[AT] My M Farmall

[John Hall]

Al, having looked into every possibility of planter for 3-4 years, here 
is some advice that pertains to our area, not the midwest. One and 2 row 
planters are in high demand from gardeners and especially hunters (food 
plots).  A lot of 4 and 6 row machines have been chopped into smaller 
machines--especially the ones that can be mounted on tool bars. If you 
want something reliable that you can still get parts for (OEM and 
aftermarket), look no older than an 800 IH or 7000 series Deere.  Being 
a farm boy I don't have to tell you what fertilizer does to a machine, 
just remind you to check that closely. The jury around here is still out 
on broadcasting fertilizer or putting it out with the planter. My 
retired NC agronomist friend suggested I get a planter that would put 
out the fertilizer.  Starting around January, Craigslist has tons of 
planters. Problem is transporting a big one long distances.

You mentioned picking one row at a time, I bet narrow rows would be a 
headache regarding the wagon hitting the next row. Guess you would just 
have to measure and see.

John Hall


On 11/25/2017 8:33 PM, Al Jones wrote:
> John,  not sure on the corn situation yet.  We're on narrow rows now,
> so I may have to pick some a row at a time.
>
> Matt and I are pros at finding cool stuff a long way from home, then
> making it into a drive-until-you're-almost-dead road trip to get
> it.....
>
> I'd like to find 8-10 acres close by that I could hobby farm on.  I've
> just about accumulated enough "classic" equipment to make it
> happen.....
>
> Al
>
> On Sat, Nov 25, 2017 at 8:12 AM, John Hall <jtchall at nc.rr.com> wrote:
>> Al, you are starting to like those road trips a little too much! Glad
>> you got some new toys. So how many acres of wide row corn are you
>> planting this spring?
>>
>> John Hall
>>
>>
>> On 11/25/2017 1:11 AM, Al Jones wrote:
>>> Dean Vinson emailed me about a message I had posted a long time ago
>>> about my desire to own a Farmall M.  I bought an IH 2MH corn picker
>>> some time back and needed a M for it.  I kept Craigslist, Facebook,
>>> and several other classified sites watched, and one in Rock Falls, IL
>>> showed up that I liked.  It was 17 hours away, but it was a later M,
>>> which I preferred, had original BFG rear ties in nice shape, was
>>> fairly straight, and as a bonus had a M&W 9 speed transmission in it.
>>> The price was also significantly less than anything I had found in my
>>> area of eastern NC--even after fuel and paying  my friend for his
>>> trouble I had significantly less in it than I would have if I had
>>> bought the same quality of tractor locally. A good tractor collector
>>> friend of mine has a Chevy 2500 and a gooseneck, so we made plans to
>>> go get it.  Between our schedules, it ended up being in early January.
>>> So, we left his house near Raleigh, NC and drove all night and all
>>> day, (his wife came along to help with the driving) and arrived in
>>> Rock Falls late in the afternoon.  We loaded the tractor, chatted a
>>> bit, and then drove all night, getting back to Raleigh at about 12:00
>>> in the afternoon---a roughly 32 hour round trip!  We joked that we
>>> were Smokey and the Bandit reenactors, except without the Coors beer
>>> and Jackie Gleason chasing us!  I think we also might be a little bit
>>> insane.....  I should  mention that I came down with a mild stomach
>>> bug somewhere between Winston Salem NC and Wytheville, VA.  The
>>> symptoms were controllable with lots of Pepto chewables, but it made
>>> for a pretty miserable trip until late Saturday night when I started
>>> feeling better.....oh the things we do for old iron!
>>>
>>> The tractor appears to be a good buy.  The steering is a little loose,
>>> but everything else seems rock-solid. It's been converted to 12 volt,
>>> but the conversion is well-done and you really can't tell unless you
>>> look under the hood or in the battery box. The carb is set pretty rich
>>> and I need to do some tuning but it starts right up with no blue
>>> smoke. I've started getting it ready for the picker, I got the wheels
>>> spread all the way out and started mounting brackets.  Plans are to
>>> get it pretty close to mounted over the Christmas holiday when I have
>>> plenty of downtime.
>>>
>>> I'll try to be a little more conscientious about updates in the
>>> future.....I need to tell you all about my early 1947 Super A I got
>>> this summer.......it was only 13 hours away!
>>>
>>> Al
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