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HOW THE HECK DID YOU GUYS DO IT????

B

bradk

Well-known Member
While combining soybeans today,I wondered how the older gentlemen(or 2nd,3rd generation classic combine owners) on this board "back in the day" prepared themselves to go out and combine with NO CAB??

I gotta admit I may be a bit spoiled.I started out in a JD 55,then a 4400,a 6600, and now a 7700.All with forced-air cabs.Couldn't imagine being outside in that choking dust & chaff right above the feederhouse throat.Corn,not so bad.Beans,forget it!

So,how did you do it? Any stories from old timers?
 
I've never done it either,but it's no wonder where the term farmer's lung originated.I guess when the only other option was do it with a sythee,or whatever the correct spelling for that miserable looking piece of thankfully historic equipment is,coughing was a pretty good looking option.They were likely so happy to have concoured the obsticle of manual labour,creature comforts were pretty low on the list of requirements at the time lol.
 
It was not that bad sitting on the tractor pulling a 7ft cut Jd 30 , or a Cockshutt Combine ... Self /propelled combines without cabs could get a bit dusty , but sometimes, Since my Cab fan just quit on My 300 Massey , i think I would be better off without a cab at All, on these warm afternoons with all the windows open .. Just seems like the soybean Dust magnetically attracts onto everything in the cab .. i always wear a dust mask combining Beans ,,,. In theory .The cab fan is meant to force air out thru Cab cracks with all windows and Doors closed . and works Fairly well for the 300
 
They were TOUGH, that's how they did it. I see the same trend nowdays in construction equipment where every operator feels they have to have a climate controlled cab. From what I understand the whole idea behind it is to keep the operator as comfortable as possible so he won't complain and will do more work. That's a noble idea but along with, and often times instead of, the extra work that is supposed to be getting done I see more time being spent on the cell phone and/or texting, less awareness of the operation of the machine (ie can't hear the "squeaks and groans" indicating a problem, etc) and just a general sense of entitlement or whatever you want to call it, that they don't want to get out of the cab and actually WORK when needed.


Those of us that work on the machines are out there in the heat with no A/C even available, breathing in the dust being kicked up by several machines, handling tools that are so hot they burn you and crawling around on a machine that is just as hot. Not to mention standing on our head, up in a hole, and up to our armpits in grease, oil, and crud....and we do it all in an attempt to repair a machine for an operator that is spoiled and thinks he's the one that has had it hard just because he has no A/C for one day. Ultimately the machines' owners are paying for spoiling then in the upkeep on machines that have more systems to screw up and are more complex and expensive to repair than the older ones. But that's just my .02
 
I had a PT 30 Massey Harris. One year with 20 acres of beans and 20 acres of milo was enough for me. Milo was the worst. The grit seemed like it had razor blades on it.
 
Lol you hit the nail on the head lol.I've done hundreds of hard dirty jobs while our young fella employee's have watched me in amazement and said "You couldn't pay me enough to do that".My question is,when they run out of old people who are willing to work,who's going to do it for them?
 
My first combine was open. I never cut beans, but did a fair amount of small grain. I don't remember any problem. In fact I much preferred that over a non AC cab.
 
used to combine with a Super 92 MASSEY HARRIS without a cab. the worst was barley chaff when going with the wind.good going the other direction.or else on a hot day with no wind and stuff would just linger in your face. itchy as hell, when showering would turn up the hot water as hot as could stand it and made the itch feel better. came out red like a lobster.then got a 1970 M.M.4292 with cab and was in heaven.70 bushel hopper compared to the M.H. with 55, wow, by todays standards with their monster machines.
 
I been there and done that,I gradated from highschool in 46 and dad bought new Oliver Model 60 a Allis 40 combine and a Wood Brother single row picker and said "You are going to pay for it". When it got cold you put on layers and ended up with a pair of coveralls so there were no lose end to get wrapped up. The final touch was a pair of five buckle over shoes. You hoped nothing went wrong has you cold hardly get on and off the tractor. Who ever was hauling the corn wagons away did the hich up. Ten acres in a day was a full day. You did not shut the picker down as the drag chains would freeze up. Ended up one year the day before christmas in a blizzard. It was rough but you did what you had to do. It beat the heck out of picking by hand and a team of horses pulling the wagon.
gitrib
 
Most PT combines were rear delivery, but the AC, popular and good as it was, was bad for chaff...typically drove around the field, and at least in one direction, the wind carried the dust to the tractor. Other jobs- really no choice- no one had it any better than another. Comfort was unheard of.
 
Can't speak for the combineing beans thing,but I bought my first round baler in 1979. Baled with an open tractor til 1994. I got so used to having my eyes packed full of chaff,I'd just pull my eyelids down and wipe them out when the stuff moved around so I couldn't see anymore. I'd darned near plug the shower drain when I got home.
 
Im not an "old timer", but I ran my Dads 141 Ih, and my uncles 45 JD combines with no cabs right up to the late 80s when Dad retired from part time farming. If you dont have a cab, youll never miss it. Worse part for me was just being dirty at the end of the day.
 
It is all relative. The men who used the first combines like the AC 60 were old enough to remember cutting grain with binders and forking it onto wagons then into the thresher so a combine that cut about the same swath was a huge step up in convenience. Same for the reaper/binders. The men that cut grain with a scythe and cradle must have thought they had died and gone to heaven when the reapers came out. Cut grain while sitting down?!?! WOW!
The dust issue is the reason many old farmers have "farmers lung" or "brown lung" similar to coal miner's "black lung".
 
Well when I was a kid I wasn't the comfy tractor driver ,but I rode combine sacker this is where I learned the "millers knot" I was 13 yrs old at the time, and the one neighbor I believe it was a JD sacker style combine that the seat sat towards the head, and tank was directly behind the engine.
talk about dusty and dirty jobs and I really think the guy driving the tractor would actually have fun going through the rag weed just to watch me sneeze.

Another close farmer had I think may have been an international It was mostly rust and some places showed signs of red paint It was a bagger also , I liked it better cause it had a trip chute to drop sacks [5 at a time], in certain areas for easy pick up.

The green one you had to keep sacks on board till you came to the drop off spot.
 
I came in on the tail end of that era, the neighbor had a MH Super 26.

They didn't do beans, but did a lot of clover seed in the late 70's. Nasty.

But I'm sure those machines were a Godsend to the people who had done without.
 
Dad still runs a 510 or 550 Massey. It has a cab but the ac doesn't work and he runs it with the door open. Sometimes I ride a round or two in between loads. Corn or beans, doesn't matter, the dust is bad enough that the symptoms of runny nose, sore throat, and hoarse voice would make people think you're sick.

But I'm not. I'm healthy. Oh and just in case I'm wrong, "I'm healed! Hallelujah!"

But the mud on the kleenex says it's not a bug.
 
I ran one of those stackliner 1010's for a couple of seasons getting up corn stalks pulling it with a Allis D21. When the wind was blowing accross your back, it was nothing but black dust and you could even see behind you. I got paid a $1.25 a hour and would run till midnight because of the dew.
 
brad -I think you are right.
Only 55 and not a farmer but worked on farms in the late 60's and 70's.
Boy, moldy corn out of the crib would set me back for a day or 2!
Don't even know how the guys at the Half Century of Progres or other local shows do it!
Jim
 
Hey Roy -i bet there arent many on here that can tie a ---miller knot---Your going to have to explain that to youngsters on here.
 
Dad had a 1952 JD 55 all the years I can remember. If you had good luck the wind would be at 90 degs. In the late 60's we bought a used JD 55 round back that had a cab on it. It had a fan and everything if there is anything else. Oh yes, heater. Boy that was super. He let me run it. Of course it wasn't very tight. Dad had a Heat Houser type cab that he would put on the old 55 in the coldest winters. I just got done running my brothers combine for him today. Heat this morning, air conditioning this afternoon, quiet, power steering, listened to music on the radio and a car race. Didn't even get dirty. Didn't have to get out and unplug anything. If he only had autosteer. HaHa. If he only knew how it used to be. He thinks he has it tough. I guess he has other things to worry about. All I had to do was get out and drive home. That's the way to farm.
 
Like most things you never had, you don't miss them. Combining oats was the worst, just couldn't stop itching. Shoveling them into the bin wasn't any better.
Each generation thought they had it better, and so did I. At least I didn't have to poke wires on a New Holland baler baling clover hay. Combining had to be better than forking into a separator or pitching bundles on to a wagon.
Someday our kids will be telling their kids how tough it was in the old days.
Paul
 
I was thinking the other day, when I was mowing our lawn with a 24 hp garden tractor with a 54" deck. In the '50's and '60's I spent day after day combining wheat, milo, oats, and soybeans with an AC 60 combine that took a swath only 6 inches wider than my lawn mower.
 
I don't know. Maybe it's just me. Maybe it's just my upbringing. When I was a kid and a young man, which doesn't seems that long ago, I loved to work hard and I loved hard work. In fact I actually quit jobs because they were too easy, no challenge, nothing to aspire to. My kids are all learning about hard work, too. Whether they like it or not, they'll know how to do it when they get older.

Christopher
 
Drove my first tractor in 1964. Old IH. For protection. Dad gave me a rag to cover my mouth and nose,a straw hat and two gallons of water. Told me don't stop until you run out of water or gas.
 
Got to remember also that most only took 4 - 30" rows at a time. Now you take 16 or worse yet 32 drilled rows in one pass. The wind can dissipate 4 rows pretty good compared to what you run through now. Our Case 600 had a cab (no air etc)but never had cabs on any of our tractors. Dad didn't even have any umbrellas. Remember also in the '60,s we didn't have much in the way of good weed sprays either so if weather didn't go your way for good cultivating you ended up with a good crop of weeds to harvest also , which you don't have much of today. We were happy just to have a self-propelled combine. Grandpa wasn't that lucky and hate to think how Great Grandpa had to harvest!
 
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