Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: QUESTIONS ON 656

Posted by Hugh MacKay on August 09, 2003 at 19:18:02 from (209.226.106.58):

In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: QUESTIONS ON 656 posted by ed on August 07, 2003 at 10:44:31:

Ed: If you re read the thread no one suggested using a transmission driven PTO tractor on a IH cyclo corn planter. Aside from the problem you mention on the PTO pushing you, every time the blower stops the seed will fall from drum, thus 8 to 12 feet missed planting. I always liked planting with 656, lots of power for job, TA at headlands when turning. I have done some planting with 300 a couple of times, a bit shy on power.

When I made the remark about the 460, 504 and 606 being duds, more than just tractor performance went into that decission. On several ocasions I priced new 504 and later on 544. I always found these tractors were priced very close in price to the next larger tractor. I had a 560 new, 460 was at time within $400. 460 was not a factor as I was looking for 60 hp. I later bought a neighboring farm that had a 504 and 656 with it. The vendor advised me not to keep 504 long as at 1500 hours engine had to be rebuilt. He said he never liked the 504 from new, plus by the time he added some optional equipment it cost him as much as the 656 diesel. He bought both new in April 1967. With the added acerage I was planning to trade my 300 on a 1066. After a day plowing with No. 60 3x16 on both 300 and 504, the 504 was the one traded on 1066. In my sandy loam I had often pulled that 3 bottom plow with 300. The part that got me was 504 is rated 7-8 more hp than 300.

The new price tag on these tractors was a factor. That may have been unique here in Canada as I believe IH were trying to force us into buying the British built IH in the 50 hp class and smaller tractor. The US plants couldn't keep up with sales, Doncaster, England was new. Currency was right for IH making money with Euorpean built tractors. IH forgot one thing those smaller British built tractors weren't Farmalls.

I will give one further item on the comfortable M item. My Farmall 300 on 9' New Holland haybine would burn 3 Canadian gallons of gasoline per hour, and no more than enough power. 656 diesel on that same haybine, burned one Canadian gallon of diesel per hour. The 504 and 544 diesels will not do any better. You could say I never worked my 656 very hard. I sprayed, drilled grain, planted corn, baled both square and later round, haybine, and it did all those jobs more economical than any tractor I could have used there. The other job it did every year was plow 250-300 acres with a 510 - 5x16 semi-mount plow. You name any other tractor that will fill that bill.

The Farmall MD and SMD were in their time hailed as the most economical farm power. IH improved that economy with the 656. That line of tractors starting with the Farmall M in 1939 through to the 686 in 1980, was 40 years of the most economical horse power North American farmers have ever seen. No one has done it any better. There are no new tractors on the market today that will match it. So if all this creates a bit of a chuckle for a few that's fine. I will stand by my comfortable M theory, absolutely more power, no question. Getting the job done one time and at the lowest possible cost is what counts.

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