another wild hair idea

i.e. place a pump off the clutch in some manner and a motor inside the a modified trans or so.

Just curious... this hair still wiggles now and then.

I know next to nothing about Hydros but aren't most of them dual range? That would require a two speed gear box somewhere. I believe the pump would have to be a piston type with what they call a "wobble plate". That alters the stroke with a hand controlled lever.

Frankly, I would just buy something like a 544 Hydro and put letter series tin on it. If you are more ambitious, adapt a H-350 motor, frame rails , and bolster.

I think the whole idea is crazy but I am willing to humor you because I, too, have a few hair brained ideas. I am thinking about making a hedge clipper for one of my tractors. I have about 400 ft of 8ft high hedge.

Just an idea... to make this old girl run her loader and clean her barn better... trip buckets and belly pumps will make one cuss when cleaning manure... but hey, it beat the H out of the pitch fork in the 40s. Still does.

Go for the hedge thing... I thought real serious about building up a similar contraption for my apple trees... Farm Show is full of wild hairs... every now and then we even think of something actually doable. A few are in my sheds too.

I'll probably ruffle some feathers with this, but the "lazy man's way" to prune / top an orchard is a device with rotating blades that "mows" all the branches off at a certain height. This is NOT a good pruning practice, but is quick and (at least in terms of manpower required) cheap.

The "mower" is a bad idea because it indiscriminately chops all the branches, leaving many stubs and stobs of dead wood (disease haven) in the tree. These stobs also will damage future fruit (especially soft fruit).

If you are serious about producing good fruit, take the time and prune the trees properly.

Nathaniel

But they were really stressing the old branch mains (to the point I'd brace them from the ground) so the other year everything less than 4 or 5 inches came off. Made about 10 ft diameter instead of 40 and 10-12ft high instead of 20. My wife swore I'd killed them, but being formally trained in ag and plant science... I knew they kick in the dormant nodes. I let them rebranch last 2 years only cutting the water shoots. This year we be back to pruning and spraying... but at 1/4 the work. Good apples... old hardy varieties.