[Farmall] m

[Jim Becker]

For flood irrigation, usually (as far as I know) the rows are heavily 
hilled, creating v-like trenches between the rows.  With dual fronts, if you 
are a little off center, the tire against the hill tries to pull the tractor 
farther off center.  A single stays more easily in the center.  In some of 
the dryland areas, big ridges are used for moisture control (e.g. highland 
cotton).  They used single fronts for the same tracking reason.

In some small vegetable operations, they want to plant rows very close 
together.  A single front is less of a constraint on narrow rows.  A wide 
front is often preferred for vegetables, same reason.

The narrow duals can be a big problem in mud.  Aftermarket mud scrapers came 
along to help this.  I recall one year when it caused a problem chopping 
corn on my dad's farm.  We had to go through one big mud hole each time 
around the field.  We had the chopper and wagon behind an M with a wide 
front.  It didn't have a problem with the front wheels but couldn't pull the 
whole rig through the mud.  A second tractor got chained to the front each 
time around and dropped off once past the mud.  The second tractor was a MH 
44 with a narrow front.  They finally unbolted one front wheel and ran on a 
single.  Steering wasn't easy but at least the remaining wheel would keep 
turning.

Jim Becker

-----Original Message----- 
From: E. John Puckett
Sent: Friday, November 25, 2016 9:35 PM
To: Farmall/IHC mailing list
Subject: Re: [Farmall] m

The further out those wheels were the harder it was on your wrists and
hands if you hit a rock or a hole with the front. =-O


On 11/25/2016 9:16 PM, John Hall wrote:
> Well that does make quite a bit of sense. Sometimes we had to go in
> fairly quick to pull the pipes up, didn't have time to let the sled rows
> dry. It was amazing to me how much mud a Super A could go through.
> I have seen 2 or 3 H and M's with the dual front that had the rims
> mounted so they were spaced wide--wonder if mud was the reason? Whatever
> the reason they looked weird and I always wondered how they drove.
>
> John Hall
>
>
> On 11/25/2016 8:45 PM, E. John Puckett wrote:
>> I would think the dual front wheels would have problems with mud balling
>> up between them where the ground was heavily irrigated.  I remember a
>> few times when we had gotten the H in the mud we had to dig the mud out
>> between the wheels when we parked it for the night when freezing weather
>> was predicted.
>>
>>
>> On 11/25/2016 7:26 PM, John Hall wrote:
>>> Grant, guess what I was trying to say is that the double front wheel
>>> setup is probably the most common across the US. Remember, I'm in NC,
>>> not the Midwest. Outside of a few F-12's, I rarely can recall seeing a
>>> single wheel setup on anything--It definitely makes it a more desirable
>>> collector tractor by being so odd.
>>>
>>> Regardless of whats most common, how come narrow fronts don't work well
>>> for irrigation? I'm thinking you guys have ditches or canal's for
>>> irrigation, do you flood the fields or do they cause issues trying to
>>> cross ditches? We don't see very much produce farming here. Whatever we
>>> do have would be watered the same as tobacco---lots of alum pipe laid
>>> out temporarily. Old school method was to have individual guns in the
>>> field. 30 years ago that gave way to "rain reels"--huge reel of pipe
>>> with a traveling gun. It was a lot faster to setup! I've seen a couple
>>> of the big metal overhead traveling irrigation outfits in the eastern
>>> part of the state--its very flat there.
>>>
>>> John
>>>
>>>> John, I hope that you noted I said that in CALIFORNIA that the dual
>>>> center wheels are rare.... I realize that in places where irrigation is
>>>> not the norm  that setup was indeed the norm, but it does not work with
>>>> irrigation or the hills we have. I actually drove one of those midwest
>>>> setup tractors before I ever owned my first tractor (a 1949 Oliver 77
>>>> three wheel tricycle that we still use) when I visited my great uncle 
>>>> in
>>>> Illinois. The point of my post is to remind all of us that there are
>>>> differences between areas in farming and equipment practices.
>>>>
>>>>           By the way, I too have used the 90 degree turn to load a 
>>>> tricycle
>>>> tractor as noted by mr. Puckett. It is a bit odd, but it works and is
>>>> actually safe for an experienced operator. We still have and use a
>>>> Farmall 240 tricycle, two Oliver 77 tricycles and converted one Oliver
>>>> 77 tricycle to factory wide front. The Farmall 100's and the 140 are
>>>> wide front of course as they only ever came that way.
>>>>
>>>>                          Grant Brians - Hollister,California farmer
>>>>
>>>>                       Grant Brians
>>>>
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