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Thumb of Michigan | I've been following the gas engines in tractors posts, and have enjoyed the comments. Rather than take those posts off track, thought I'd start a different one.
My recollections about the period this area went from mostly gas to mostly diesel may be a bit cloudy, I was around 10 or 12 yrs old when "the change" began here.
Last new tractor we'd bought new that was a gasser was a 560 International. I kind of barely remember it. Ran it one year, my Dad said it took a pretty good man to keep fuel hauled to it. Caused them to go from 5 gallon pails of gas to a new fangled hi tech 55 gallon drum with a hand pump. That apparently was the last straw. Traded it in on what the dealer told us was the first or second 4010 diesel sold in Michigan. A diesel.
So, it was diesel tractors from then on.
In about 68 or 69, my Dad replaced the 55 round back with a brand new 105EB. A gasser. Not sure why that happened, diesel tractors had proven out very well by then. The 105 EB was a really good, high capacity self propelled dry bean machine. Something not really that common to have all those features in one machine back then. That was the first combine I ever operated by myself.
About that same time, a neighbor bought a new 95EB diesel with hydrostatic drive. Both diesel and hydro in a combine was really new technology (to us anyway) at the time. Our 105 was a good machine, but that 95 was really the belle of the ball once they got that one going. Lots of torque, good fuel economy, didn't get hot. Hydro was a SOB to operate though, no step between forward and reverse. Friend of mine was pretty young at the time and working for the brothers that owned the 95. First day running it, and he was topping off a truck. Got to close to the front of the truck, pulled back on the lever. Too far back, evidently. Rear wheels came off the ground, rammed the unload auger into the sideboards. Pushed the lever the other way, dumped grain on the truck cab. Yanked back on the lever again, hit the truck again. This all happened in seconds, and he was lucky it didn't beat him up worse than it did. He was like a pinball in the cab. Looked like he was riding a rodeo bull. Tore the auger and the truck up, he felt terrible. He finally got it stopped. They took the unload auger off, went to town and got a new one. Buddy figures he's fired. Neighbor wasn't the kind of guy to do that out of anger, they new it was an honest mistake and not entirely his fault. Buddy was relieved about that, assumed his combine operating days had came to an end though. No one was more surprised than he was when they told him to climb back in the next day and go to it. I don't recall now, but it was either the second or third load that next day when the same exact story played out. Long story short, he never got fired, but they put someone else in the seat for a while.
Last new gas combine I recall getting sold around here was a first year 7700. Neighbor the other way from the 95 neighbor bought it. Can't recall now what the reason he wanted a gas combine was, but he had a reason. Dealer almost refused to order a gas 7700, but the customer is always right. Ordered it anyway. That one left that farm pretty quickly (maybe a season or 2 later) and another neighbor bought it pretty cheap. Ran it quite a while as I remember.
Edited by pat-michigan 4/19/2020 06:27
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Gasoline engine in a combine
