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Southeast Iowa | I grew up on the west coast where all of the farm equipment had it's own engine. The BEST tractor to pull a baler with was a VA Case with the straight beam front axle. Those were VAI models, the "I" was for "industrial" front axle. The VAI Case was a superior baler tractor because: (1) The VAI had a gas pedal so you could smash it to the floor and whip the baler around on the ends and then let off the pedal once you got on the next windrow and the tractor would return to the speed you were running. That was important because balers don't want to run empty. (2) The VAI was easy to get on and off of since you had to be constantly checking the bale weights because in those days there was no such thing as automatic bale chamber tension. (3) The VAI was easy to shift. The long shift lever made it easy to get in and out of gear when you had to get on and off the tractor. ***** The disadvantage to the VAI (and many other tractors) was that you could not even go 100 yards with a heavy engine-driven hay baler without breaking the hitch. Soooo... we always made a special baler hitch that hooked to the axle housing and had a wide crosspiece that made a good step for hopping on and off the tractor. My PERSONAL TRACTOR when I was a kid was a 1947 VAI that I bought for 150 bucks and managed to get it running good enough to pull a IH baler that I bought for 650 bucks when I was still in high skool. That 150-dollar tractor and that 650-dollar baler took me through five years of college baling hay each summer. My VAI was highly customized with a high back seat, and a chopped steering wheel shaft. Yes, I cut seven inches off the steering shaft so the wheel and the seat could be at a lower level. I had a chrome stack on it and massive, "bug eye" chrome headlamps because all hay baling was done at night to catch the dew. I used a Ford pickup generator and all army surplus truck guages. I had the tractor painted IH Red to match the baler. Luckily, very few farmers on the west coast have their own balers, hay was was baled in the wee hours of the morning by custom operators like me and my dad. My VAI went to the Valhalla of Tractordom after a stint as a backhoe trator. I always regretted not keeping it, but by that time it was kind of hashed up. About a year ago I found one just like it in NE Iowa and bought it. I'm in the process of rebuilding it. Yes, it will be painted IH Red like my kidhood Case was, and yes, it will have the chrome front headlights and a fat chrome stack.
Edited by CJDave 12/30/2009 08:24
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j.i. case
