Non-existant user wrote:

That big fuel tank would be nice even on a D6C. 120 gallons just isnt enough for a full days work during the spring running 14-15 hour days.

Ever since we bought that cat I have wanted to pull something really big with it so I could actually hear it lug down in lower gears. Hehehe could hook onto the neighbors eleven bottom IH plow and see if that would do it.

Yup, the extended fuel tank is the way to go. Doesn't take long to snort through the fuel when you have a load & are running steady. Back in the 70's
& 80's when we used to plow around the clock at SRS Ranches, we would fuel
at 6, noon, 6pm & again @ midnight. Crew change @ 6 & 6. Two Cats ( the last set up was a D5BSA & a D6DSA) each pulling 10 eighteens. We could really smoke over some acres in 24 hrs. I always ran nights.....the best time
to plow. The air is cooler and a little more dense, so a hair more HP. And the
day shift ALWAYS got stuck with all the moves ( from ranch to ranch) No
pictures of that, unfortunately so you will just have to do with these of a
friends D6C pulling a set of doubles:

"tanker" wrote:

Don't think so -- my 20 pulled 5-16's all its life--better look for something bigger-

In our soils and terrain here 11 18"s would be a pretty big load I am sure. One guy near here pulls 10 18s with a D6C and 8 18s with a D5, a pretty good match for both.

The 11 bottom plow is pulled with a 360hp CIH steiger, but it doesnt weigh a whole lot more than our D6C so they would pull similarly I would think.

Pulling this old 8 bottom with the D6B was a slow job in tough conditions. Dry plowing would spend all day in 1st and 2nd gear.

98J- really nice looking tractor, pulling plows like that never really was popular here- farms didnt get very big until the 80s so all the bigger ones were flex plows.

We used to plow from about 3am to 11pm, did everything with one 6 bottom plow and often did almost 2/3 of the place when the residue was too heavy to chisel.

Non-existant user wrote:

In our soils and terrain here 11 18"s would be a pretty big load I am sure.

The 11 bottom plow is pulled with a 360hp CIH steiger,

Am sure your terrain is quite a problem as I am used to 2% slope- but HP ratings are deceiving-720 deere will pull 3-18 here while the 20 would pull 5-16-in 56 the 20 went into shop for new everything & cat dealer wanted to trade a D2 for it- they brought out the D2 & it wouldn't pull the plow-also --when the neighbor got the 30 ft dbl offset disc I am using-[weighs 9 ton]-- his stiger wouldn't pull it till he put fluid in tires -- but 2U is detuned to 108 HP & pulls it just fine.

Hello 98j yes I know of the D8's I thing you are talking of.They are on the eastern side of narrow band of country that can be dry farmed and I am on the west side(10 inch rainfall),about 25 mile apart as the crow flies and 40 as the road goes(west side 20 inches rain).They had 3 36a's with d9 fuel tanks,most common tillage tools is a 9inch spaced offset disc as there is rock of one kind or another in this area.They had hitches to pull two 21 foot John Deere disc and two 32foot cultivators,I don't know how big there chisel plows are.I have been told they planted 10,000 acres a year all on summer fallow.They still are using these tractors some today,but one family member works for Deere and they run a lot Deere,s new experimental tractors 24/7 to put as many hours as possible on them as well as there new combines.I don't know how they harvest the really steep stuff as the new Deere,s don't level that far,maybe that is part off experiment.In the 80's when SCS was pushing no-till they leased D8L SA high track and 20 foot Yielder no-till drill and they could get a crop ever year in 10 inch rain fall area,that didn't last but a few years.
As for the silver seeders,I have operated at least 6 different MH combines.Last year is the first year since 1970 I have driven a combine.The first one was a 3 wheel all wheel drive Case that the uncle owned then dad's JD 36b with a CAT rd6 but he never really had me run it much as I was the truck driver.His 36 had the automatic leveler with air cylinders to acetate it and header control as well.These type off machines(36b and the Case )have been talked about with pictures over on Combines antiques board.Next was a Super 92 Massey Harris sidehill ,a step backwards in many ways, but I don't thing you could roll it over with out trying.Then in June of 79 I climbed on a neighbors 75 MH and got a week off in mid Sept. and then 6 more weeks cutting safflower.The next they got a newMH2 so I got moved a 78 MH2 which I bought in the early 90's.The neighbor has two son's that both did a lot off custom cutting the early 80's before the CRP came along,one JD 6622 with 22 foot header and 5 different MH2 with 18 foot headers.We never pulled headers to move so the6622 was kept closer to home.Three Mh2's out on 101 freeway @21 miles per hour headed north as much as 60 miles,got to know ever narrow bridge were we had to pull out and use both lanes.The only close call i can think of was a stalled car on the shoulder and pulled into fast lane and have car fly by in the center divider on the dirt.After that the owner decide the son that said we needed CB radios so the last machine could tell lead machine what was coming up behind was a good idea,let alone talking truck driver into the part of the field we needed the next set of double trailers dropped.
This gets me to thinking of some the country we cut and dry bog where I slide over plow bank in to wild oats.It all stopped with the upper wheel still in the field.The crop owner provided a9u d6 to pull 2 axle truck tractors with a set of double trailer up to the ridge top where they would drop empty's pick up a full set and slide back down.So get cat over to the harvester and start to hook up chain and lean on machine and it starts to slide some more,son drives up says you want me to drive that out and I said sure but it came out with out any more excitement.
There were a few ranches that did farm with 2u or 14a D8's in this area.A cousin worker on a ranch that ran D6C and a9u to farm with and 2u D8 to do a little dozier work.One year they were a little behind so the owner put D8 on there 24 foot disc they used on the D6c and said the didn't handle it near as well as the D6 would.
Gee I guess you can tell its cold and wet here today.Better end this before you all are a sleep.
Ray

I assume this is the D8 and Yielder you mentioned.

Yo Ray! Thanks for the info on those classy looking D8's down in your area.
Sure would like to pull a couple of shifts in one of those Bad Boys. Never got
to pull the old 36B??? Always loved harvest with the old pull rigs. Broke in pulling my Granddads JD 33-H ( smaller version of the 36B) Here I am, circa
1967, the last year we ran the old girl:


Went to a Gleaner AH after that......not what you want on something steep.
Went back to a pull rig for one season in '75 ( same 7u, just gained a cab & AC)



Blossomed out with a Diesel 95-H the next year.

Yo Ray! Thanks for the info on those classy looking D8's down in your area.
Sure would like to pull a couple of shifts in one of those Bad Boys. Never got
to pull the old 36B??? Always loved harvest with the old pull rigs. Broke in pulling my Granddads JD 33-H ( smaller version of the 36B) Here I am, circa
1967, the last year we ran the old girl:


Went to a Gleaner AH after that......not what you want on something steep.
Went back to a pull rig for one season in '75 ( same 7u, just gained a cab & AC)


Blossomed out with a Diesel 95-H the next year.

I thought maybe some people may enjoy a few more pics, mostly of scenery.

First one was plowing snow a couple years ago, I never got any pics from when the snow got really deep in 07-08 and 08-09 I was way too tired of it by then, pushed piles up as high as the cat could go over 15ft high some places. Shoveling off the sidewalk I was throwing snow way above my head ended up with over 120" two years ago and about 110" last year. This year has been calmer, had a foot or so in December but we never even cranked the cat up to plow snow so far this winter.



Skidding logs out of the woods while it was froze up, right around 0ºF.





This one was taken in March of 09, the snow had melted enough that the top wire on the fence was showing in some spots. Also note that this is NOT a snowdrift, this was in a clearing out in the wooded pasture behind the house so no wind hits that spot.



Showing the clearing in the previous pic, earlier on before the snow got deep.



This was Jan 08 got 16" of snow in 12 hours.









Now this next one was what the winter wheat looked like on April 11, 2008, this field made 70 bushels which we consider to be a pretty poor crop. The 130 consecutive days of snowcover caused snowmold which hurts the yield. Before dividend seed treatment came out in the early 90s heavy snow years would also cause bad smut which made the wheat really short.



Same spot as previous pic, lambert winter wheat April 10 2005. This field did 103bu and our 26 acre field adjoining it did 107bu.

















This thunderstorm dropped .85" of rain in about 30 minutes during harvest in 08.



Thats it, enjoy!

Oh sure. The old double post trick. MY, My how the no till process has changed.
A typical no till drill used in Wasco Co. A 45 foot drill ( 12" centers) stealth
openers, 4" press wheels behind a 2320 Air Cart. The whole thing behind a JD
9400T



The tractor of choice right now for no till work however is the Case IH
Quad Trac.......this one is my son in laws...same 45 foot drill as above, only
set up with Anderson Openers & wider press wheels.......Anhydrous Ammonia
instead of liquid Sol 32 for the N.......



It's too bad....this county was ALL yellow, but when the no till bug bit up
here, Caterpillar was caught with their pants down. They didn't have anything
in their inventory that could touch the Quads. They do now, but the damage
has been done. Too bad that they don't offer an AG tractor that bends in
the middle. One look at the loaders in their lineup shows that they know
how to build 'em.
The big advantage for the Quads is that they can turn a big load like
these no till set ups, especially up hill





I know some of you are gagging.......but they really are an impressive piece
of iron: