[AKweldshop]

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[noddybrian]

Thanks for the info & more great pictures John - so I was close with my guess - the 574 / 674 are visually identical just 10hp difference in motors (68 / 78 from memory in UK market ) & yes they were great little tractors in their day - actually quite advanced compared with others of the same year - gearbox took some getting used to - yours having such low hours won't but high mileage models suffer from linkage wear & can jam between gears or even select 2 at the same time - then you get to lay under them with a prybar & jump them back into correct place ! never seen the 544 hydro - think it maybe a US market specific model - we had a 354 hydro but they are very rare - idea had it's merit for certain jobs but they never caught on here - to find one now would be make it a valuable collectors model - they had one at the college I went to bought just really to show us about hydrostatic drive as almost nothing used them back then - even combines were still mostly belt drive on variable speed pulleys - I only drove it one time & after demonstrating a near perfect " J " turn was banned !
Slight query - you say 8speed manual box - yes thats my memory but all the UK 674's I've seen have the clutchless 2speed splitter .( like dual power on Fords )

[plantwelder]

Noddybrian, my Dad drove one of those 544 hydro on a baler. He said it was the best baler tractor that he'd had in 50 years. There wasn't much that it did well apart from that, but that one job it excelled, especially on some of our fen crops where the combines spat the straw out of the back in lumps. You're right on the uk 674's, they all had that splitter. Can't remember what IH called it, but the Ford system on the 7000's was called Dual Power. Masseys had something similar as well on the 165/185/188 tractors.

[noddybrian]

Interesting - I been around a LOT of tractors but never saw a 544 hydro - I can see on a baler it makes sense - probably on beet or spud harvesters too - the Nasty Ferguson version is called " multi power " & is a nightmare - you have to remember in low the tractor free wheels in gear which is not a bonus ! only good thing was you could still bump start them with a dead battery - fords needed engine running for drive as high & low go through a hydraulic clutch pack - at this rate we're going to need a new topic just for farming !

[AKweldshop]

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[plantwelder]

Multi power, that was it. I remember switching to low and sailing past the farm entrance. If I remember correctly, and I think I do, you could tow start the Fords, but only if you'd stopped them in high dual power and didn't touch the lever. I'm talking the old '70's ones. You're right on the 544, they were scarce. I only saw that one. Never saw the smaller one on a farm, ever.

Starting to sound like farming forum now. Where do you hail from, Noddy?

John, just seen your pictures above. Yup, the U.K. built ones were the same, just a little more "finished" than yours.

[noddybrian]

@ AK - thanks for the picture update - ours were the same - reminds me of driving a boat ! first UK tractor with synchromesh I believe - ours did also have a hydraulic operated 2 speed splitter like dual power / multi power blue and red.

@ plantwelder - I'm in Kent.

[rick9345]

are the pictures mountains of work
or
work with mountains
Oh! wait they're in the background
Always nice photos,thanks John

[AKweldshop]

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[noddybrian]

Great pictures John - looks like hard work - how come you don't use " flat 8 system " ? way less manual handling.

[DLewis0289]

I truly enjoy everyone of your posts, the work is outstanding and the scenery makes me envious. Until I seen the square bales, when I was really hard up as a kid for money I used to put up hay for a friend of the family for 9 dollars a day.

[Otto Nobedder]

I, too, made summer money bucking hay.
When I gave that up to make money turning wrenches, installing stereos, and welding stuff, I decided if I needed to buck hay to eat, I'd just eat hay...

$0.06/bale in 100* heat in the blazing sun is hard work for the money...

Steve S

[rick9345]

1962 worked behind a custom baler 0.10 a bale on the counter, 600-800 bales a day. Good money for a 17yr old,considering a bank clerk made $40.00/wk and small town maintenance man was paid $120 every 2 weeks.

[YukWelder]

Nice, wish I had a loader for projects like that.

[DLewis0289]

The GOOD money back in the day where I was from was "De-Tassling" corn for a couple weeks. $300.00 bucks for two weeks of work was big money for a kid in 1974. It was also coed, a combined ag education/hickey physiology science.

[Otto Nobedder]

The summer of '74, I turned 6. The summer of 76 was more interesting.

I was making money mostly raising Jersey calves to sell. $750 was a nice summer for a year's worth of working about an hour a day. I'd also sell the occasional lawn mower or chainsaw I'd fixed at the same auction. Also made a few bucks milking for the neighbors so they could take trips, even checking fences on their horses. I had a varmint gun for coyotes and snakes, and would hunt while riding if the opportunity presented itself.

There's no substitute for the lessons of growing up "country".

I didn't get in to bucking hay until my growth spurt at puberty. It didn't take me long to get out of it, as I knew easier ways to make money.

It was a few more years before I went to hickey school...

Steve S

[AKweldshop]

We stacked a thousand bales in that barn....

#Cumminslife

[rick9345]

Beer Brigade?
As usual great scenery back ground.

[AKweldshop]

[AKweldshop]

Here's our Ford 7000 for you guys across the pond.

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