Howard uses

Beyond the obvious task of using a tiller, what other things is a Howard good for? I'm about to split my 8N to do some transmission work and am thinking about pulling the Howard for sale. Looking at my land and needs I can't say that I'll ever use it for anything.

Read MArv Bauman's web site and his use of a Howard.
http://marvinbaumann.com/fourtrans.html

(quoted from post at 14:49:54 05/16/16) Beyond the obvious task of using a tiller, what other things is a Howard good for? I'm about to split my 8N to do some transmission work and am thinking about pulling the Howard for sale. Looking at my land and needs I can't say that I'll ever use it for anything.

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It gives the tractor the lower speeds it lacks. IMO that is a major
shortcoming of the N-series tractors. If I had one that worked I wouldn't be interested in selling it.

TOH

It gives the tractor the lower speeds it lacks. IMO that is a major
shortcoming of the N-series tractors. If I had one that worked I wouldn't be interested in selling it.

TOH

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I'm still new to tractoring, could you elaborate please?

Here a shot of my wife planting taters. I stepped off the tractor to take some photos while the tractor was still
running driving. You can walk on your hands faster than this tractor moves. Besides the howard mine is also equipped
with a sherman low. So it's a double slow go.
I've pull them out before and sold them. Last one I sold for $800 and I sat on that for a couple of months. They
used to sell fast for $1000/$1200 a few years ago. About 60 lbs it a well packed box to ship. Seem like people think
they are neat and always want one until you have one for sale.
Should you decide to sell it you will need the replacement parts to to bring it back to original, like the pto
support, connector between the trans and rear, side cover plate, bearing house at the rear of the trans. If you
don't have these parts and you have to buy them and it will make the profit on the howard less. I've only had one
come out with the bearing support still on the howard, usually have to take apart the trans to knock out the bearing
support. If you say you need trans work anyway then it's probably not a big deal.
The 8n moved too fast in reverse so slipping the howard in will slow you down for implement hook up and other tasks.

Kirk

Here's what they look like. if you have questions once you get into it you can send me an email.

Kirk

(quoted from post at 21:10:17 05/16/16)

It gives the tractor the lower speeds it lacks. IMO that is a major
shortcoming of the N-series tractors. If I had one that worked I wouldn't be interested in selling it.

TOH

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I'm still new to tractoring, could you elaborate please?

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You will find lots of times when you want to maneuver at very slow speeds - e.g. backing up to an implement or in tight quarters. Modern tractors typically have a low/reverse gear speed of less than 1 mph. First gear on the N-series is about 2.5 MPH and reverse on the 8N is 4.5 MPH!!!

TOH

I use mine at times when using the brush hog. I can slow way down with out losing PTO RPMs. great for tall heavy grass. I would never remove mine, if fact if I had the energy I would put one in my other 8n.

(quoted from post at 07:40:00 05/17/16) I use mine at times when using the brush hog.

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Now I recall reading that they shouldn't be used for hogging or plowing(not sure why you'd want to use it plowing) because the gears weren't robust enough.

(quoted from post at 11:36:08 05/17/16)

(quoted from post at 07:40:00 05/17/16) I use mine at times when using the brush hog.

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Now I recall reading that they shouldn't be used for hogging or plowing(not sure why you'd want to use it plowing) because the gears weren't robust enough.

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You can read a lot of opinions on the Internet - some are spot on and some not so much. Here is mine. The Howard was intended for use with a PTO powered roto-tiller. I would think a bush hog is a very similar mechanism and should be just fine. Plowing is a much harder pull on the driveline so perhaps it's an issue but I'd want to here some real experiences to back that up.

All that aside there are still a thousand everyday situations in which the gears are more than adequate and the reduced ground speed is beneficial. My gear drive Kubota clocks a lot of hours in low range....

TOH

Another use (and I'm presuming the PTO runs at full speed and it's only the wheels that are slow) is to use a 3-pt hitch-mounted snowblower. You need a much slower reverse gear than the 8N has to use one of those. Slow ground speed so you don't overfeed the snowblower, and full PTO speed to throw snow effectively.

I seriously considered buying one a while back, until I realized how poorly it would work on my 8N.

-Paul

I agree about the brushogging and I do plow with my howard 2n but never put it in low for plowing.
I think the chipped teeth come from people who think it's shift on the fly.

Kirk

(quoted from post at 19:00:39 05/17/16)
I think the chipped teeth come from people who think it's shift on the fly.

Kirk

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I think that is close but my [b:fc75de2db6][u:fc75de2db6]guess[/u:fc75de2db6][/b:fc75de2db6] is it is not from shifting on the fly but rather from popping out of low range while under load. Possibly caused by an inadequate detente mechanism and/or excessive flex in the bolt together gear case.

Either way it has the same effect as shifting on the fly - chipped edges on the teeth as they disengage/clash while spinning. Over time the end result (see picture) is reduction gears with the edges "evenly" eroded around the entire circumference rather than whole teeth sheared off by an excessive load.

TOH