Old IH Combine Makes Great Farm-Sized Mower
Stripped-down old combines can be easily converted into. big self-propelled farm mowers, according to Miles Filer, Vandalia, Ill., who turned his old IH 403 Hydro-Stat combine into a first-class pusher-type mower with an 8-ft. wide Bush Hog rotary deck on front.
Filer stripped everything off the combine except the cab, engine, ,hydrostatic drive transmission, and running gear. He used 6-in. channel iron to build his own frame. He cut 2 ft. off the front axle to reduce it to 7 ft. in width and mounted a home-built 3-pt. hitch on it in place of the header lift. The mower is powered by a hydraulic pump mounted behind the engine. The pump powers a hydraulic motor that belt-drives a jackshaft that runs along the right side of the combine up to the mower. An Oliver pto reduction gearbox gears it down. The jack-shaft drives a pair of pto shafts and gear-boxes mounted on top of the mower deck to drive the two sets of blades.
"It does a better job than pull-type mowers because you don't drive over grass before you mow it," says Filer, a retired dairy farmer. "I use it to custom mow for. businesses around town. Visibility is great be-cause I sit practically on top of the mower and can easily see the mower without constantly turning around. I bought the combine two years ago for $650. I paid $1,000 for the mower deck, which I bought used, and another $1,400 for miscellaneous parts, for a total cost of about $3,000. The 300 cu. in. engine has plenty of power.
"It has a low center of gravity and looks like a tractor. When people first see it they wonder why I'm running it backward. I think it would be ideal for mowing water-ways because the front-mount hitch allows it to oscillate from side to side on uneven ground. I use the header hydraulics to raise and lower the mower and the clutch that operated the threshing mechanism to operate the mower. I replaced the original 18.0 by 26 tires with smaller 14.9 by 26 tires."
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Miles Filer, Rt. 2, Vandalia, Ill. 62471 (ph 618 425-3548).
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Old IH Combine Makes Great Farm-Sized Mower COMBINES Conversions 18-1-40 Stripped-down old combines can be easily converted into. big self-propelled farm mowers, according to Miles Filer, Vandalia, Ill., who turned his old IH 403 Hydro-Stat combine into a first-class pusher-type mower with an 8-ft. wide Bush Hog rotary deck on front.
Filer stripped everything off the combine except the cab, engine, ,hydrostatic drive transmission, and running gear. He used 6-in. channel iron to build his own frame. He cut 2 ft. off the front axle to reduce it to 7 ft. in width and mounted a home-built 3-pt. hitch on it in place of the header lift. The mower is powered by a hydraulic pump mounted behind the engine. The pump powers a hydraulic motor that belt-drives a jackshaft that runs along the right side of the combine up to the mower. An Oliver pto reduction gearbox gears it down. The jack-shaft drives a pair of pto shafts and gear-boxes mounted on top of the mower deck to drive the two sets of blades.
"It does a better job than pull-type mowers because you don't drive over grass before you mow it," says Filer, a retired dairy farmer. "I use it to custom mow for. businesses around town. Visibility is great be-cause I sit practically on top of the mower and can easily see the mower without constantly turning around. I bought the combine two years ago for $650. I paid $1,000 for the mower deck, which I bought used, and another $1,400 for miscellaneous parts, for a total cost of about $3,000. The 300 cu. in. engine has plenty of power.
"It has a low center of gravity and looks like a tractor. When people first see it they wonder why I'm running it backward. I think it would be ideal for mowing water-ways because the front-mount hitch allows it to oscillate from side to side on uneven ground. I use the header hydraulics to raise and lower the mower and the clutch that operated the threshing mechanism to operate the mower. I replaced the original 18.0 by 26 tires with smaller 14.9 by 26 tires."
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Miles Filer, Rt. 2, Vandalia, Ill. 62471 (ph 618 425-3548).
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