For a change I thought I'd post this pic of my 40 out in the hot summer sun. Our first hot day with temps approaching 90 and high humidity. Should bring on a thunderstorm. Plus the fact I cut some hay too.
I had to move a lot of machinery and vehicle out of the big shed to get the swather out today so took this shot of the 40 and grain tank parked in front of the CIH magnum and JD pull type combine. I think the old 40 would have a hard time keeping up to the big JD unless it was a short haul.

Hi Ralph. Great photo.  I'm curious about the right-rear tire on the 40, though... is it facing that way for some operational reason, or just easier to mount it when you needed to get it done?

Dean Vinson
Dayton, Ohio
http://www.vinsonfarm.net

You are not the first to question that tire Dean. It was an accident, not intentional. I dropped off an old wheel and tire from a parts tractor at the shop that was doing the installation of the new tire. They just installed the new tire the same way the old one was. I had failed to mention that it should be the other way. My fault and I was not going to ask them to re-do it. Especially with chloride in the tire. Maybe I'll get it right on the next one.

Ralph;

Good to see the 40 without being surrounded by a sea of white. Been hot here the last few weeks. Last year we had 1 day in the 90's. This year since the first of June almost every day is in the 90's. Getting dry here and the corn is starting to curl. Soybeans still doing alright. Possible chance of rain today with the high humidity. Radar shows everything doing north of us along Lake Michigan and Lake Erie. Hope some of it dips south of us.

Friday morning at Greenville we had a lot of thunder and lightning, but no rain while 5 miles south they got 2 inches. Those guys came into the show with smiles.

About the tire, the story I always heard was it was that way to make it better backing out of the mud!!

Gene

Ralph;

About the tire, the story I always heard was it was that way to make it better backing out of the mud!!

Gene

You are pretty close to the truth Gene. My Dad had one wheel installed backwards on his Massey 60 combine back when I was a kid. He had heard the custom cutters did that so they could have better traction to back out of a mudhole. I can't comment on how well it worked.

Harvest year in fall of 1975 was extremely wet here in Ohio. Shelling corn with my IH 715 combine. Worked some for a neighbor who had a 615, both running 3 row heads. We would drive as far as we could into the wet spots, than back out. He had his tires reversed and mine were forward. Neither of us had trouble backing out of the wet spots. Backing out with a SP combine puts most of the weight and traction on the drive wheels and very little weight on the rear wheels.

1972 was also a wet year and I had a John Deere 42 pull type combine behind the 700. I put dual wheels on the combine and worked fairly well at first. Finally got so wet that we had to wait till the ground froze hard enough to support the tractor and combine. That was a long fall season

Gene.