gwoswald

8620 is a good carburizing grade. It doesn't have a ton of tensile strength all by itself, but it has enough alloy to harden well once carnburized. 4140 is a through hardening grade, usually you either quench and temper or induction harden. My own favorite grade is 4340. 4340 has a substantial nickel addition that makes it really tough. As an industry professor I had once put it, it's "a real man's steel". At my previous employment (metallurgical failure analysis) we were testing 120mm diameter pins that were used as link pins in heavy mining equipment. Incredible impact strengths in comparison to a 1045 or even 4140. Gears are interesting. The vast majority of failed gears I looked at either were over hardened (entire tooth was through hardened) or under hardened, where the case did not extend to the root of the gear tooth, resulting in wear.

Cold temperatures decrease mileage noticeably in my experience. Also tire wear or alignment. I have had alignment issues twice. Once mileage went down, once it actually went up.

Magnet test first. Then file the edge to confirm solid color all the way through. Could also figure it out by weight if you were ambitious. Copper alloy will be quite a bit heavier.

Northern Wisconsin here. Probably 5-8" but tough to say with the wind. Some drifts were a good 18" plus, other areas blow off. As I was clearing the driveway with the 986 listening to the radio this evening I thought two things: 1) this would suck in an open station. 2) grandpa set this girl up pretty well. 2350 loader, 8' bucket, diff lock, foot throttle. Probably didn't save much time as it will drift up overnight, but I had fun anyway.

My wife and I drove our 766 home about 80 miles. We each did a 2-3 hour stint. Wasn't bad at all. Then last year I tried driving a 544 utility home about 150 miles. Made it over half way and the front tire delaminated. Now that was just my fault, because the tires looked the crap and I decided to go anyway. My wife teases me because the only tractor we traveled home from the get go, was 5 miles away. But that one needs some engine work.

Yeah, it stays wet in the spring and has surface water in areas after any significant rain. I was thinking that either a renovator or subsoiling could help.

Thanks. So it looks like a three shank is my best bet. Then it can be taken down to 1 shank. I have concerns whether i could reliably pull two with the 766 without weighting up and worrying about the rear end.

Yeah there are lots of larger rippers that are spring reset, but is there another option besides buying a 3-5 shank ripper and taking all of the shanks off besides one?

Hello all, I am working on improving my hay field. I just have about 40 acres, so nothing large scale. I'm in process of correcting PH, getting fertilizer on the field and seeding in clover. The field has not been worked in many years. Our soil is quite rocky, and has a fair bit of clay. Because of the clay, I'd like to try sub soiling some of it to break up subsoil. Once down about 8", there is a pretty hard pan. I'd like to just use a one shank subsoiler running 16-18" deep. Problem is, I will hit rocks, and I don't want to use 10 lbs of shear bolts per acre. Would like to stick to a one shank so I can pull it with my 766. I haven't seen any one shank spring reset subsoilers, does anyone know of a model or have any ideas about this? I was thinking this may need to be custom made. Possibly, I could make a spring loaded "top link" so I could use an "over the counter" one shank subsoiler? Thoughts? Thanks!

On brittleness and shear strength, another consideration is shear load vs impact loading. If you put a file in a vise and hit with a hammer, it will behave differently than if you were to put it in a Clevis and carefully hang weights from it. Brittleness will come into play when you hit something. In addition, a grade 8 bolt may be less ductile than grade five, but it's still very tough, and takes a lot of energy to break, vs a file, which is hard, but not tough. Basically, a same sized grade 8 will be harder to break under all circumstances than a grade 5 all other things equal. With regards to file hardness vs bolts, grade 8 bolts are up to 37 HRC while a file is 50+, which is a pretty big difference. I spent 10 years as a failure analysis metallurgist, and engineer, so I've seen a few broken bolts in my day. Great discussion going. I've been looking for a one shank ripper for my 766. And LOTS of rocks to hit.

Congrats. We celebrated 5 years on the 6th, and I had that exact comment....5 years ago it snowed on the 6th in northern WI.

Yah hey, actually I think it was further south. We're an hour from lake superior.

Thanks, northern Wisconsin here.

It's a 544 utility. Gas ih2000 loader. Need a bigger bucket sometime. Next is a super c with a woods l306. Then it's an H Then the M And the 766D.

Picked up a 42 M today. Pretty nice shape, but it has a stumble when running and might have water leak. Previous owner thinks that the governor spring is weak causing the stumble. Also said the head gasket was replaced after finding some water in the oil, but isn't sure if it was fixed. Rubber is OK, rears have some cracks. Semi recent repaint. Distillate tank still in place. 12 v conversion. Canopy. Got a good enough price on it that even if I had to pull the engine for a new block, it was still worth the buy. Figured it was time for a new group photo, so lined up my red iron collection. None of them are perfect and but they all run well other than the M. Of course about 20 minutes after these pics I blew a steering hose on the 766. Ah well. Thanks all.