It's 1965 now, and Marv is back on the same nasty hill. Clattering along in the
D4 with the 51 in tow. The winter was really harsh in 1965......froze a lot of the
wheat out, so some of it doesn't look so hot.



The 51 had tires with two big ribs at the edges.......they really helped hold
the machine on slopes like this:



Used up nearly all of the leveler here;

New helper this season for the 'corner from hell.' Not sure if the D2 laid down, or if it was too soft. The helper this year was a RD7 borrowed from the neighbors. Here they are getting hooked up prior to making the turn & climb up along Mc Coy Road. Must be some sort of hang up as both Cat skinners are looking back at something going on back around the header.



Problem solved and back to work....starting the turn:



Looks like they have under control now.

From the other side:



Probably the best shot in this series......some serious old iron at work here
as the RD7 leads the way:



One more from this side:



And a last one taken from below, looking through dust & chaff as the outfit
makes the climb:

Here we get to 1967....pretty sure this was the last year for the 51. Marv
has blossomed out with a classy looking D4D. The wheat looks a lot better; 67 was a pretty good year. ( it was the last year for our pull type JD 33 as well)



This is my favorite shot of the whole bunch. In fact, I have it up as my wallpaper.......looks really cool on a big display. A bunch of stuff to look for in this shot. Note the barn roof down by the trees right of frame. The combine is about maxed out on the leveler here...check out the angle of that header as it reaches up the hill away from the separator. And check out how much the ground is dug up just below the Cat from the previous rounds. Even though it's a better fit for the 51 than the D4 it replaced ( more power, heavier on the nose) you can see that Marv had his hands full here in places.



Close up head shot:

The D4D made it unnecessary to double head on the turn & pull seen above.
Here is a really nice side shot of the D4D pulling the 51. The leveler rack is clearly visible on the left side of the machine. Unlike the current SP hillside
machines, only the left side wheel & tire moved up & down to level the separator. On the side of the separator you can see the counterweight that
was part of the system to level the cleaning shoe fore & aft.

Looks like Marv left the AC unit for the D4D in at the dealers.......
Pretty sure that's Marv's son Jim on the combine tending the leveler & running
the chaff dump. His AC unit was still waiting to be delivered too. ( you should
hear the whining & sniveling around here now when the AC quits!!) Also, notice the farmer installed fuel tank for the combine motor. Right under that
is a tank that I just noticed while prepping these shots....not sure if it's air
or water......I'll have to check that out.



A couple more shots of this out fit in action.





Many thanks to Marv's son's Jim & Bill. Bill scanned these photo's from the
family slides & was kind enough to share them with me. He farms here in The Dalles area, including the hill seen above. He has seeded some of the worst
of it off to grass, but still farms some pretty nasty stuff. Son Jim farmed this
same home place for many years before becoming a banker in The Dalles.
Many thanks to him for additional information about harvesting on this knob.
( he cut it many times with a 6602......told me it wasn't too bad........but he
was always glad to be done with it.)

When they retired the IH 51, the next combine was a SP IH 403. I ran in to
Marv one day during harvest in town ( both of us chasing parts) Asked him
what he was up to......told me he had spent a couple of days cutting up
truck chains to make up some chains that would fit the drivers on his 403.
Seems like the good crop he had had lots of slick straw.......had to chain up
the 403 to keep from sliding off the hill seen above. No thanks.

I try not to be easily impressed, but this is just the best damned thread I've ever seen, any time, anywhere on the net...
don't stop, just keep 'em coming, guys...

Very very nice pics there 98J, glad someone took the time to snap those, especially like the ones with two cats and the ones with the D4D.

Like ronm said.Been showing these to my dad who is 86.He makes hints to see more if I forget.Makes for great discussions and reminencing.

Very impressive stuff:)
I don't see how you can stay the coarse without sliding sideways on that straw.
Can't even keep my brush hog straight on a lot less slope than that;)

Thanks for more great pictures 98j.Very similar things in this area with adding a second tractor in the nasty stuff.I,m not familiar with the IH harvesters,but growing up on JD 36B's,you can see tiller wheel to control header height has been replaced with a mechanical arm and a ram of some kind.Is that an air compressor on the engine with the large pulley?My dads 36 used air rams to control header height and to engage leveler.Also liked the photo with the mules pulling the harvester.
Ray