hp to pull a 2 row pull type corn picker

swindave · Dec 31, 2020

how big of a tractor do i need to pull a 2 row pull type ear corn picker with a wagon behind it?
i would like to use a 1949 model a john deere, or would i be better off looking for a 1 row?
it would be just a few acres to play around on,

do some models, or brands pull easier then others?

thanks for your help

Janicholson · Dec 31, 2020

If you plant and fertilize the corn to todays productivity, neither the tractor nor picker will do well. if kept to the 50s harvest levels, it will do fine. Maybe 60/70bpa. Jim

coonie minnie · Dec 31, 2020

A one row has more flexibility as to row width.

As for what the A can handle, a 49 is likely a two stick transmission with a fast low gear. So minimum speed will be 2.5 mph. A good portion of the load is moving the picker and wagon, which gets heavier as the load gets full. How much mud are you going to deal with? Hills? All of those are factors against the A with a two row. In my mind, in light corn HP with the a would maybe be enough, a later A with the creeper gear would help, but limiting factors such as traction etc would make me look for something bigger unless you have a one row.

Al Baker(pumpman) · Dec 31, 2020

If you have sand, mud or hills it will pull harder than flat dry ground. A small 80 bu wagon will pull much easier than a 200 bu one. All depends. I pulled an oliver 83 two row up and down hills and through lots of mud using a Ford 6000 Commander. Also used our D-19 Allis . I moved up to an Oliver 1850 FWD that just played with it. Dont think I ever tried to pick 2 rows with anything less than 60 HP. Al

Jeff in ND · Dec 31, 2020

I have home movie of them using a '56 Moline UB diesel to pull a 2 row New Idea with those little flare boxes in the 1960s. Later, Dad used a '69 IH 544 to pull a newer New Idea (probably a 324 or 326) and 200bbl gravity wagons.

That UB was rated ~40-50Hp and the 544 at ~50Hp per a quick search of specs...

A few years ago I found a picture my Dad on a '48 Moline ZTU pulling a 1 row Woods Bros picker they had prior to that New Idea.

Agree that corn yield now could be a problem. You may have to drive super slow to not overfill the picker?

Richard G. · Dec 31, 2020

A 49 JD A has the one stick shifter and should do fine with a 2 row picker.
I grew up on a 49 A.
Lots of lugging power.
Richard in NW SC

Mike(NEOhio) · Dec 31, 2020

FIL used a one row NI picker and hay wagons converted with low sides and ends for picking, pulled them with an E3. He would use the '51A if it was real muddy but after turning at the ends would have to stop to re-engage the PTO. I don't think a two row would be that much harder, especially for an A.

jon f mn · Dec 31, 2020

Dad bought a jd A with a mounted picker and it would really struggle with hills. A pull type will pull harder. On flat relatively hard ground it would be fine. Lots of pics out there with small Allie and Ford tractors pulling pickers, just not in hills or anything.

the tractor vet · Dec 31, 2020

All depends on the lay of the land and soil type AND THE YEAR . Then ya factor in weight , around here on our humps and bumps things can get vary shell we say interesting fast if you don't have the weight and the tire . Just getting a loaded wagon out of the field and back to the crib can be a learning experience . I personally have had a fully loaded gravity box with around 200 Bushel shove me with my 450 D with loaded tires and five sets of donuts down a muddy field lane and the 450 loaded weighed in around 9500 lbs and i also have been shoved with the 806 weighing in at 13500 . Before the 1066 came and the 806 was not yet here two 706 gassers did the work along with a ah well a john Deere 720 D . And many times when the fields were soft and wet it took both 706's to drag the two row New Idea picker and a med. sized gravity wagon around and not even filling it up . Then watching the fun of the 720 tryen to get it out of the fields . Those old pickers did not need a bunch of pony power to run but they needed something out ft. tha could DRAG the weight and the resistance of all the tires on the ground or in the ground when your axle deep in MUD .

Bill(Wis) · Dec 31, 2020

With a gas burning '49 A you'll have about 14 more HP than the early fuel oil burning A's. Should be enough HP for a two row picker with wagon assuming you have fairly level ground. Creeper gear would help but that's something you have what you have. Standard low gear is about 2 - 2.5 MPH. If you just have a few acres, then I would look at the shape of the picker you're buying more than the number of rows. Also, maybe hold your planting rate down a little. By the way, the John Deere 237 two row mounted picker was designed to be used on a John Deere A. I've attached pictures of what I use to keep dust and chaff out of the radiator fins. I've been using these for over 20 years on all my equipment including cars and trucks. They can be beaten out easily although the best way to clean them is to hang them out on the line in the rain. They're furnace filter bats.

NY 986 · Dec 31, 2020

Firm fairly level dry ground you should be OK. Wet, loose, hilly then you could run into trouble.

onefarmer · Dec 31, 2020

I don't think the number of rows will matter much. Like the others have said it's the ground and hills and wagon size. I've picked pulling a two row New Idea and a 150bu wagon with a Farmall H and other years I needed my JD4430 to get thru the mud. Most of the time I use a Massey 265 or 175 because their just the handiest tractors I have for corn. If cold I use a JD2550 w/cab.

In mud or soft ground the two row works good, since you get over into fresh undisturbed ground each pass.

JIM MN · Dec 31, 2020

janicholson; you are correct with your thoughts.. You could not go slow enough with a one row picker to do a good job??

swindave · Dec 31, 2020

well, i guess i maybe will look for a 1 row picker, thanks

coonie minnie · Dec 31, 2020

There were several 2 row pickers built for the A, all mounted. That way the majority of the weight was on the drive wheels, reducing the traction issue. There were pull types, too, but it seems like the mounted was more common in that time frame.

mijohn · Dec 31, 2020

I pulled a new idea 6a two row picker with a two hundred bu. wagon and a 46 slant dash A in the mid sixty's with no problem. It had been just bored 90 over but all fuel pistons. I always figured it had about 34 horse. Now as far as yield goes. In 1965 I was part of funks 304 bu. challenge. I ran between 126 and 120 bu. per measured acre. I picked it all with the 6a picker, didn't seem to have a problem. By 1972 farmers around me that were raising 100 to 160 shelled bu. corn to the acre and shelling with two row pull type pickersheller's. The older farmers around me couldn't see spending about twelve thousand on new combine when three thousand for a two row pickersheller would do just find. If you wanted to buy a farm for a $1000 an acre and went to the bank, the first think you had to do, was prove you didn't need to barrow the money to buy the farm. In fact a lot of farms around me were sold on land contracts. Seems to be today if you don't have two to at lease three 200 hundred thousand dollar tractor setting in your yard and a couple of 5oo thousand dollar combines you are behind the times. Remember the 1930s. they are coming again sooner then later!,john

fixerupper · Dec 31, 2020

Dad pulled a Minneapolis two row picker with a 51 A for ten years. The biggest wagons were 6x12 Heiders with two 1x2 sideboards added. In 1961 he started pulling the picker with a 630 mainly for the live PTO on the 630. He farmed flat to rolling land with only one fairly steep sidehill. I was too young to know how well the A actually handled the picker but dad never mentioned anything about the A not being up to the job. The A had a tricycle front end and I do remember the front wheels balling up with mud sometimes. That had nothing to do with the tractors ability to handle the picker though.

RayP(MI) · Dec 31, 2020

Uncle used a JD 50 with a NI one row and a box wagon (hay wagon with 2' sides). Very successfully, except on one sidehill on our farm. There, my dad would chain up his JD B for an assist, probably more for keeping the tractor from sliding downhill, than for pulling ability.

tractorguy2 · Dec 31, 2020

You need an old school planter. When those pickers were built. Dryland Corn was planted 16 to 18 inches between seeds. Today corn is planted about 6-8 inches or less.

My grandpa had a two row MM corn picker and pulled it with a Ford 8n. Dad said it was all the Ford wanted. They only used the Ford a few times an then went back to the John deere A. The Ford had a faster PTO speed than the John Deere. Dad said the piker ran smoother on the Ford but got rather "doggy" going up hill.

The corn was listed using a 2 row Case lister. Cultivated with front mount cultivator on the John Deere.

Charlie M · Dec 31, 2020

You got that right about getting through the mud. I use a one row picker every year and its fun to pick ear corn on a nice fall day with some firm ground under you. It takes away the fun when you're stuck and rutting up everything. I've had years where I had to wait for the ground to freeze up before getting the corn out of the field.

jm. · Dec 31, 2020

I do not understand all the comments about crop yield having to do with his question. I have a two row New Idea Picker/Sheller. I pull it with 46 hp KUBOTA that is four wheel drive. The good thing about the kubota it has kubota,s glide shift transmission so I can go any speed one the go shifting. I pull a 120 bu wagon for the shelled corn and as it gets loaded one can tell it is back there on turns but never stalls the tractor. I have shelled some true 150 bu per acre corn and never had any picker Sheller problems. Just have to match the ground speed to the crop conditions.

Super H Mike · Dec 31, 2020

I used an IH H on a NI 2 row with no problems for a few years, sold it and now use my 1 row only. Not because of power but one row is handier and a lot lighter. Like others have said, its not the HP but the weight with wagon too that may be an issue on hills and such. Just this year I picked high population modern corn hybrid on 15 inch rows with no real problems. Couldn't have done that with the old wider 2 row.

Loosehandle · Dec 31, 2020

Good video on youtube, 620 and new idea 2 row, search for Halloween corn picking.

jon f mn · Dec 31, 2020

Yields are an issue because some said the jd has a fast first gear so many pickers wouldn't be able to handle the volume.

jm. · Dec 31, 2020

I fugue he will be in low gear if he pulls a 2 row with the A JD for sure.

paul · Dec 31, 2020

Used a NI 6A behind a ihc 300 and 100bu barge boxes, perfect.

Used a NI 300 and it was a pull for the 300.

Went to a NI 324 and 200 bu gravity boxes, that was too much for the 300. I had improved yields and corn population too, that probably had a lot to do with it.

Paul

jddrawbar · Dec 31, 2020

serial number for the first single stick transmission was #648000 & that was early 1950. This is according to the two-cylinder club. I have a '52 and it pulls strong!

1206SWMO · Dec 31, 2020

If an 8N Ford can pull a 1 row I guess an A John Deere should pull a 2 row..I took this at Rantoul,Illinois a few years ago..Years ago there were lots of M Farmalls,A JDs,88 Olivers,44 Masseys,etc on 2 row mounted pickers...If you are on nearly level ground and its dry you will be OK..If you are on hilly ground or its muddy, then you may be in trouble...You should be able to do a good job if you go slow.

Bob Bancroft · Dec 31, 2020

It's been a few years since we picked corn. 4 MPH was maximum speed with a late model NI picker. Snapping rolls were the limiting factor. Corn yields have increased a lot. I wouldn't be surprised if 3 MPH might be the maximum speed now.

tractorguy2 · Dec 31, 2020

My grandpa Tom had a Farmall M and used a two row pull type NI. He had a wet year and the M with tire chains couldn't pull the picker through the mud. He traded the two row for a one row NI pull type.

RJKeith · Dec 31, 2020

My grandfather had a two row mounted JD picker he used with a JD B. I would think an A would be fine.

flying belgian · Dec 31, 2020

I don't think a 2 row would pull much harder then a 1 row. I would not let the number of rows be the determining factor. Condition of the picker is what I would look at.
That being said, Pa pulled a 2 row 6a with a 46 A. Had one farm that had a pretty good hill so he would always start with empty wagon at bottom of hill and come down hill with near full wagon.
I'm not sure if he did that because he had to or because he thought he had to.

super99 · Dec 31, 2020

You should get along fine with your A and a 2 row. Mud might be an issue, but every fall isn't muddy, so I wouldn't worry about that aspect of it. What row width do you plant? A 2 row wide will handle 38" row OK, 36" rows are really crowding it. You might be able to do 30" but you are really gonna be pulling the rows apart, better have a hybrid that hangs onto the ears if you try that and you will be running over the row next to it. A one rows will pick just about any row width.

ss55 · Dec 31, 2020

Would an older two row wide row picker made for 90 bushel corn have enough extra husking and elevator capacity to handle one row of 200 plus bushel corn?

Buckeye Oliver collector · Jan 1, 2021

I would be looking for a one row picker or a bigger tractor. With some mud factored in and any hills I would want 50 plus horses for a two row picker. My neighbor ran a 3020 on a 2 row New Idea for years and moved right along but I wouldn't want a tractor much smaller than that (think a 3020 was 65 horse maybe?).

730virgil · Jan 1, 2021

you don't have to go back to 1930s early to mid 1980s were bad I worked for 2 guys that went under. interest rates did lots of people in

730virgil · Jan 1, 2021

i had a 2 stick A friend had a 1 stick A mine seemed like it was faster. his second gear was about the same as my first. We tried them out while plowing one day.

the tractor vet · Jan 1, 2021

Worst year i can remember was 1970 , rain set in and would not let up we would get maybe three days with no rain , back then my buddy and i had a Farmall M with a hopped up engine and a two row mounted New Idea with a 12 roll bed it has 13.6 x 38's with good tread and it did ok for a while but even with the extra power fighting the MUD she did not have enough so we pulled it off the M and swapped it and the ft end over onto my buddy's 450 D for more power and wider tires NOt the best idea we ever came up with BUT hey . And the fields got softer and getting stuck was never ending , we put the M D up on blocks and pulled the back tires and wheels off moved the wheels in on my 450 D and put the M D's wheels and hubs on my 450 for duals and MORe weight for dragging the picker out . We give up and tried to wait on frost that never came just more MUD . Neighbor had a 319 one row and we had a brand new Case 310 G dozer with three point and PTO an whoppen whole 29 Hp and that is how we picked the last 90 + acres one row at a time in first gear and at times had both 450's hooked to the 310 , sometimes it took longer to travel the head lands then to go down the rows. When spring came oh man what a total mess we had with ruts it is a wonder we did not totally destroy those tractors tryen to work the ground .

hp to pull a 2 row pull type corn picker

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