Resurrection of the small farmer?

The emergence of the organic farming and “local food” movements has helped to actually increase the number of small farms.  Some of these farms need harvesting equipment, but alas as the equipment manufacturers followed the “get big or get out” siren song, they abandoned the small scale harvesting business.  Its not that there was no demand for pull-type pickers and combine, just not enough to sustain their business model.   Todays small scale farmer who needs harvesting work is left with scavenging older small scale machines with limited parts availability (with a few notable exceptions wink*wink) , purchasing older larger equipment, or hiring out the work to custom operators.  All of these options have their pluses and minus’s but I do wonder how sustainable they are in the long term.  Ever so slowly there  are less and less small workable machines to choose from with even fewer parts availability. “Overkill” notwithstanding, the older, large self propelled machines can be money pits assuming the parts can be found and don’t cost  your firstborn.  These self propelled machines also have a LOT more to maintain than a pull-type. Think engines/clutches, etc. Getting a custom operator to do your 15 acres is nothing to be counted on ad infinitum. 

With that in mind I have been toying with the idea of rebuilding All-Crop harvesters, the model 72’s in particular.  I would think it would be more cost effective to build all new sheet metal and angle iron for the frame and seperator instead of tearing one down, blasting and putting back together. Salvaged would be the castings, grain tank, gear boxes; basically those parts that would be expensive to reproduce. I would think the rebuilt machine could go for $6-10K.  Question is, would there be any takers? I have heard “your crazy”, and perhaps I am.   But as time marches on the alternatives look less and less appealing for the small farmer when it comes to harvesting.  But heck, maybe I’m just fishing for an excuse to do one..What do you think?

On a happy note I have finally landed a job in town after 5 months of searching. Good to be back in the saddle again.

Summer Wrap Up

Summer is winding down, and its been a busy one! Some good things happened, some not so much.

It was great to make it to Dale Haymakers show in Paris IL and meet in the flesh customers and several folks from the allischalmers.com site. Dale put on a great show once again. During some slow time I will put up some video I captured. It was kinda cool for July, but I like it that way!  I also took  a trip to Chicago for  an activity my kids are involved in, and for the sad part had to go back home to bury my Dad.  I must have been out of town for 2/3 of the month.

As some may know, I am a victim of the recession and have been out of work since May.  Lord only knows if I will be staying here near Harrisburg or moving once again.  I am a computer programmer and my core skill set is JD Edwards and iseries/RPG.  If you know of any jobs I may qualify for please pass them on. Willing to go most anywere between the two coasts.

I have two new parts of the verge of availability; a replacement concave and the bottom piece of the unloading auger for the 25 bushel tanks. I also obtained a NOS set of decals for the 60/66/72 and will have my first label out soon. Everything should be on the website by  mid-September.

IH37 Disk Progress…sortof

I now have a free download of the dealers parts catalog.

Also, I have put up a page of the first few aftermarket parts for the disk I now can get.  Will add more as I go forward.

I will not really get into the meat of this restore till after fall harvest as this is the busy time of the yeard for the All-Crop business

Roto-Baler Standard vs Model 10

As I continue to learn about the Allis Roto-Baler, here is a factoid I learned from Jim Palmer…As opposed to the “Standard” model, the “Model 10″ Roto-baler featured a second conveyor mounted above the regular hay pickup.  When a twine was being wrapped, the hay was diverted to this upper conveyor. This was supposed to eliminate the need to stop during twine wrapping. Didnt work very good and many were converted back to the Standard arrangment. These Model 10’s were denoted with a “C” prefix in the serial number.

IH 37 Parts – Good News!

Talked to a aftermarket wholesaler; looks like he will be able to supply affordable bearing/spool parts for the disc…I await further details

Bearing Mounts

Picture is an OEM bearing mount that I will need to get converted from the “spool” style bearings to the ball-bearing type. Will need 8 of these for my disc.  International Part Number 652581R91.  These are no longer available from Case-IH; so i looks like I will be having these fabbed. Doesnt look too complicated.

Part# 652581R91

IH 37 Disc

I have created a page dealing with the refurb of my 1950’s era International Harvester 37 Disc

See you in Paris!

Ahh Paris!  The Arc de Triompe, The Louvre, the Romance!!  Ok, not THAT Paris, but Paris, Illinois, for the MUCH better “Orange Power of the Past” show held at the Allis Chalmers Museum July 18th and 19th.  

This show highlights Allis-Chalmers equipment working in the field and features one of the largest AC tractor collections around as owned by Dale Haymaker, founder of the musuem.

I will be treking out to the show with a cache of parts.  If anyone in the region or on the way from Harrisburg PA needs a hard to ship part, drop us a line and perhaps I can bring it there or drop it off. 

For more information visit http://allischalmersmuseum.com

One further note: July in general will have me on the road quite a bit. I realize this is when crops start coming in, so if you need a part for the harvest, best to place your order in June as it will be hard to fill orders in July.

Au Revoir!

Info about the drapers

I am often asked how the drapers are installed, as they do take some “tweaking” to get on right.  On this page I discuss how to get the rubberized drapers we sell to fit, and how the old canvas style drapers were put on.

Year 2008 in Review

Another year goes by quickly, and it has been a great one! We keep on getting more and more All-Crops back “on-line” doing their stuff.  Thanks to all for the continued support…..At the end of 2007, I promised to review my “to-do” list for 2008 and see what we accomplished..well lets do it:

1. Get drapers available for the model 40 combine.  I had a prototype set made, but was less than impressed with the finished product.  I then realized the best thing to do is to simply get the 60/66 set and cut them down to size..GRADE: A-

2.Make available more manuals, parts manuals in particular.  Was able top get the 40 and 66 parts manual scanned and available for free on the website…. GRADE: A

3.Overhaul the website (a 2007 goal not achieved) to make it more informative and effective in finding parts and combines. Was able to partially accomplish this goal.  The products page was re-vamped.  I also was forced to write some custom programs to handle  sales as the old method was not cutting it anymore with the increased numer of orders..GRADE: C

4. Get that new drill press assembled to allow us to pre-drill holes for the cylinder bars. Got the drill press up but could never fdind the time to drill the holes….GRADE C-

5. Get to at least one of the Allis equipment shows with a truckload of parts.  Didnt happen.  No time, couldnt afford the fuel. GRADE:F

So how do you grade our efforts? Suggestions, complaints, compliments? let us know!

Plans For 2009:

1. Make improvements to the website

2. Get elevator grain cups fabricated

3. Get Finishing screens and Scour Kleens fabricated

4. Try to get to a show….Really, Really try!

5. Get a 72 parts manual up for free download…

Thanks again for all your support. Merry Christmas to all,  and have a Happy New Year!