IH 656 for planting

SweetHollow

New User
I am a diversified vegetable grower and new owner of a used IH 656. I bought this primarily for field prep and using a waterwheel transplanter for. I am also hoping to use this with a 3pt seeder like a Jang or something for crops like baby greens and radish, ect. I am wondering about compaction though as this thing is heavy. What are the do's and don'ts? Thanks!
 
Wet ground or clay based soils compact the worst.

Which describes my farm completely.

In my case about anything compacts the ground some in spring, just have to work with it.

Paul
 
A JD 2520 with 15.5x38 tires had been my planting tractor for about 30 years. Half that time ago I switched from 4 rows to 6
rows. When I did, I installed spaced (for 30 inch rows) duals. With the tractor running on 4 15.5x38 tires, and the planter on 4
instead of 2 tires, I left less of a track than I had before. I retired the 2520 this spring. I now use a JD 7410 on 18.4x38
spaced duals. I am still happy with the outcome.
 
you can reduce the weight by taking out the liquid balast if there is any in the rear tires or if it has rear wheel weights they can be removed. but
this will also reduce the traction for field prep.
 
In the IH scheme of things, a 656 gasoline tractor was kinda light for it's horsepower. Like others have said,
remove wheel weights and any liquid ballast in the rear tires, probably have 15.5x38's, each tire can hold 66
gallons of water and calcium chloride mix for around 1000 or more extra pounds of weight in each tire.
I'd recommend putting direct axle duals on your 656 to plant with, any dual with 15.5x38's or 12-38's, or
13.6x38's should match up fine with your 15.5x38's. There was a optional steel disk wheel to fit 16.9x34's or
18.4x34's, any steel disk wheel with a 9-hole bolt pattern should fit on the hubs on your tractor.
Last 5 years Dad farmed he planted with my '54 Farmall Super H which had 550# of calcium chloride solution in
each tire plus a 150# wheel weight on each rear wheel. Dad made clamp-on duals that we never drove on tilled
ground unless the duals were on. We only pulled a 4-row planter, a Deere #490, state of the art for 1950,
really Crude by today's standards.
 
(quoted from post at 07:29:20 09/19/22)

Like others have said,
remove wheel weights and any liquid ballast in the rear tires, probably have 15.5x38's, each tire can hold 66
gallons of water and calcium chloride mix for around 1000 or more extra pounds of weight in each tire.

According to chart below maximum weight of 15.5X38 tire plus water plus recommended maximum amount of Cacl2 is 704#s not 1000#s in each tire. Maybe you were thinking about 18.4X38 rear tires?
mvphoto97373.png
 
There's different percentages of fill, the gallons of fluid, or water you can fill a tire with, the most
common is valve stem height with the valve stem at top dead center and go right up to almost 100% fill. The
chart I found on the internet yesterday said 66 gallons in a 15.5x38, so 8.3454#/gal is 550#, plus the amount
of calcium chloride you can add varies. A 100% fill should be avoided, could over-stress the tire casing and
cause it to rupture. But a 90% or slightly more will work.
I have hydro-inflation manuals from Good-Year, B.F. Goodrich, Firestone, and Armstrong, all 4 show charts
from the Tire & Rim Manufacturer's Association showing how much fluid and weight via calcium chloride you can
get in all size tires common around 1970 to 1980.
 

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