1946 Farmall M cutting hay with a 1988'ish Hesston 1120 mower conditioner (pics)

rankrank1 · Jul 1, 2015

No laughing at the lift system on the mower conditioner now...

Old Junk Man · Jul 1, 2015

I also use the old M tractors. They are sturdy and have plenty of power for most task.

docone · Jul 2, 2015

Nice use for the loadbinder, I seem to find a way to "repurpose almost anything".

Good job!

rankrank1 · Jul 2, 2015

It is not a load binder although I guess it could be used for that. It is simply a mechanical hydraulic cylinder replacement mostly used like when one goes to an auction sale and you plan to purchase an implement and pull it home behind your pick up truck. Gives you an easy way to raise or lower the implement with manpower without needing tractor hydraulics.

Lots of people like me use them on older tractors that totally lack hydraulics (although this tractor does have hydraulics). It can also be used used as a poor man's tilt link in place of a hydraulic tilt cylinder when grading, boxblading, etc.

I think they can be bought for like $30 to $35 new. However, this particular one belonged to my grandpa in the 1970's, inherited by my uncle in the 1980's, inherited by my dad in the 1990's and finally inherited by me in the 1990's. The other three are gone now, but I remember all 3 of them fondly when I cranking on that mechanical cylinder. Actually it is not bad at all to use. I lower it once when I enter the field and then I raise it once when I exit the field.

Old Junk Man · Jul 2, 2015

I call it a adjustable center link. The M belly pump could be used with a hose & cyl to work your machine. I have one rigged thru a valve to work two ways. I have up and down pressure on my shop built three point lift. A M with a three point hitch is pretty handy.

rankrank1 · Jul 2, 2015

It not really an adjustable center link either as it does not have the ball swivels on the ends like a center link does although it could still be used for it if desired with care. A common run of the mill center link does not have threads designed for lifting really. The threads on this manual cylinder replacement are more like a heavy duty ACME thread and can take repeated liftings and movements under weight and still hold up.

rankrank1 · Jul 2, 2015

This tractor has hydraulic hook ups from belly pump as well as an additional live hydraulic pump added on at the distributer for the behlen power steering.

The original haybine cylinder went for use on my homebrew category1 and category 2 combo three point hitch kit which I remade made with my designs and additions from a damaged unit. That said some of my other tractors lack hydraulics altogether or lack the stuff to have a remote so the manual cylinder replacement works well for me. I can hook any one of my old tractors to the haybine and use it if desired.

wmonroe · Jul 3, 2015

Nice pictures, I like those old Farmalls. A farmer down the road from me still has two super C's and a M, up until a few years ago they were used regularly.

TomSeller · Jul 3, 2015

You might need to put a cab on it to keep those swarming green bugs in the background off of you.

Seriously, very nice setup, I like to see the old iron being used.

rankrank1 · Jul 3, 2015

Yeah sorry about the swarming green bugs. I operate in small piddle patch fields and this particular field does not belong to me nor do any of the neighboring houses all around that piddle patch. Just do not feel it is proper to post pics of someone else's house, barns, sheds without their permission to do so. I know I would not want someone posting pics with my house in their backgrounds. So I blotted out the buildings out of respect.