New ground drive PTO cart

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  • July 11, 2013 at 6:36 pm #80315
    Donn Hewes
    Keymaster

    Well, here it is at last. My new PTO cart built from a Case V (or VAC?) tractor. About 1948 vintage, I believe. This spring I was interested in a AC wd 45, as that is the tractor Neal Perry used to successfully build a cart. I had one near by, but when I went to bring it home I realized the wheels and tires were shot. When I saw the Case in a collection of antique tractors (more than 30 sinking into and old barn!) it just felt right, big narrow wheels, that seemed to me they would pull easy and have lots of traction. The over all weight seemed about right too. I have to confess to buying new tires for the Case in the end, 1075$ ouch.

    It took us about 3 months to fit the work in around everything else. We built a double tongue system for three horses. I tried to make a two piece neck yoke for three horses but it didn’t move the way I wanted. In the end I made a straight bar neck yoke, and the horses seem to work alright with it. I could have used a single tongue but this rig while balanced, still has some tongue weight. I also wanted them all holding back.

    My New Idea tedder was my main target for this cart and today was it first chance to work. This hay was heavy when cut, but it has been rained on all week and now is much lighter and easier to ted, on the other hand the regrowth was seriously growing through it and I am pretty sure that added to the tedding difficulty. The tedder has two speeds as one is for raking or gathering, and with the tractors four gears , I have 8 to choose from. Today we were experimenting with 2nd and 3rd.

    I hope to lower and bring forward the evener attachment a little, as this will make it a little easier to hook the chains. I think the stiff neck yoke makes this cart hard to hook up to. So far it has taken two people with one lifting the tongues. I also am curious if lowering the tongue attachment to the cart will also make the hook easier.

    Here are a few pictures. It is a link.

    We have a short video too, but so far this year, no one I have met is smart enough to down load one of my videos to utube! I hope you all get to make some nice hay this week. I plan to do as much as I can!

    July 11, 2013 at 9:25 pm #80316
    carl ny
    Participant

    Looks nice,doesn’t look as big and heavy as the WD one.That”s what I was worried about.Is that an over-ride coupler on the PTO shaft? I like the bottom of your seat,shows that you can get on-off on either side.Better than having it face the back,going down the road some idiot might try to pass you on the right…..LOL I really like it,got to try and find something like that for a winter project.

    carl ny

    July 11, 2013 at 11:33 pm #80318
    Eli
    Participant

    Very nice, one more thing on the list of things to build.

    July 12, 2013 at 7:47 am #80320
    Donn Hewes
    Keymaster

    Today is another big test. I will mow about 4 – 5 acres this morning and hope to ted it an hour or two later. Big day as we plan to rake with another team while I ted for tomorrow. Then bale the bedding hay later this after noon. A lot to do in one day.

    Here is a link to the video

    July 12, 2013 at 4:24 pm #80321
    carl ny
    Participant

    looks like it is working pretty good.how do you think it would work with just two horses?

    carl ny

    July 12, 2013 at 6:26 pm #80322
    Donn Hewes
    Keymaster

    Hi Carl, These horses didn’t seem to be working too hard, but I think with two horses working harder you would have more of the momentary hesitations that make it not work as well. I also know that my cart has some weight to it and as soon as I start up a hill I am sure I will need the extra horse. I was driving it up a hill on the road the other day (steepish) with out a tedder) and you could tell all three were working. Not a good sign for tedding up hill.

    Yes, Carl you can get on or off from either side! Pretty hard to beat those unwanted road signs

    July 13, 2013 at 10:54 am #80335
    Eli
    Participant

    Donn do you think the double toungue would help in training a new horse. I am building a forecart and want to make it so I can offset the pole fore 3 abreast but wonder if double would help. Thanks Eli

    July 13, 2013 at 7:46 pm #80337
    Donn Hewes
    Keymaster

    Hi Eli, Are you using a D ring harness? If not I wouldn’t go to the trouble of the double tongue. I have always worked well with an offset tongue for three horses. To fully utilize the d ring a double tongue is really needed. For myself I don’t think the double tongue would enhance training a young animal, but others might feel differently.

    July 13, 2013 at 10:03 pm #80339
    Eli
    Participant

    Donn I don’t use a D ring harness but I like the concept. I have a mare that is broke but kind of uncooperative at first once she settles down she is ok she likes to back up. Part of the problem is i don’t use her because she is difficult. I think she figured out she can get the best of me. Eli

    July 14, 2013 at 4:28 am #80340
    Donn Hewes
    Keymaster

    Hi Eli, I think that most of us have a horse like that. I have a rule, (have a lot of rules, one of which is beware of rules) that I always try to work the horse that needs it the most. On my farm this means that on a day when only one team will be hooked up, I use Connie, because she is always fat, and polly, becuase she is an incredibly pushy, strong willed horse and if I don’t work her it will show up very quickly.

    It is a good rule and I follow it as best I can. I have tried to encourage some of my friends to use it as they get more animals. They are so busy and working hard that using the suboptimal horse seems impossible, but they are starting to get there now. Just keep picking away at that horse.

    July 14, 2013 at 7:00 am #80342
    Eli
    Participant

    Donn that is a good rule I should follow. It would be good for me and my horse. Eli

    July 15, 2013 at 9:27 pm #80364
    Jay
    Participant

    I like Donn’s rule and follow it a much as I am able. My “go to” horse now is the younger sister of my previous “go to”. Then the older one went to a family member and I started using the younger one for every thing as she was the most experienced one I had … She had been a bit of a bother to work with- turns out she was just hiding in her sister’s shadow and looking for a bit more attention. Now she will go anywhere, try anything and with more heart than you can shake 2 sticks at. So I attempt to use all 4 in slightly different jobs than they are used to on days that I don’t “have” to be exactly right every second and it seems to be paying off. I’m finding out all sorts of interesting things about how they work I never would have found if I hadn’t tried something a little different. Like Charlie (8 year gelding and usually pushy) works quite well with Pheobe (4 year old) usually worked with her mother. From my daughter: “Take the time it takes so it takes less time.”
    Jay

    July 16, 2013 at 8:52 pm #80367
    Ed Thayer
    Participant

    Great looking set up. Why did you go away from your mower ground drive unit? Not heavy enough?

    Ed

    July 17, 2013 at 5:59 am #80371
    Donn Hewes
    Keymaster

    That’s right. I tried different wheels with more traction, and it was starting to work in lighter conditions, but that is not what tedding is really for anyway. I could have tried to add weight but it seemed I was starting from too light of a machine. I am currently debating adding 200 pounds on the back of this cart to lighten the tongue. I already have enough weight so it is a hard choice.

    July 17, 2013 at 7:28 am #80372
    wild millers
    Participant

    Nice work, that looks awesome. I couldn’t really tell from the video, but how is the three abreast neck yoke attached to the end of the tongues? Is it bolted? I was also wondering what is the distance between the two tongues? We often put three abreast on our I&J ground drive cart but like you said, you can’t get the D-Ring cinched up tight and I was wondering if I could utilize the different tongue positions on the I&J cart to fit in two tongues. I haven’t measure it yet though and it may be a bit narrow for the middle horse. The thing is, when I want three horses on it is in the bigger more hilly hay fields and that’s also when I want them all to be able to hold back and not have the tongue weight on their necks for a long time. Finally.. just wondering why you would want to lighten your tongue weight if you have designed the rig for the D-ring? Thanks for sharing, cool project.

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