Setting up a threshing machine.

Now I wasn't old enough to be a major player on any threshing crew when dad and my uncles still threshed, but I do remember helping set up the machine. One of my tasks was to dig a couple holes about six inches deep to set the front wheels in. Dad said that it served two purposes, those being; it held the machine in place when it was belted to the tractor, and it meant the straw walkers and the shoe had a bit more time to do their job because the rear of the machine was a bit higher. At the time, all I knew was you throw bundles in the front and stuff happens inside that separates the grain from the straw. By the time I was 12 or so, I understood what happens inside and it made sense. In my mid to late teens I spent a few falls spike pitching at different farms around the neighbourhood if they needed help, and the machines were always dug in on the front. In fact after experimenting with several combine we had, we often applied that same theory to some of them. Some didn't need it.

I was at a show this summer where a wooden body McCormick Deering threshing machine had the rear wheels dug into the ground approx six inches. I thought this was a bit strange so I asked the guy who had set it up. He said he was told that a threshing machine had to have rear lowered. If the machine was level or the rear was higher than the front, it wouldn't save the grain as well.

Well I didn't carry the conversation any further because the fella was busy. But I'm curious. Was this lowering of the rear unique to the wooden body machines? Any I ever worked on were metal bodies.

Now that you mention it, I do remember digging in the front wheels. We also staked down the threshing machine as they were quite easy to blow over if a strong gust of wind came through. Dad had a collection of old car axles that we used to stake down the machine with. My job was to hold the stake while he drove in with a mall. As soon as they started to thresh, I went back to my regular job of keeping the oil cups full.

Older Gleaners had several sets of holes at the rear so you could change the pitch of the sieves. I was relieved when they did away with that, as I wasn't patient enough to try them all, to see what difference it made!

I remember the crew digging in the wheels but I don't remember if it was just the front or all four. I was only about 10 yrs or so old. I think the last threshing job I was a part of was about 1955. My job was driving a tractor to pick up bundles. I also remember driving the tractor while binding oats.

A separator is supposed to run level and often required the wheels to be dug in to get it that way, a jd thresher had pointers on a pivot that would tell you where level was lengthways and crossways, of course that all went out the window with pull type and self propelled combines

Also reduced height to fork the sheaves up from the wagon.
Being level side to side was critical.

Dad had a Case threshing machine until about 1992. We did oats for many years but stopped in 1983 when we moved to Montana. Dad had a big sale in 1992 to clear out all of the old equipment in Minnesota and then sold the farm.

I think there was a leveling pointer on that machine also. I was 11 when we moved so I didn't pay a lot of attention when he set it up. I'm headed out to Montana tonight. I'll ask him about setting it up when I get there and see what he has to say. I'll post back in a couple of days.

Dad always dug the rear wheels down about 6 inch's, but thinking back they were on the up side of a slight rise Never did ask him why. Always assumed it was to hold the machine in place. Will ask around. There are still a few old timers around that were part of the threshing crew. A lot of wonderful memories threshing with all the neighbors.

I have a very late McCormick Deering thresher that came with its own carpenter level.

i always saw dad dig the back wheels in when leveling the machine. my thinking is that the rear of the machine is heavier than the front. it has the solid axle there for better leveling, and the sieves are more rearward which is more important than leveling the front. the front is on a pivot. we used the trashing machine every year right up to 1972. have done it a few times for get togethers, and that was like 16 years ago now. i used to pull the wagons with the W6 mccormick since i was about 8 years old.

We always thrashed on the barn floor in the winter time. We would haul the bundles into the barn and stack them on the north drive floor then when we thrashed we set the thrasher on the center drive floor and blew the straw up on the scaffold to the south. The old man was very fussy about having the machine level. I remember him driving a shingle under a wheel or two to get it just perfect. Any of you ever use slings to bring bundles into the barn ? And pull them up with the rope and hay car ? Two men up in the mow putting the bundles just so. The good old days. I well remember dinner time what meals we had. lots of help around and lots to talk about. Then don't forget the old man would go down cellar and get a pitcher of hard cider. Only one old timer ever over did it. LOL We thrashed this way for many years. Most of our neighbors thrashed in the barn in the winter months. Very few ever thrashed in the field.

I helped thrash until 1953. The thresher owner always dug in what ever wheels needed it to level the machine. I never saw any chocks. I expect level was for best operation and maybe for the balance on the trip bucket at grain output. Small crews, I was only 15 years old going to field by myself and thankful I had a hand clutch Case and no darn Farmall. Had to really hustle to keep up with the adults. Horses were useful if they were not skittish around the thresher. I think the weight of the thresher in soft ground was enough for belt tension as the belt was never fiddle-string tight....too hard on the bearings, I think. Leo

My two brothers and I run a Avery 28 X 46 thresher exhibit at several local antique farm equipment shows in our area each summer. ,Our thresher sets a little high in the rear because we put pneumatic tires on the front wheels that are about 4 inches smaller than the rear wheels that are still the original steel with rubber treads bolted on. We usually have to dig out 3 or 4 inch deep holes for the rear wheels to level the machine...sometimes deeper on one side or the other to level the machine side to side. This is no trouble, we "save the sod" to replace in the holes when we finish the exhibition. Being in holes stabilizes the machine real good while running driven by a flat belt driven by our Model M 20-35 Rumely tractor. The Rumely was built in 1926, the Avery thresher in 1931.

Dad had a 1926 Case 32". He said it had a level pointer for front to back. Side to side you either had to eyeball it or use a carpenters level. He dug in the back because the rear axle was solid with the machine. The front axel had movement From the pivot. So it wasn't the best to drop the front unless the ground was really uneven. He said for that machine to make it level, the back had to go down. He said other brands were different because of how they were made.