|
George: That may well be, I can get that way by times. Actually my all time favourite Farmall of the ones I've owned was the 656 diesel. As much as I'd still love to have one, it's not very practical to do so. Yet I expect there are those who will say, if I can justify 3-20 hp tractors, I should be able to justify one 60 hp tractor. Then I'm also the guy, lecturing all these young fellows telling them they should be able to farm with 1/4 to 1/2 hp per acre, and I piddle around on 3 acres with a total of 60 hp. It's a case of do as I say, not as I do. Then there is pulling ability, I have to consider. When I was a teenager we had tractor pulls in my home town, every tractor was in the same class. The winner was the tractor that could start away and pull the highest percentage of tractors own weight. We used a 4' x 10' x 3/4" steel plate as a stone boat, with add on sand boxes of 200# each, and everyone had to use a 5' chain for pulling this. The three hardest tractors to beat were Farmalls SA, SH and Cockshutt 30. Been a good many guys leave those pulls, with big tractors, and a bit red faced. They still use this equipment for horse pulls. A group of us were at the fair for a slow tractor race. That didn't last as long as expected, thus fair officials asked us to entertain the crowd in the stands until next event. We didn't have our tractors weighed, however we decided just for fun to get this stone boat and show the crowd just how much antique tractors will pull. Bear in mind most teams of horses will pull close to twice there own weight. We drew lots to see who would go first, I had to go first, with my Super A, no weights and the smallest tractor there. I decided if it was show they wanted, show is what they will get. I instructed the guys to load me up with 5,000#, and the crowd boooed. After each successful pull you were allowed to add weight, and I went to 6,000#. I successfully pulled 6,800#, then went to 7,000# and I pulled it, however they disqualified me. Aparently we had agreed if front wheels came more than 10" off ground you were out. Next came a Cockshutt 20 and he got 200# more than I and spun out. There were a whole host of 3,000 to 4,000 pound tractors that came after us and none of them made 8,000# on the stone boat. Then they got into the Farmall Hs and Cockshutt 30 and they were out calling for human weight on the stone boat. Of all the guys in this, only myself and the guy with the Cockshutt 20 were career farmers. On a percentage basis we out pulled the other guys. That kind of pulling is rather hard on clutches.
|
