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Letter to Swartz Manufacturing
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Posted by Allan on November 05, 2003 at 03:44:58 from (148.63.132.164):
Hi All, When I was a kid, we had to be constantly changing the front ends on the tractors from a single to a wide front depending on the time of year and what jobs were coming up. The single front end was needed for cultivating, ditching, mowing, etc., while the wide front end was needed under that loader to put up every cutting of that heavy alfalfa hay. You could not pull a potato planter with a single front as the 'tail wagged the dog'. This swap had to be made 3 to 4 times each and every summer and a guy got fast at doing this change over. Granted, I was younger then, but I used to be able to pull this off in about an hour. Fast forward 40 years. Now, I’m a part-time ‘gentleman farmer’ who is involved in running a medical company, but who needs a wide front end for my little grounds maintenance tractor. I like the looks of a Swartz front end to fit this little Farmall H, as I like the way they mount back ‘under’ the tractor and not 105 feet out in front like the corporate ones did and the drag links are mounted behind the axle. They turn sharper because the ‘stop bolt’ is not required as it was with that old factory ‘steering knuckle’ setup; also, they turn the same amount in both directions, which the original ones did not. I know they are not the heaviest built front ends, but my requirements are light duty. So, at the end of the day, I buy the damned thing. After two solid days of fighting with this front end, she is coming back off and we are starting back at square one. Nothing fits!! Close, but no cigar. Looks as though I’m going to have to spend another half a day to finish the manufacturing process with my drill and a torch. The main mounting takes four 5/8-inch bolts to mount to the tractor boss. The front end is drilled at these bolt locations with four nice, neat 5/8 inch holes. This makes no sense to me whatsoever….Why not drill the damned holes at 11/16 like they should be for “wiggle” room? The radius arm bolster mount is not even close. It is built ½ inch to narrow to fit the rails. Where’s the torch? I wonder if this outfit ever tried to mount one of these front ends? No dust caps for the wheel seals and the originals do not fit the spindle boss. What’s up with that? I suspect that they are built for the sole purpose of selling to idiots like me who "assume" that they are of quality construction. I think that I would have been better off to have bought a used factory front end from a junkyard for $800 and then rebuilding it. The pretty red paint looks nice, however. Rant over, Allan
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