1066 Rear Axle Modification

1066's are as common as dirt and worth even less. Now if you said you were going to cut the axles off a MTA diesel I'd probably be posting against it too, but then I'd give you the reason.

(This is also easier said than done...)

To start with there is no way you can transfer the horsepower of a 1066 to the drawbar with only two tires, short of putting 5,000 lbs. of rear weight on it. If you do that those tires will have a short life. You will also be creating very much to increased soil compaction.

I bought a new 1066 in 1975 on 20.8x38 singles and loaded with calcium chloride. In 1,000 operating hours those tires were SHOT. I added axle duals, bought 4 new tires, same tires as factory originals. I installed those with no added weight and ran them 9,000 hours. In field conditions the tractor with duals and no added weight will out pull the singles loaded.

Now if your into tractor pulling on a hard track, the singles with weight added will pull more, and it will take you 500 years to put a 1,000 hours on it.

Wax the damn tractor and park it outside. Since the mid 1960s those big tractors are pretty well weather proof. The insurance costs of housing such a big tractor make outside storage a must. If you have extended periods when tractor is not in use the condensation factor is far greater in an unheated building than in the great outdoors.

I never said don't cut off your axles, you do as you wish, it's your tractor. What I do see however, is no one matters but Michael Sheik. Coming on here and saying you cant see any use for those long axles. Get a life and find out why. I'll almost bet you've never read anyone's thread but your own. This forum is about people, sharing their life experiences, learning why the peanut farmer in Georgia, or the grain farmer in the west, or a vegetale farmer, or a dairy farmer did it differently.

I farmed a lot of years, ran as many as 7 tractors, 4 trucks, 2 skid loaders and a SP Combine at one time. The tractors ranged from a Super A all the way to a 1066, and all of them bought new or very close to it. In my lifetime I've owned 16 Farmalls, 1 Cockshutt, 2 Cases and one Deere. I never bought a new tractor unless it was going to see 800 hours of operation per year. My 1066 crossed the 10,000 hour mark before it was 8 years old.

In the past few years I have operated articulated tractors all the way up to 350 hp. I my opinion articulated is the way to go in anything over 100 hp. I've been saying that since about 1977, two years after I bought my 1066. Back about 5 years ago I went to operate a tractor mounted blueberry harvester, not because it was a big tractor, in fact it was only 60hp. Why, because I wanted to broaden my knowledge.

For Gawd's sake, leave the tractor set outside or build another shed.

Don't cut those axles! Pretty sure that it is a hangin' offence. :>(

Allan