[AT] massey combines at portland

[toma at risingnet.net]

Quoting Paul Waugh <pwaugh at embarqmail.com>:

> OK, what is a hillside vs. prairie  ..... shorter legs on one side :))   or
> maybe it is longer legs on one side :))

Both actually, one side goes up and the other side down. Hydraulically  
controlled with racks on each side geared to a pinion shaft so as one  
side goes up, the other goes down.

The old 25 had a manual control valve but the later ones had a mercury  
filled level sensor with a switch on each end and electro-hydraulic  
control valves.

I have watched guys come across a steep sidehill, get to the end,  
stomp on the downhill brake and spin it around. The duck would level  
out as it came around. I never had the nerve to do that. They had a  
habit of breaking spindles on the drive wheels. Brakes were an issue  
too.

>
> Paul-46555
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <toma at risingnet.net>
> To: <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2010 3:17 PM
> Subject: Re: [AT] massey combines at portland
>
>
>> When I was in high school my grandfather and I returned to the old
>> family ranch that had been leased out for pasture for a generation. It
>> was then leased to a local farmer but we reserved a few acres with the
>> old buildings. This was my first exposure to farming. This was in the
>> mid fifties.
>>
>> He had a Massey Harris Model 25. It was a prairie machine that had
>> been converted to sidehill. I think it was 12' cut. The story was that
>> when it was built, hillside machines had not been invented yet and
>> when parts became available someone had converted it. I never saw it
>> in action but I climbed all over it and checked it out thoroughly
>> because he parked it in our barn for the winter. He had a Cat D2 too.
>>
>> In later years I had a Massey Harris 90 hillside and later a Super 92.
>> The salt air got to them before I found a market for grain and they
>> went for scrap. I wish I could go back and give that 90 another shot.
>>
>> Tom
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>
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