[AT] Interesting Tractor
Greg Hass
gkhass at avci.net
Sun Aug 28 10:02:14 PDT 2005
A couple weeks ago a customer of mine (I do part-time appliance repair.)
was showing me a tractor that a friend of hers had bought for her for $400
at an auction sale. One rear tire was brand-new, which itself alone was
worth $400. What was interesting was not the tractor itself, but the
modifications. It was a Massey-Harris row crop, which I would estimate at
about 40 HP. It had a loader on it.
The first thing I noticed was that it had power steering. At first I
thought it was some kind of "assisted steering" as I recognized the
cyclinder as being from an IH 303 or 403 combine. Upon further
examination, it was apparent that the steering gear box, the steering wheel
and the inch shaft that goes from the steering to the steering wheel box
had all been removed. The steering wheel had been replaced with a steering
wheel motor and a different wheel that looked new. I soon realized that
the new-looking motor had actually come out of the same combine as the
steering cyclinder. This type of steering is known as hydrostatic power
steering, which means that it is completely oil-driven as there is no
mechanical linkage between the steering and the front wheels. This means
that if you blow a hydraulic hose you have no steering at all. (IH has
used this system for at least 35 years due to the complexity of having a
steering shaft go around the various components of the front wheels.) I
believe I am correct in saying that cars and trucks are still required to
have a direct mechanical linkage so that if you lose hydraulic pressure you
still retain some steering.
Hydraulic pressure for the system was supplied by a Ford power steering
pump from a 1-ton truck. What looked odd was that (whether because of the
loader or not) they had torched a hole in the hood and had mounted the
power steering pump ABOVE the hood and just behind the radiator. The
loader on it was a very old type with a trip bucket. Although the
mechanism was all there, thye had converted it to a hydraulic bucket. I
was so interested in the power steering part that I failed to see what they
used as a pump to run the loader. I am sure the original tractor's pump
was insufficient for that use. My only thought on the system was that even
though everything worked, it was very crudely done such as everything was
freehand torched and nothing was ground smooth. When I do something such
as this I try to make it a little more professional looking.
That said, however, I try not to be judgemental about any of this as I am a
big believer that a person has a right to do things their own way, and if
they are happy with them it is nobdy else's business to judge how it looks
and be critical. Although I enjoy going to shows as much as the next guy
and seeing equipment preserved in its original state, I also really like
seeing people still using this equipment for actual work and if a few
modifications are necessary to achieve this end, I am not necessarily
against them either... especially if the tractor is not an extremely rare one.
Greg Hass
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