Wonderful replies. I enjoyed all, esp. those from people who had had experiences similar to mine.
One note: All Farmalls before the letter series had automatic brakes. The original Farmall, the F-20 and the F-30 had one handbrake lever on the left side, which was primarily used to stop the tractor (hardly necessary with steel wheels--the lugs dug in and stopped the tractor almost immediately), but also to hold the tractor when it was used on the belt. The F-12 and F-14 had two hand levers, which could apply either brake independently of the automatic system. On the F-12, those levers were so short they were pretty difficult to get much purchase on. The right hand lever had a ratchet arrangement to hold the brake on whenever that was needed. It is true that late-model F-20 and F-30 had foot brakes, but as far as I know, the automatic (cable-operated) system remained effective. The foot brakes could simply be applied in place of the cables, but I assume that if the steering wheel was turned enough, the cable brakes would come into operation on their own. One of the things I remember--and loved--about the foot brakes on our H's and a Super M was that you could tap them in a turn, to bring the tractor around when it was pulling a heavy load (like a big disk harrow) that would try to keep the tractor going straight. Another use for the foot brakes (or the individual hand brakes on the F-12 and F-14) was to stop a wheel from spinning in gooey soil and keep the tractor moving. I sure would like to have a chance to do some of that kind of work again, but just a little bit at a time. I have a place that needs a lot of grass and some weedy spots cut, and I bought a little Ford (can I say that HERE?) 1100 which is a REAL tractor, not a put-put lawn mower, and I have fun for an hour or so about once a week, roaring around the place. When I was a kid, I always wanted to go as fast as I could (think what that means when the tractor only goes 4 miles an hour!). I used to pull the throttle rod out on the F-12 to get just a few more rpms. Sick, huh? Well, today, I just enjoy running this little bird along at a comfortable speed that doesn't jolt my aging tailbone too much, and that, so far, has kept the trailing mower in real good shape. And...I find that once a week on the tractor satisfies all my "needs" (1970s psychology babble). I am hesitant to admit this to anyone but you fellows, but when I'm out there in the sun on my little tractor, I let my mind wander....back to the farm, the cornfields, the grain binder and the stationary thresher, my father's 10-20 barking away as the thresher was being fed, the corn binder, and again, the 10-20 or a cousin's F-20 making the Blizzard (stationary) ensilage chopper roar as it threw chopped corn up into the silo.
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Today's Featured Article - Choosin, Mounting and Using a Bush Hog Type Mower - by Francis Robinson. Looking around at my new neighbors, most of whom are city raised and have recently acquired their first mini-farms of five to fifteen acres and also from reading questions ask at various discussion sites on the web it is frighteningly apparent that a great many guys (and a few gals) are learning by trial and error and mostly error how to use a very dangerous piece of farm equipment. It is also very apparent that these folks are getting a lot of very poor and often very dangerous advice fro
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