometimes 16" variety. The entire unit was quite long, and the operator had to be constantly checking to see what was going on behind him! It's important to remember that until John Deere came out with the 3010 and 4010 tractors in about 1960 or so, the power limit of tractors commonly found on farms in the midwest was about 50 to 55hp. Suddenly there was a huge jump the power available, but at a considerable price. During the 60's, farms around here grew much larger, and small farm livestock production began to disappear. Decent hired help became hard to find, and much too expensive to put on a tractor pulling a 3-bottom plow. Several farmers decided they could hitch their two older tractors together and get a lot of plowing done with a minimum of hired help or investment.
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