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A salute to the Silo Dairy farmers work with nutritionists who create healthy, balanced diets that are specific to the cows’ needs – based on their age, whether they’re milking, whether they’ll soon have a calf, and many other factors. Some dairy cows eat as much as 100 pounds of food per day. The ingredients often include human food byproducts, grain, a mixture of grass hay, alfalfa hay, as well as corn and grass silage that is grown on the farm, harvested green and stored in an anaerobic chamber. Fifty percent or more of a dairy cow’s food intake is silage. Woolford (1984) defined silage as “the product formed when grass or other material of sufficiently high moisture content, liable to spoilage by aerobic microorganisms, is stored anaerobically”. Silage is produced by ensilage, that is, the placing of crop material inside a vessel or a structure called a silo. Excavations at the Egyptian town of Guft show trench silos used around 1500 BC. A silo is a structure for storing bulk materials. Silos are used in agriculture to store fermented feed known as silage. Three types of silos are in widespread use today: tower silos, bunker silos, and bag silos. Tower silos are the tall cylindrical items we are accustom to seeing attached to dairy barns thought the countryside. They contain corn and/or grass silage which will make up the majority of a cow’s dilate and are usually unloaded from the top of the pile, originally by hand using a silage fork—which has many more tines than the common pitchfork; 12 vs 4—and in modern times using mechanical unloaders. An advantage of tower silos is that the silage tends to pack well due to its own weight, except in the top few feet. I can recall many winter days when a pickax was needed to break up the frozen silage in the winter and the fermented silage by springtime was probably ready to be distilled, cows seemed to love it. The bunker silo is an improvement on the Egyptian trench silos use in 1500 BC. Bunker silos are trenches, usually with concrete walls, that are filled and packed using tractors and loaders. The filled trench is covered with a plastic tarp to make it airtight. These silos are usually unloaded with a tractor and loader. They are inexpensive and especially well-suited to very large operations. Bag silos are heavy plastic tubes, usually around 8 to 12 ft in diameter, and of variable length as required for material to be stored. They are packed using a machine made for the purpose, and sealed on both ends. They are unloaded using a tractor and loader or skid-steer loader. The bag is discarded in sections as it is torn off. Bag silos require little capital investment and considerably less labor the conventional tower silo. The silage is harvested using a Round Baler and the bales are placed end to end where a device holds each bale off the ground as the bag is slipped over it. The farm I grew up on is now using the bag silo system.

A few years back I built a chariot mounted on a small Harbor Freight trailer. My wife felt like the Wheel Horse Queene riding around on it. We were even able to give a couple of friends a lift while cruising the grounds of the Florida Flywheeler show. It had storage under the seat and a cup holder on each side.

I had this powder coated orange. I haul my uncle around mostly since he doesn't get around good anymore and he's an allis chalmers nut. I would have loved to have done it WH red but sometimes we have to make sacrifices haha

80 90wt oil. Filling through the shift hole works the best. Right below the axle on the right hand side is a pipe plug. Remove this plug and fill the oil until it starts to run out of the hole. Put the plug back & carry on. You can see the hole in this pic.

Thank for all the great info Richard. Just a reminder for members attending the Big Show. One of the few remaining round barns is located a few miles from the show. It is now a yuppy farm market, but back in the day it was a dairy farm and the circular barn was built around a central silo with some very interesting construction. It is worth a visit if you are in the neighborhood .The Historic Round Barn & Farm Market

You definitely get what you pay for. Did you by chance check how much grease was in the bearings to begin with?

Finishing up building this show buggy for this season. Just finishing up painting the railing and adding beverage holders. Anyone else have show buggies? It's orange so I probably can't get away with taking it to the big show lol

@Pfmet - Welcome!! What you have there are "normal" raised lines found on an aluminum casting.... I se NO evidence of oil intrusion from a full-thru crack. Carry on...!!

Spring Cleanup Seat time!

Worked on several Wheel Horses today. I took my snowplow off the 854. Touched up some bare spots on the plow frame with new paint. Took off my steering wheel on the 854 ( easy I have a pin in it) and painted a bare spot on the gas tank top. Took the snowplow off the RJ and stored. Put some Fix a Flat in my 314 toro front tire. Seal around the rim leaking air. Cleaned out my spreader and did two applications today. Grubbed for the lawn and Scott’s Weed and Feed. Pretty quick work with the spreader I have. Checked out the HY belt guard that Mark Godzig made me (traded a three race pulley). I have one but also have another hydraulic system to install on a round hood tractor that it will be used for. Also primed and painted the belt guard. Fits great and Mark did a great job making this from measurements I sent him. Also primed a heavy duty RJ snowplow frame I got from Rodney Burger in Florida last month. Whoever made this didn’t want it bending!

I clicked on the laughing emoji but obviously I'm not laughing at the part about people dying in silos - that's not funny at all. I have heard the joke about taking a dump (or peeing) in a round barn before. I think it was from my Dad, could have been my grandpa but he was a bit too proper to tell a joke like that, I think. I'm a big fan of silos and have a collection of pictures I've taken over the years... If I see an old one I try to get a picture of it, even if it's during a drive-by. Here's one:

I can’t believe we are knocking on months from driver’s training for my youngest! August (July 29 actually) will mark eligibility for taking classes and getting behind the wheel. My kids have grown up driving, getting dirty, failing and excelling. No surprise there, with their father learning to wrench on Christmas toys long before they were played with, and their mother following in the footsteps of their grandfather, Adam Petty’s ASA teammate and 1994 ASA Rookie of the Year recipient. This 1992 Chevy Short Box C1500 toted Mrs. P’s Hobby Stock circle track dirt car to every race she could afford to get to, when she wasn’t penciled in for a swim meet in high school. It was a 4.3L Automatic bare bones 2wd work truck, no A/C, no power windows, just a good ole’ first set of wheels. It was passed back to her dad, and long before I was involved with this side of my family, it’s been sitting victim of high miles, hard work, and a ventilated V6 block. When we were dating, I pulled a donor engine from a junk yard and wheelbarrow toted that hefty thing about 300 yards to the register. @Lil’ Pullstart’s Great, Great Uncle Steve is a well known hot rodder in the area. He took the engine down to his shop, had it bored .030” over, rebuilt it with all new pistons, cam, timing set, bearings, valve, the whole ball of wax. It’s been on a stand waiting for this project for over 15 years, maybe 17 or so if I can count and recall dates correctly. About a year or two ago, we were camping at Grandpa’s house and Rylee started having a conversation with him about buying the truck back. It has been pushed from the yard, to the barn, filled with stuff, pushed out, pushed around, leaned on a time or two, etc. They settled on $300 as is, with the engine. I picked the engine up about a year ago. Her truck has been loaded on Grandpa’s ramp truck with a dead battery and flat on the bottom tires for even longer. Last weekend, we went over, popped some 5 on 5” wheels and tires from a race car on the back, pushed it off the ramp truck and tugged it home. I have a 5 speed manual swap to go into it, thanks to a local CL ad for the transmission and Tony Angelo from Motor Trend’s Hot Rod Garage and now his own show Stay Tuned. Since anything in the engine bay that is plastic or rubber has been cooking in the sun for a few years with no hood, I am thinking a lot of electronics will go away in favor of a nice carburetor, and an HEI ignition. I have a 2000 K3500 (5.7L 4x4) parts truck for the things like grille and headlights, washer and coolant tanks, any interior parts needed, I found a clean front bumper in my stash, and some things will be needed like good tires, brakes, etc, and we will search for those. There are more parts still at Grandpa’s like the hood, motor mounts, radiator, etc, but it’s nice the truck is home.

Just offer a free ride to the official??? How could anyone turn that down?

Growing up on a dairy farm I have lots of memories of climbing that ladder (covered on the inside) and using the silage fork to unload the needed corn silage for the days feeding. There were "doors / hatches" located at each stage that would be removed as the silage level was reduced. Been there done that.... There was always the occasional tragedy in the neighborhood when someone, often a youngster, would go up into the silo unannounced before it was safe. The result was a death from the gasses. The canary in the coal mine.... Also, there was the standing joke about the farmer who died in his round barn.... he couldn't find a corner...to take a dump in....

Best to pop the shifter out and fill through there

Maybe you could add a red removable skirt like a parade float has?😂😂

Big Betty Baloo is my show buggy. This pic is shortly after I adopted her and got her running.

I’m going to build another one like the one that I made for the 416-8.

Just make sure the cupholders are already occupied by a couple of cold recreational beverages!

The BBT is quite fond of the idea of silos as homes.

Whatcha think, show up with it and plead my case?

1.5 qts. 80w90 gear oil or a weight thereabouts. 3 and 4 speeds all use 1.5 qts while 6 and 8 speeds call for 2 qts.

I don't see a problem. They can be a bit fussy over there and I understand for good reason. If your hitched up to a wheel horse I figure your good to go. Just an accessory then.

Nice!!! 10 minutes with a brush and voila... it's red (or black)... Sort of a show buggy...

Last year I replaced both #21 and #32 as part of my work to add dual front remotes to a 520 chassis. #21 (which runs from the pump to the control valve) is the only line that will see any significant pressure; #32 runs to the filter and transaxle “tank”. @JoeM is on the money with doing replacements. Metal is better and there isn’t a lot of room anywhere! I used the new alloy brake line which is very easy to form, uses a regular tubing flare tool and won’t rust. Per its specs, working max pressure is 900psi, well under the 700. JIC connectors worked fine. I was a bit leery of tightening the connections, so I ran it and tightened until it stopped leaking and then gave it another 1/8th of a turn. Some advice I followed from an “old hand” at hydraulics was to make sure there are no rubbing edges against the tubing and to support it every 10-12 inches to prevent vibration that can weaken/break a connection. You have flaring experience so a quick practice will get you dialed in on how much you need to extend beyond the tool to get the right length of flare. Good luck!

Slowly but surely. I built up the front axle and tried it in place on the chassis. All lines up OK and I'm happy so far. Obviously the detail is not as fine as it could be but the kit is made to a good standard and is operational, not just a static model. The shock absorbers are held on by a 2.5mm bolt and there was some play which I wasn't happy with. Quick bit of lathe work and brass spacers were made to take up the gap between mounting and shocker eye. I just forget about everything else when I'm in the build space, so relaxing.

Before worrying about a "blown engine" do a step by step check of spark and fuel. I would start with making sure you have a good spark at the spark plug. You can lay the plug on the head and turn the engine over to see if there is spark. If not replace the plug and if still no spark check the points. May need to replace points and condenser. Once you determine you have spark start working through the fuel supply. Is the gas cap venting air ok? you can pull the gas line off the carb coming from the fuel pump. Is it pumping fuel from the pump when you turn the engine over? If not you may have a plugged gas cap, plugged fuel filter or a bad fuel pump (would need a rebuild or replace). If you have spark and fuel to the carb then I would assume its something plugging the carb and would need a good cleaning. That is just my but I am sure others here will chime in on suggestions. Best of luck!

plus the cherries are ripe too. I like to stop at the place below there and pick up some to take home. As good as you can get

@clueless personally like a ATF FLUID , refill and some road driving / shifting , for a trans clean up / out . use every gear , range , also lubricate related CLUTCH LINKAGE , for easier movement . use a razor blade to cut off old boot , like to lightly grease the INSIDE of new shift boot , at trans contact area , improves slide , and add a TYE WRAP , ABOVE THE BOOT , on the metal rod . so it can / will move with ease , reduce cracking / tearing . after some miles on that atf flush , drop that , and refill 89-90, like lucas CLIMBING GEAR OIL , it works better , pete

Interesting... Understand the Club's dilemma - unless it's truly NOS there are only a handful of 100% 's out there... Wouldn't want to be the "Judge" at the entrance gate...

I knew, I just didn’t say anything 😜

Just slap some WH decals on it. Good to go. I drove around the show one year with an Allis Chalmers mid grader blade painted red on a 704. The only guy who knew was Wild Bill!

Like the others have said replacing the line with hydraulic hose is and option but on some machines there is just not enough room. The tubing is much cleaner. That line doesn't have super high pressure. It runs at 700 lbs and can be spliced with a compression fitting for steel tubing. if need be or just replacing one end. A new line can be made. Just like the brake lines but just a tad different. If you want to change the entire line you can get new steel tubing and form it. I have found changing the fitting over to JIC and using steel tubing is good way to go. I have these style tubes on my front end loader works good there too. I have used JIC 37 degree fittings and flared the tube ends To convert the line to JIC tube or for that matter hose. You will have to change the fittings 33, and 19 to JIC to O-ring the fittings are in the block and hydro are O-ring boss so you will need one 90 and on straight I believe (going from memory here) the oring in the main lines is a #6 but please double check. The 90 Degree Elbow 6801-06-06 The straight part number is 6400-6-6 McMaster Carr sells the tubing and the ends. The ends will need a single flare sliding on the nut on the tube and then the sleeve and single flare the end. this will allow it to connect to the JIC fitting. 50695K218 is the MMC number for the sleeve. and 50695K226 is the MMC nuber for the nut this is the tubing I used.

Check out the vendors on this site... i've had very good experiences... https://www.wheelhorseforum.com/forum/92-vendors/

I finished putting the rear end back together on the 518-h. Took it for the first drive and it runs and drives amazing! Next up is a beefy rear hitch.

@ebinmaine

Me n BBT spent some time cleaning clearing up and organizing oit behind the backyard today.

Was in here to replace oil seal today and after a little wiping down noticed all this. Is this common? I plan on on replacing the seal and buttoning things up for now. The motor is a well used 1971. A rebuild in in the near future I believe. Thank you for any thoughts, vey best, Peter

The simplest thing you can do is to take the cover off of the points and clean the contacts. Letting an engine sit can cause the points to oxidize. Until cleaned, it won't start.

those rear tires look like theyd fit a horse lol

Happy birthday Dan

Lookin forward to it!!

Mergers and acquisitions built the Massey brand The namesakes of the future Massey-Harris company would operate farm equipment and harvester manufacturing businesses independently for much of the later part of the 19th century before their paths merged. Daniel Massey started out in business during the 1840s, while Alanson Harris followed about 10 years later. Both men were in the same industry, manufacturing their own designs of reapers and implements. When one brought out an improved model the competitor would then matched or exceed it shortly thereafter. In 1891 the two companies came together in a merger of the Massey Manufacturing company of Toronto and the A. Harris, Son, & Co. of Brantford, Ontario—two of Canada’s brightest agricultural companies joining forces for what would be a bountiful future as the Massey-Harris Company. As is the case with so many agricultural manufacturing companies of the 1800s and early twentieth century, the order of the day was acquisition. “Acquire, acquire, acquire,” was the secret to adding capacity, outlets, and variety to their line. The Massey-Harris Company added company after company during this time. By adding the Deyo-Macey company of Binghamton, New York, to its line, Massy Harris entered a new arena with gas engine manufacturing capacity. The company entered the U.S. market in 1910 by taking a controlling interest in the Johnson Harvester Company, but it would be more than 10 years before it would acquire an additional large U.S.-based company. Massey Harris wanted to get into the growing tractor market. The first tractor to carry the Massey-Harris name was made by the Parrott Tractor Company of Chicago (see Tractor Trivia and other interesting stuff 1/21/2024). The model was known as the No. 1 or No. 2 there and was based off the Parrett 12-25. This wasn’t quite the answer Massey-Harris was looking for, but its destiny with tractors was soon to be realized. In 1927 the company agreed to sell Wallis Tractors in Canada through the Massey-Harris dealer network. One year later, Massey-Harris bought J.I. Case Plow Works, the maker of the Wallis Tractor, and continued to build Wallis Tractors, including the 20-30 and in 1929 the smaller 12-20. (We will learn a lot more about the Wallis Tractor Company tomorrow). Massey-Harris then rebranded the Wallis with the name of the Massey-Harris Company of Racine. It finally had a viable tractor line under its ownership, control, and design. The following decades were fruitful times for the Massey-Harris Company. During World War II, Massey-Harris produced and fulfilled war department orders for a variety of vehicles and needs to support the war effort. Meanwhile, a man across the Atlantic Ocean was beginning to make some waves and eventually would join with the Massey-Harris Company. His name was Harry Ferguson from Northern Ireland, he was about to revolutionize the tractor industry. Ferguson met Henry Ford when he came stateside to demonstrate his revolutionary 3-point hitch system. Ferguson and Ford came up with handshake agreement, Ford would manufacture the 9N model incorporating the Furgeson System and Ferguson would distribute and sell them in Europe. The arrangement worked until just after World War Two. Formal negotiations were pursued but in the end Harry Ferguson and Henry Ford went their own ways. Both Massey-Harris and Ferguson needed help to remain competitive so in 1953 they began negotiations and Massey-Harris made an offer to acquire Ferguson’s company, Harry Ferguson accepted. In the five years after the merger the company was offering Ferguson branded tractors, Massey-Harris tractors, and Massey-Ferguson branded tractors under three different dealer networks. This led to confusion for customers and the dealer network alike. In 1958, the name change to Massey-Ferguson was finalized. Soon the company was again in acquisition mode, and through the 1970s it bought such companies as Perkins, a leader in diesel engine design, Italian tractor company Landini and numerous other worldwide brands. The Massey-Ferguson footprint was truly multinational, and its reach was immense. It became the largest agricultural machinery manufacturer in the world. AGCO Corporation came into the picture in the mid-1990s. Massey-Ferguson had a 20% market share of worldwide agricultural machinery sales, but nearly 90% of its sales were derived from non-domestic locations. AGCO had a domestic base but no international manufacturing or dealer network. AGCO acquired Massey-Ferguson in 1994 for cash and stock. What followed was a resurgence in the brand and an even further expansion in market share, estimated currently to hover near 40% of farm machinery sold worldwide today—a wonderful testament to the power of a strong and reputable brand name

My dogs said winter is officially over, so I spent the afternoon dropping the plow off the 314-8 and replacing it with the wood chipper. My neighbor had half of a big willow tree come down a few weeks ago during our last storm, and I'm assuming its going to get put to use as soon as things dry out a bit. That pic is deceiving....its a HUGE tree! Its gonna be a workout. Also took the time to drop the snow blower off the front of the 522xi I picked up a few months ago.....It came off pretty easily, but holy crap, that thing is a load!! I gotta think on it for a bit, but it may be destined for the "for sale" pile. I don't have a good property for a blower of that size, and we have barely had enough snow to plow, let along blow over the past 5 years. The footprint is basically the same as the tractor. Eats up a lot of room.

Carbon on the back side of the intake valve was likely caused by oil leaking past the valve seal. It doesn't look too bad but if you want to fix it the heads need to come off to remove the valves. Personally I would run it, even with new seals there will be some carbon buildup.

Onan calls for a drop of oil on the threads, anti-seize may cause the bolts to be over tightened and possible stripping. If you use it, use your judgement and a much lower torque value. I have had manifold threads in the block strip easily, my answer to that is to bottom tap the holes and use longer bolts. Check length without the washer first to be sure they won't bottom out, cut the new bolts for a custom fit. It is good practice to run a tap in all holes to completely clean the threads.

Remembering “Old Abe” J. I. Case & Company history would be incomplete without reference to its trademark. The 'Case Eagle' is far more than merely a trademark. She is a character out of history, a live bird with a personality and a story all her own. The logo is based on an eagle that became the Wisconsin 8th Regiment's Civil War mascot that they named 'Old Abe', after Abe Lincoln who was president at the time. The story begins when the eaglet had fallen out of its nest in the early spring of 1861 and found by a Chippewa native American who sold the eaglet for a bushel of corn to a settler named Daniel McCann to raise as a pet. The eagle was getting too large for McCann to keep. The Civil War was beginning and many soldiers have a weakness for mascots. He sold the eagle for $2.50 to Capt. Perkins, the Wisconsin 8th Regiment's Company 'C' commander and it became their mascot in the war. Throughout the bitter Civil War struggle, 'Old Abe' went through 36 battles and skirmishes, and the 8th Regiment was known as the Eagle Regiment. 'Old Abe' was in her glory during battle. It was then that her eye flashed with uncommon luster. With her wild piercing cry, she was familiar to men on both sides of the fight and gained equal respect as a brave and courageous fighter. After the war the eagle became very famous across the country, appearing at many parades and functions. In 1881 'Old Abe' died at Wisconsin's State Capitol, from smoke inhalation after enduring a fire. She had lived there for many years. 'Old Abe' was 20 years old when she passed. A monument of 'Old Abe' still stands in front of the Wisconsin State Capitol today. J. I. Case encountered the eagle while on a business trip to Eau Claire where the Wisconsin's 8th Regiment was parading. Over the rumble of drums and the tramp of marching feet, the bird was screaming her battle cry. Case questioned a boy standing along side him, "Where did it come from, the eagle?" The boy told him 'Old Abe's story. Then and there J. I.Case was determined to adopt the eagle 'Old Abe' as the symbol of his business. In 1969, the J. I. Case Company introduced a new series of agricultural tractors christened the "Agri-King" line. At the same time, after more than 100 years, the 'Old Abe' trademark was retired and replaced by a new corporate symbol, the Casemark.

You forgot me... @ebinmaine... I have a diverse herd... DISASSEMBLE!!! ...and REASSEMBLE...! Don