[AT] HayWagon build up

[Len Rugen]

My wagon story.  We had ends on our wagon for hauling AC round bales.  I was about 12 and would "surf" the wagon going back to the field empty or stand with one hand on the front standard.  Dad was going down the road on an IH H as fast as it would go.  Then the hitch pin bounced out.  The tongue bounced on the dirt road a few times, which I thought was entertaining, so I stepped to the side of the standard to watch it.  Then it ran into the ground and instantly stopped the wagon.  Just like cartoons, I was floating with nothing underneath.  I hit the road probably doing 15 MPH, it was mostly dirt, so I don't remember even getting a scratch.  
What I do remember is Dad driving clueless on down the road until he was out of sight.  He went about 1/4 mile before he noticed he was alone. 
It was a little of a chore to get that tongue out of the ground too :-) 


Len Rugen

rugenl at yahoo.com


 

    On Monday, October 30, 2017, 11:58:15 AM CDT, John Slavin <chaunceyjb at sbcglobal.net> wrote:  
 
 Spencer:

I don’t know what the convention is for how far the bed extends past the front wheels, but I can tell you a story about that.  When I was a high schooler, I helped a neighbor in the small square bale hay field.  I mostly worked at unloading wagons.  My boss loaded the wagons that were hitched to a New Holland square baler.  He had his son, some 12 -14 years of age drive the tractor, a Farmall 350 that was attached to the baler.  His son wasn’t always the best at watching the wagon, concentrating on driving and watching the hay feed into the baler, so it was really hard to get his attention from the wagon.  If my boss needed to tell him something he would often have to hop off the wagon and run up to the back of the tractor and then when he he was done talking to his son,  he would stand as the baler went by him and when the front of the wagon hit him in the ass he would just sit down and swing his legs over the wagon bed and stand up and go back to work. He never looked back at the wagon. Not the smartest I know, but it’s what he did.  We had several wagons and they were essentially the same with an overhang of a foot or so in front of the leading edge of the front tire, except one had a short bed in terms of it’s overhang over the front wheels.  This wagon had essentially no overhang in front of the front leading edge of the tire.  One time he forgot that this particular wagon was attached to the baler and at the same time the wagon hit him in the ass, the front tire also rolled up on the back of his foot and leg.  Not sure what it did, but his leg was in a cast for quite some time.  I think it did something to his achilles tendon. Could have been a lot worse I’m sure.  

So the short answer is, there needs to be some overhang at least if you’re going to do what my old boss did.

John S.
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