Bobby

First of all, let me quantify my answers by saying that I NEVER drove the piggy-back. At the time of the photos above, I was only 10. My first plowing was probably 3-4 yrs later. We acquired a couple more plows on single tractors when I started. First started on the 720D w/a #8 4-14s going solo. So-all my info comes from my uncle who spent lotsa hours on piggy-backs, comprised of various front power units. I'm not sure the piggyback was made for anyone who might not be 101% attentive. It's probably best I didn't start out w/this unit.

The S-M does have a grill in it. Probably just the Polaroid quality. If you look carefully, you can see that lacquer kind of stuff you had to smear on the Polaroids when you tore them out of the camera...almost as complicated as the piggy-back. We always had an external screen over the grill also. It's on there somewhere.

Vision? Probably not good from what I remember riding on the fenders. A couple yrs later we took the seat off the back tractor to help vision. By then we had another tractor to put on the picker so job-switching didn't need to be so instantaneous.

Shifting? Yes. Clutch lever & throttle were on a bracket above the grill cowl on the SM. We'd go ahead & stop both tractors & then drop 1 gear in the front tractor, but not shift the SM. I think it pretty much stayed in 2nd gear, sometimes 3rd. Speeds didn't have to match exactly. There were very few identical tractor piggybacks around. Lotsa F-20/30s that became permanent rear tractors. A couple WC/WD rear tractors. Also a couple JD A/Gs. Neighbor on the N 1/2 of our sections had 2x JD70Ds piggybacked. A neighbor to the south had 2x IH 560s. I think 1 diesel, 1 gasser. I'll have to ask. Most guys had the more modern/refined tractor w/a starter, lights, & live hydraulics up front. You'd just pull the back tractor to start it. When we finally put the JD4010D in front of the SM, power wasn't much problem any more.

Bottoms tripping were always problems for us. We have a fair amount of rocks and of course a tripped bottom usually meant instantaneous plugging since it lifted the plow a little & trash quit flowing.

SM was stock from what I know. The only M&W on it was the throttle. But, they still drank a fair amount of gas when plowing. Fueling was pia also. You had to carry both diesel & gasoline....in 5 gal buckets. No fuel barrels or trailers that I knew of. They must not have been invented 'til the mid-60s for us.

Special built tractor for back would've been good. Later on when I started plowing, I always dreamed (brother always worries when I go out in the field because when I'm done, the saws/welders/torches come out to build the projects I was dreaming about...) of taking the rear 1/2 of some tractor, like an Oliver 88 w/simple coupler input shaft & powering it with the pto of the lead tractor. Do away with the engine & frame rails. Shorten it up a little, since as EdB noted, the piggy back was too long, and weight the heck out of the rear end. For road use or turning, you could disengage pto. Well, later I realized I was probably dreaming of what was really a 4wd tractor anyway. A nice Jimmy Yamaha engine in the back tractor would've really increased noise level. As you can see, you only sit a couple feet from rear muffler, but you're only a ft or 2 more from the front one anyway. I don't remember seeing any farmers wearing ear muffs for noise back then....none of them. I'm guessing piggybacks wouldn't be legal these days.

Did I answer all questions OK? Thanks again for supplying literature for pipe plow.