3 point hitch conversion for farmall M

AngusCattle · Feb 29, 2012

I have a 1945 Farmall M that I am thinking about putting a saginaw 3 point hitch on.. Their web site is vague. I am mechanically inclinced! But I can"t figure out how you would hook up the hydraulics. Some articles talk about belly pump , some talk about up by the distributor.. Some talk about hooking it up for down pressure. I want to be able to pick up round bales roughly a thousand pounds .. Does any body have pictures? Thank you!

armand tatro · Feb 29, 2012

We need to know which pump you have now. Is it the live pump by the distributor or is it the clutch-controled belly pump? If you are in doubt about which pump you have please post some pictures of the right(brake peddle side) of the tractor. Armand

Farmallguy SEIA · Feb 29, 2012

These hitches use one or two standard cylinders. If your tractor has two way hydraulics you can have down pressure. Depending on your tractor you can plum them into your belly pump or if you have live hydraulics's you can use the pump on the engine.

AngusCattle · Feb 29, 2012

I will get some pictures for you . I do have a belt drive on that side if that helps..

Anonymous-0 · Feb 29, 2012

Be prepared to put some weight's on the front end. I put one on a Super M years ago and had to add quite a bit of weight to hold the front end down.

glennster · Mar 1, 2012

heres some pics of the saginaw on one of my m's. this is a late m, and still has the belly pump hydraulics. it has a two way valve on it that was made by char-lynn.

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look just above where the left cylinder mounts to the upper arm, you will see a hole thru there. installing the pin will give the hitch down pressure. as it is in this photo, the hitch can "float up" (like when using a bush hog)

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another pic of some of the plumbing

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here is the two way valve mounting

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glennster · Mar 1, 2012

in the third picture you can see the hydraulic control rods. if you look at the belly pump control rod (with the loop handle) i welded a short piece of a bolt down the rod a ways. that will hold the pump control in the full on position for using the two way hydraulics. the rod above it, with the little pipe handle, controls the two way valve. the big red knob below the belly pump control is for the m+w 9 speed transmission control. i have a pioneer coupling on the left side of the tractor at the belly pump output, so i can disconnect the two way valve and hook up the one way hose for using the one way cyliner on the barge box wagons. the saginaw is a very nice hitch, and well made. i picked my hitch up from the guys that build them up in michigan, real nice fellows.

mkirsch · Mar 1, 2012

"Don't know how to hook up hydraulics."

It all depends on what you have.

Most Ms have a "belly pump," officially known as the "transmission-driven LiftAll." It is a basic one-way hydraulic system that only makes pressure when your foot is off the clutch pedal.

The pump is of course located in the belly of the tractor. There is a lever sticking out the right side of the tractor's belly, and a rod running up to the platform. There are also pipe elbows sticking out each side of the tractor's "waist", possibly capped off, possibly with hydraulic couplers attached. Pull the lever for pressure up. Push the lever forward for gravity down.

Hookup for basic lift is simple. Bolt the hitch to the tractor. Run a hose from the bottom port of each cylinder up to the front hydraulic connection on each side of the tractor.

Down pressure really isn't needed for moving round bales. It's main advantage is the hitch goes down quicker when there is nothing attached. The bale spear will be plenty of weight to make the hitch drop quickly. You will need a 2-way valve and some more hoses to set up for down pressure.

Ellis Kinney · Mar 1, 2012

AngusCattle: I recently installed a Saganaw on my 1944 M. It is really fairly simple. Once the hitch is bolted up, which will take you 3 or 4 hours, Run one hydraulic line to the back of your tractor. Install a tee and send one line to each of the cylinders. It is best to use hydraulic fittings instead of pipe fittings due to pressure issues, but pipe fittings will work. The small bales you refer to will be no problem. That is exactly what I do. Ellis

dej(Jed) · Mar 1, 2012

(quoted from post at 16:38:04 02/29/12) I have a 1945 Farmall M that I am thinking about putting a saginaw 3 point hitch on.. Their web site is vague. I am mechanically inclinced! But I can"t figure out how you would hook up the hydraulics. Some articles talk about belly pump , some talk about up by the distributor.. Some talk about hooking it up for down pressure. I want to be able to pick up round bales roughly a thousand pounds .. Does any body have pictures? Thank you!

When I goggle Saginaw 3 point , they have many pics.

26Red · Mar 1, 2012

Glennster, what are you using the belt pto for?

glennster · Mar 1, 2012

running a 260 amp dc welder off the belt pulley

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that m is handier than pockets on a shirt!!
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Dave I Love My H · Mar 1, 2012

AngusCattle,
You are a blessed man!
You've got a problem to solve that has only great options!
Talk to the man that welds those babies together.
A few years ago, I purchased my '52H; called him talked a bit and drove from Pittsburgh PA to Saginaw MI and back in a day.
He is a fantastic designer, consultant and businessman, all wrapped up in one guy!
That hitch will do everything you need and stuff you hav'nt yet thought of!
Do a search on this site and you'll have diagrams out the wazoo; not that that's the best place.
Dave

Oak dale · Mar 1, 2012

Don"t overthink this, is my advice.
I put a Saginaw on my 1945 M several years ago. At the time, I didn"t know anything about hydraulics, either. I thought I"d want two way pressures, etc. I hooked it up with only one way from the belly pump thinking I"d improve it later. I really have no intention of changing it now. It goes down just fine, and I lift and do everything I want to just fine - with less hoses to leak and break and whatever. So for me, simpler is better.
Definitely recommend the Saginaw. Great people and great product. Never even offers to "moan" when I"m using it.

AngusCattle · Mar 1, 2012

Thank you guys for your input. It sounds like I have a belly pump, but I will still post some pictures. glennster, the pictures were great, I really liked the welder setup!

AngusCattle · Mar 2, 2012

I believe that I might not even have a belly pump

3 point hitch conversion for farmall M

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