Farmall H/M DrawBar... Explain It To Me?!?!

Bryce Frazier

Well-known Member
Basically, long story short, I have two draw bars for my H and two for my M. I have one "roller" for each tractor, the other one is just the "slide". Hopefully that makes sense?!

I am guessing that when these beasts were new, the "roller" drawbar was an added on option, or aftermarket, or???

What is the hype about them?? On Ebay, they are VERY expensive!? After seeing that, I figured I would put the roller on the H, because, well, it MUST be better.

I instantly hated it. Made the drawbar loose, and kind of sloppy. The main thing I REALLY didn't like, was that it enabled the drawbar to "rotate" a little. Didn't like it at all, and went back to the slide, so, is one better? Is there a purpose for each of them?

Explain it to me! ;)

Thanks guys, Bryce
 
I know what you mean. The old H we had when I was a kid wore the slide part thin and dad welded it up- also welded extra thickness to the hitch, the hole wore oblong. I don't know why rollers are better other than there wouldn't be a slide to wear thin. The swinging drawbar sure helps get turned pulling a disc etc.
 
Are you supposed to leave the draw bar loose when you are doing field work?! I didn't know that?!

Someone explain THAT to me??? :/
 
I'll try. Before implements that could be lifted out of the ground before turning and then lowered after the turn the swinging drawbar helped greatly to make an end of the field turn with the implement in the ground. For most other work the swinging drawbar was pinned or bolted to stay centered. Most people just put pins on each side of the drawbar to keep it from swinging when pulling trailers, bailers, etc. It was a little sloppy but worked. When plowing or pulling a chopper, you could pin the drawbar a little sideways if needed. The swinging drawbar was very handy and useful in its time.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't they come out with the roller when the side hill hitch was added to the tractor so that you could reposition the drawbar easier from the operators seat?
 
The roller is King. Make a bracket that bolts under the U support (main draw hitch component hooked to the axles) that prevents movement of the roller/draw bar as needed. The roller (if maintained, it has a zerk) provides less wear on the top of the U support when swinging).
Swinging draw bar reality: The pivot pin of the draw bar located under the front of the trans case, is positioned so the pulling point of the tractor is between the front wheels and rear wheels when the draw bar is un pinned. This geometry allows the tractor to steer far more easily when pulling devices like a disk, or drag (especially a spike tooth 4 section drag 18 feet wide). As the tractor turns, the pivot point moves in the direction of the turn when compared to the location of the rear wheels. This effective offset, allows the wheel to the outside of the turn to be at a slight advantage. This advantage helps the tractor "want" to turn in the direction of the front wheels. When pulling with a fixed centered position of the draw bar, the hitch pin becomes the pivot point. This location, in a turn, moves to the outside of the turn. As a result the outside wheel has a disadvantage in effort, and the inside wheel of the turn a lesser advantage, causing the tractor to want to go straight. Making the front wheels want to slide or side slip.
Another reason is safety. When a turn is made with the draw bar free to swing, the hitch pin location swings much closer to the tire on the inside of the turn before the hitch pin is forced to pivot. This reduces the chance that the implement's hitch components will get snagged by the rear tire and come up to visit the operator in a deadly encounter. A Swinging hitch can increase the turning capability in both ease and tightness of corner with no down side in safety, and better control. Jim, A very experienced drag operator.
 
The roller and slide are from the days of drag type equipment.The drawbar needed to slide/pivot to assist in steering. We dont need 'swingers' anymore. Most guys just drop a bolt in the holes to prevent swinging. they are loose as H&!!,rattle,rotate......I 'sandwitched' the drawbar with a strap and bolted it 'solid'.A chunk of 1/2"x2"(or bigger) strap about 5" long.Drill a 3/4" hole in each end and bolt it solid.
 
PERFECT! Thanks so much!

That does make stupidly simple sense...

As you all know, I have never really done that much farm work... Must was just for myself, and, well, that was 7 acres! :p

Thanks again for the info.. I think I will probably leave the slide hitch on the H. It does pull the disc on occasion, however, right now, it also runs the swather. And as we all know, that 9 foot swather is pretty darn heavy on the front end, and that might be TOO much weight/stress for the roller, even with it in a fixed location..

However, once I get my "dream" M going, THEN I will put the roller on the H, and maybe on the M too... I am sure with a little work, I can take some of the slop/wear out of them...

Thanks! Bryce
 
I've got both around here. You don't want to have singing mobility if you are using PTO equipment as it can really change the geometry of things. With one exception. My mixer grinder has the PTO offset a little to one side. When I hook it up I shove the rolling drawbar over just enough so that the PTO is straight. It has to help out hose U joints. I don't ever run the grinder unless the tractor is stationary so there's no geometry at play. It also makes it easier to get the hopper under the grain bins with the grinder a foot over. I don't like that it lets the hitch bar rotate on the horizontal axis like you mentioned. It doesn't take long for the mixer to get too heavy to rotate though. Then it stays put.

We had an 856 Wheatland on the farm when I was younger. It was the only time I had seen a full swinging roller draw bar on a "modern" tractor. Most are/were just a straight hitch bar. It spent nearly all its life unpinned and swinging because it only did tillage.
 
(quoted from post at 08:55:57 08/29/15) Basically, long story short, I have two draw bars for my H and two for my M. I have one "roller" for each tractor, the other one is just the "slide". Hopefully that makes sense?!

I am guessing that when these beasts were new, the "roller" drawbar was an added on option, or aftermarket, or???

What is the hype about them?? On Ebay, they are VERY expensive!? After seeing that, I figured I would put the roller on the H, because, well, it MUST be better.

I instantly hated it. Made the drawbar loose, and kind of sloppy. The main thing I REALLY didn't like, was that it enabled the drawbar to "rotate" a little. Didn't like it at all, and went back to the slide, so, is one better? Is there a purpose for each of them?

Explain it to me! ;)

Thanks guys, Bryce

The whole "swinging drawbar" was an extra cost option, not standard equipment by any means. SOME tillage implements worked better WITH the swinging drawbar, but most implements worked better without it. A pull type plow for instance is meant to be hitched directly to the horseshoe drawbar.
 
Not entirely true! We still use the swinging drawbar on our CaseIH 9370 and disc-ripper. It helps us to turn and keep the implement out of the duals, but I know what you mean. I smile every time I see an old invention come back and be made new again.
 
I rarely see a roller with out a flat spot(therefore making a slider). Our swingers stay "pinned" centered, for most work. They get swung to one side to offset a wagon, to get it closer to elevator/blower...occasionally. Never did let them free float, on purpose anyway.
 
Jim: Think you might want to reconsider the wording of your last paragraph. It's been my (sometimes red-faced) observation that when the tractor's hitch swings over closer to the inside wheel in a turn, the tendency for the implement's hitch to climb the tractor tire is increased rather than the opposite. Just sayin'. Dick
 
One last reason for a roller draw bar, is when pulling a disk (single gang type) you always let the hitch roll from side to side. This allows the disk to stay straight on the pull instead of the hitch whipping back and forth, leaving the center line made by the disk to stay on a straight line, instead of a line back and forth when the draw bar is pinned in the center. And as people have already said, the turn allows the front end to come right around rather than slide and lets the inside wheel have room to make a tight turn without catching the disk, or whatever, on the tire. We never had any problem with the roller having flat spots, but we also greased the roller zerk often too.
 
When turning with the draw bar loose, the tractor can turn some 30 degrees before the hitch pin is pivoting. The draw bar is long enough that the hitch point is not much farther forward related to the axle. as the turn is increased, the hitch being closer to the wheel doesn't change the angle to disaster much. So in my opinion we gain the deflection ange of the hitch, and loose a little from the hitch pin point going forward. Jim
 
Thanks for all the info guys!

This has really been a good learning post for me. Started out with 1 question, and ended up getting 3 or 4 answered!!!

Can't thank you guys enough for what, I consider, to be priceless knowledge....

Thanks again.

Bryce
 
It is also handy, when you back up to an implement that has settled, or otherwise has the jack set wrong (like after being unhitched from a pickup) the swinging drawbar lets you swing it out of the way, adjust the jack, and hook up without relocating the tractor.
 
Swinging drawbar had 2 purposes. One was for the pull type plow, you could swing it to the right and pin it so the plow wheel would be in the furrow rather than adjusting axle width. 2nd was for pulling items such as a disk harrow or spike harrow. Leaving it loose allowed turning both sharper and less problem with front wheels sliding in plowed dirt. Drawbar tongue was long enough on our tractors to keep implement away from wheel, unless you got stupid.
 
Here it is in an IH catalog at the McCormick Archives. I hope the long URL works. You may have to copy/paste in pieces.

http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/utils/ajaxhelper/?CISOROOT=ihc&CISOPTR=26682&action=2&DMSCALE=60&DMWIDTH=1024&DMHEIGHT=1024&DMX=0&DMY=0&DMTEXT=1949%20general line&DMROTATE=0
 

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