1949 Case Tractor Gets New Loader, Full-Time Hydraulics

1949 Case Tractor Gets New Loader, Full-Time Hydraulics TRACTORS Loaders 28-5-27 Bill Wilson, Thompson Falls, Montana, built a hydraulic-operated front-end loader for his 1949 Case DC tractor. He also added the power steering system and a pair of hydraulic pumps off a couple of old Case combines. "It gives me full-time hydraulics on an older tractor without having to spend thousands of dollars for a new tractor," says Wilson. "I bought the tractor used for $300 and paid another $200 for materials. A used tractor equipped with live hydraulics would have cost me at least $3,000." The tractor was originally equipped with a loader but it wasn't built strong enough so it kept bending. He used 2 by 8-in. channel iron to build a new one. The tractor did not have live hydraulics so that whenever he depressed the clutch, he had no hydraulic power. "That meant whenever I stopped to shift gears I couldn't raise the loader bucket," says Wilson. He got the pumps cheap from a salvage yard and had them rebuilt for about $25 each. One pump operates the tractor's power steering system and the other one operates the loader. A pair of valves controls bucket tilt and also the up and down motion of the loader. He paid $10 for the valves which he bought at a farm auction. Many of the hoses were also bought at auctions. The tractor has three hydraulic cylinders - two 3-in. dia. ones to raise and lower the bucket and a 4-in. dia. one (off a log splitter) to tilt the bucket. The two 3-in. dia. cylinders are off an old Horn front-end loader. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Bill Wilson, 44 Gable Road, Thompson Falls, Montana 59873 (ph 406 827-3006).

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