Baler, Wagon Are "Just Like Dad's"

Baler, Wagon Are "Just Like Dad's" FARM HOME Novelty Items 26-1-22 Ralph Arnold Jr., known as Butch to his friends, farms part time and collects and restores Farmall and International tractors with his partner and brother, Charlie. As Butch and Charlie, Frostburg, Maryland, were working in their shop one evening, Butch's kids asked if the men could make them a mini baler like the Model no. 47 IH baler the Arnold brothers use on their farm. And while they were at it, the kids also wanted a bale wagon. Some dads would have shrugged and said something like "maybe" or "someday." But not Butch. Using 1/8-in. thick by 1/2-in. wide steel strap iron, he welded together a miniature baler frame nearly like the Model no. 47's frame. Then he carefully bent thin sheet metal onto the frame and riveted it in place. He added an axle made of 1/2-in. pipe and attached a couple of 6-in. lawn mower wheels. He made a telescoping power take off drive shaft, complete with a universal joint. He added a swinging tongue up front so the kids could tow the baler behind their Farmall Super M pedal tractor. And on the back, he mounted a drawbar so they could pull a wagon. Of course, he finished it all off with red and white paint and IH decals. "The baler doesn't work, and it's not exactly to scale, but I copied the Model no. 47 baler frame and sheet metal as closely as I could," he says. To make the bale wagon, Arnold used angle iron for a frame and made the sides of 3/8-in. steel rod. The rear axle is a 1/2-in. steel shaft and the steerable front axle is made of bolts welded onto steel pipe. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Butch and Molly Arnold, 392 Sampson Rock Road, Frostburg, Maryland 21532 (ph 301 689-0558; E-mail: lovey@hereintown.net).

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