DR.EVIL

This is interesting. My lawn service conned me into having my yard plug aerated one year. They brought there machine one day while I was at work and when I got home my yard looked like a huge pack of dogs all took a dump in my yard, looked disgusting ! I started gathering pieces of steel to build a semi-mounted lawn aerated, The frame is heavy enough to be a Glenco Soil-saver frame, my aerator has seven wheels with six 1/2" spikes each able to poke holes 3 to 4 inches deep seven rows wide about 6-1/2" apart. I pulled it with my home hade sleeve hit on my Cub Cadets, I normally used my gear drive 72 but did use the 982 once or twice. It pulled hard, about as hard as my 10" moldboard plow sunk in 6+ inches deep. I used it here on my 2+ acre yard for 6-8 years and I really think it improved my yard. It tore a "V" shaped slot about 6 inches away from from a couple million other slots. My grass grew bigger and more green like I put a double dose of fertilizer on it. LAST thing before a solid frost I'd aerated. NOW the self-appointed experts at a certain competing brand of garden tractor in typical fashion look down on anyone who doesn't plug or core aerated, and when I asked what they do with the ugly cores that look like dog turds one guy said they disappeared, no crap! I haven't used the thing in 10-12 years, it's still got my 500+ pounds of steel on it. My sleeve hitch broke, a 1/4" by 2" steel bar broke. I haven't got around to making the new heavy-duty one. Now, my tenant for my 80 acres years ago, in about 2006 or 2007 sent me his Climate Field View file, the corn yields, He'd planted tillage radishes on the whole 80. Some places that 80 made just over 300 BPA and averaged around 250. When Dad and the neighbor farmed that 80 typical corn yield was 125 BPA. Granted the 300 BPA spots were without a doubt the small very best bits of ground on the place. Tenant was growing some pretty potent hog manure too and I know our 80 got a dose of that too. But my opinion is that, YES, aeration helps, but it's real easy to spend way more than it's worth trying to improve your yields.

Here's a vote for Eason's Idea on starting with an S series, but unless you Really have to have that cramped little sleeper bunk in the R-190 I'd just drive the S-series as is. I've probably rode more miles in R-190's than ANYBODY on this forum and honestly an R-190 is a miserably poor riding truck, cramped, hot in summer, freezing cold in winter. The S-series of IH trucks benefit from 20 years of great development in truck engineering. A Louisville Ford 9000 is still more comfortable after a 20 hour day than an S-2200 and the Louisville will be in better shape to begin with than the S-series. MOST Container cartage companies in Chicago run Louisville Ford's because they don't break.

I hope your Quarter-Inch nut driver turns up someday. Tools handed down from Father to SON are Special. I've got a few of Dad's old tools stashed around here I only use in special situations, like Dad's 3/4" drive Craftsman sockets and ratchets.

I agree with payneryang, figure out your axle ratio. That's the most important factor in how the truck will perform with a load. The township road Commissioner had two C65 Chevies, a '67 with a higher numerical ratio, it plowed snow like a BEAST, accelerated relatively quick, but highway cruising was not one of it's best traits. They got a '74 C65, same 366 V8, same chassis, load capacity axles, only the rear axle, both low & high side were numerically lower, it could easily cruise 65 where the '67 was limited to around 55. But it was surprising how much easier the '67 climbed hills and help it's speed, the '74 slowed almost enought I'd need to drop to the low side. As a general rule I loaded them slightly more than their rated load, think they were both 26,000# and I'd load them around 28,000#. I would think the 345 IH would be kinda slow on acceleration, and I'd think you need to keep it up around full load RPM. Something like a 392 would have been a better engine. The trucking Co. I drove for had several IH S1700's I think they were, single axle semi-tractors with 3208 Cat's and 5+2, I spotted lots of trailers with them loaded with 40,000#+ loads. They had welded steel boxes wedged between the rear axle housings and frame rails to carry the weight. FARMALL rented me an IH S2200 single axle tractor, 290 Cummins & 9-speed Roadranger, rear axle was HEAVY, 34,000#, I spotted trailers during most of the strike in '79&'80. One trailer had 32,000# loaded in the front 16 feet of the 45 ft length, It was a royal P-I-T-A to hook up to. I started carrying wood blocks with me to back the tractors rear axle onto so I could get under that trailer.

I thought I was the only guy to still use those! I've had all kinds of brands that were junk, brittle plastic handles, cheap what seems like potmetal shafts and sockets. I looked at 5 or 6 brands then researched what stores had what brand and Blain's Farm & Fleet had a Cradftsman 7 pcs set from 1/4" to 1/2", and they will fit close metric sizes too. Nice rubber coated handles with 3 sides, can get lots more torque than small hardware needs. Things like license plate hardware and worm gear hose clamps you don't need/want something powerful and too fast, These have a hole beyond the hex so you can tighten nuts really tight. I haven't used them a lot, only once, and I was really satisfied. I gotta plumb up my water cooler and water cooled Tig torch and I know I'll use a couple of them.

Back in the 1960's & 1970's the neighborhood I grew up in everything was fenced, 20, 40, occasionally an 80 acre field. I guess Dad and I are responcible for converting several 20's into '40's. BTO across the road has 320 acres without a single fence. Even line fences dividing property ownership are gone, guess they trust GPS and auto-steer to determine who owns what.

275 hp @ 2400 rpm. 630 #/ft torque 1600+ rpm I couldn't find mpg but my experience is a BIG V8, IH 478 Cid sucking through a tiny 2bbl Holley gets around 3 mpg. I would estimate this V-12 would be in the 1-1/2 to 2 mpg range in a loaded truck. GMC did a LOT of things RIGHT with their V-6 and V-12 engines. Spark plugs were located INSIDE the V to keep plug wires away from glowing orange hot exhaust manifolds. There was a trough under the camshaft that caught oil draining from the top of the engine that covered the cam with oil to prevent cam & lifter wear. The waterpump pushed huge amounts of coolant through the engine blocks, they were meant to be driven "FLAT-FOOTED" 100% of the time. The guy Dad drove for even had a TORO-FLOW" diesel in a short nose conventional Chevy C70. I think it was a naturally aspirated 637 Cid, was Dad's favorite tractor. The Toroflow was available in a 478 Cid V-6 and a 637 Cid V-8 both turbo and NA. Also the 637 Cid Gas V-8 was the LARGEST DISPLACEMENT production V-8 ever made by General Motors. It's HP and torque was the same as the 702 Cid V-12. The Odd-fire V-6 had a unique exhaust sound, you could instantly tell when one was coming your way.

I was expecting an Allison 1710 but the 702 GMC is fine. I visit the GMC Big Block V6 website about once a week. Guy about 4-5 miles from me has a stretched nose '60-something 1500 pickup he built, the one I'd like a ride in is his Steel tilt-cab with a Twin-six. Looks brand new in the pictures.

Not sure what IH called it, maybe extended cab? But the guy Dad drove hauling livestock for had all R190's. after 1960-'62. Around 1964 he started replacing the R-190's with Emeryville's. I forget what year it was, maybe '62 or '63 I rode Shotgun with Dad 51 of the 52 Sunday's going to the Chicago Stockyards. The Ergonomics of the R-190 were crude at best. The inside of the cab was hotter than heck all summer and froze your feet in winter. No CB or AM radio either, the racket from the RD-450 was deafening. The truck owner had two GMC B-series tilt cabs, big V-6's, they seemed slightly more civilized and maybe slightly faster.

The '74 Diamond Reo 10-wheel readymix truck I drove summer of '75 had a 555 Cummins, I remember the data plate said 208 hp @ 2600 rpm, my 7.3L Powerstroke made more HP than that! Combine the drag from the Allison Trans and that HUGE hydraulic pump out ahead of the front bumper to keep the drum turning it was pretty slow with 7 yards on, around 28,000#. The other trucks which I drove one summer of '76, a 1966 White, 165 Cummins & 5+4 Trans was just about as slow. I followed some gray haired old lady out of town one afternoon, she never got over 35 mph even in 55 mph zones, with the hills and turns and traffic every downhill had me behind somebody s-l-o-w and every uphill had me dropping gears. The big "S" curve I normally took 50-55 mph I managed to accelerate to 35 mph. The batch of trucks before those Whites were IH R-series, probably RD-450 powered, the mixer engine sat on one of the rear fenders. Now they drive new Peterbuilt's.

RAY WEAVER runs a used Cub Cadet parts yard out in Denver, Pennsylvania. 717-587-3727, check his website, very nicely done, very highly rated. I've had the threads on the cap or tank distort and then leak if filled too full because the cap won't tighten enough , I typically fabricate a tank from steel sheet and weld in a steel pipe nipple and use a pipe cap. I DRILL a hole in the cap for a machine screw and wad of steel wool held in with a fender washer. LETS air in but no gasoline out. I bought a plastic Cub Cadet tank supposedly made for my #72, the threaded neck on the tank was too tall, had to sand it down and went thru 3 or 4 caps at the dealer parts counter before I got a cap that fit. It was NOT a cheap tank by the time I was done. I had built a 2 gallon "L" shaped tank that had a flush mount fuel cell lid from Summit Racing on it and the vibration from the engine cracked a necessary leg and I did NOT want to weld on the leg. I'm also NOT drilling a hole with a hole saw thru my hood for the filler neck to stick out!

My Mom graduated Nurses Training during WW#2 at JohnS Hopkins School of Nursing in Baltimore, Massachusetts. Her pet peeve was people calling that institution John Hopkins, if someone did that in her presence she ALWAYS corrected them. It's staggering how many supposedly intelligent educated news broadcast people get that wrong. I capitalized the "S" above on John's to emfacize it. Back when Covid was a daily news topic every night I'd hear some over-paid idiot talking head get it wrong. We really abuse our language, the younger members of the population especially.

Like all the others I mowed hay, clipped pasture, chopped corn stalks after picking corn with a 6 ft Brillion rotary mower, single blade and we kept the cutting knives sharp. Ran 3rd gear, 5 mph and never a lack of power with the Super H. A cutter a little wider, 7 maybe 8 ft would have been nice at times. A 12 ft on a stock M is probably a good load, Dad's '51 M out in my shop has 4" M&W sleeves & pistons, last time it was on a dyno was in the early/mid 1960's and made one Horsepower more than our stock SM-TA, the M&W's were installed a couple years later. When dyno'd it had 4" high altitude sleeves & pistons so something close to a Super M. Tractor Vet explained how to tune these old M's to REALLY RUN a week ago. But the small parts that make the difference are NLA, NO Longer Available.

If you weigh your pulling tractor while barefoot you have to pull the sled barefoot too Right? I would think a dedicated pulling tractor would be 5-10 gallon low on Hy-Tran, only a 2 gallon gas tank. I've heard of guys making foam spacers to put inside the rearends so only a gallon or two HyTran fills the rearend. And as much as I dislike K&N air filters they weigh less than a stock oil bath. Donaldson makes about 500 different designs of reinforced plastic 2-stage dry pleated paper air cleaners, some around only $50. The Kawasaki engine on my Cub Cadet zero-turn has one. My '51 M and Super H will have one soon too.

Sorry but I have to ask, How often do you grease a pulling tractor that you need a grease gun holder? Right side frame rail. We always mounted our's there too, and a big home-made tool box on the left side. Nice looking 450.