Wow, some really great shots put up here through the season! Was surprised to see the cable plow set up, as among others had never heard of one. The D9 and plow make quite a unit to move around those roads I'm sure. Thanks to all for contributing. I have my fuzzy cell phone shots, aside from the vineyard shots, and all I really had time for but hopefully I can update these this week.

We finished combining wheat about Sept. 16 and have been hard at it since then shredding, applying glypho, working stubble with the cultivator, seeding, moldboard plowing and disk ripping. To top that off I did get a few days of grass straw hauling but most of that is still stacked in the fields and will hopefully get hauled in before the rains start. Wheat yields were pretty good around here for a change. Some of the fields we ended up double shredding just to be able to get the drill through without much plugging.

I started the plowing operation a week or so ago to roll over some lower producing fields. I'm going 13-14" deep with a 10 bottom set at 18", quite a load for the old D5, and starting near center of field going in a circle. Not much to do except pull that right steering clutch every 8-10 feet. High idle in this machine according to the tach is 1750 which I know is a low, and think factory rating must be 1950 or 2000? Maybe someone can shed some light on where this 3306 should run. I turned up a cache of Mt. St. Helens ash at the end of one field this morning, yes it's STILL around!

In my spare time--(??!) I've been helping out with the grape harvest at the kid's vineyard. All they have left is to pick is the Cabernet, which you see hanging under the bird netting. With this last bit of warm weather they just might luck out and make some decent wine out of this. Their white grapes did real well as far as quality and ripeness this year which is good for all the work it takes. If you are interested go to www.colterscreek.com for pics and info.

Bleedinred- thanks for the update and those are some good pics, sounds like you are plenty busy as well.

Great looking cat and plow. Going that deep with 10 bottoms would be a heck of a load for any D5. Most guys around here pulled 8 or 9 with D5s. We only go 8-9" at the most, too many rocks and too much clay deeper than that. Any idea on the engine hp on that D5?

For what its worth the 3306 in our D6C is 2000rpm.

NIF, I'm pretty sure its stock at 150 flywheel hp. The throttle linkage is suspect as today I tightened the shaft clamp under the steering clutch handles. It was loose and that picked up another 50 rpms. The linkage in front of the firewall had broke and been welded at one time, not at the correct angle, so it could be binding there. I don't want to mess with it in the field so this winter it will get looked at. They've had this tractor for many years, bought used and it's been a good one, I just havn't run it much on a good load.

I ran a souped up early 5 speed 98J that reportedly put out 245 hp on the dyno. The first year I was running it a countershaft bearing in the trans. let go. That was a "pull the cab and tranny in the field" fix. The second year the left final bearing and cup went sour but at least I got to work on that in the shop. Two years later the right side final had to be torn down for the same ailment. Pulled two 6/16 plows hooked up with it, mostly in 3rd. Moral of the story: leave rack setting fairly stock on these things. The 5B's had the power reduction from third on down that kept it at around 150 horse, and 4-5-6th it boosted up to something like 175-180? I think a 6C or D would be the "Cats" meow myself. This plow hardly ever gets used but this acreage didn't produce real good the past two years. It's been disk ripped with a JD 512 over 16" deep the last couple of years and still you could row barley down the ripper shank rows. Anyway, I'm down in second quite a bit and there is definitely some hard stuff that's getting broke up.

These are a little better pics than yesterday's. It sure was a beautiful day today.

Bleedinred! Thanks for those shots!
Good to see that quality grapes there!
Where I live near Cape Town, South Africa, I drive to and from work every day through the vineyards of the Stellenbosch district, and having been a wine farmer myself some 27 years ago, I KNOW quality when I see it! And those grapes are QUALITY! Hope you guys have a good pressing and a vintage that will be remembered in years to come. Salut!!!(or as we say in Afrikaans: "Gesondheid!" (here's to good health))

Hi guys thanks all for your comments. NIF the D9 is a 1959 tractor model 18a 325 HORSES. Rob has tried to pull the plough with a D8 but lack of power was not a succes .If the land was a bit lighter it would be easier draught. You guys have some really interesting cultivators and ploughs. 14inch plough depth in this part of the world would pull up a lott of rubbish soil max we go is 12 inches for root crops such as potatoes. We have come across a wee problem with satelite farming. Rowland seeded wheat well into the night using satelite steering in the dark . The next morning a very irate gamekeeper turned up with a huge bill for dead partridge or chukas that you call them,the stupid things just sat there and let the seeder plant them . The partridge are the same colour as the soil so they were not visible from the tractor cab, thats technology for you ? Interesting to see the vineyard bleedinred. the only thing i know about vinyards is what my Daughter tells me she worked for Robert Mondavi in Napa for 5 years and kept me supplied with OPUS1 for a while. Well i better go the pheasant hunting and fox hunting season has just started so lots to do cheers Atlas

Bleedinred- more great pics that you added, the light was just right in the pic of the D5.

I sure wouldnt mind having one of those 10 bottom JDs for our D6C but they are still selling for a high price and they dont sit on the dealers lot very long. Saw some late model ones advertised for over 20K this past year.

Yeah sounds like that D5 you had was cranked up way to much. When we were looking at buying another cat several experienced guys said the best cats were 98js and the 26xs with the 6 roller frames and that most D5s in the palouse were 180-200hp, much over that and you run into problems like you mentioned. They said the late model D5Bs were too heavy for the final drives. Anyway we found our D6C in better shape than the D5s we looked at and it had a 3306 engine so we bought it. A neighbor that had a D5 came and looked at our C in the field and figured it was one and a half times the tractor his D5 was.

Anyway put the plow in the ground with our C and you cant even feel a difference in 6th gear. With the old D6B at 140hp you would be clear down to 1st and 2nd a lot when dry plowing.

NIF andBLEEDINRED your cats look in realy pristine order, What nice workhorses nice paint job too. Just a few quickies the SPECIAL APPLICATION CATS ARE SPECIAL gear ratios for Agriculture i think? also the Variable HORSE POWER cats are built for Agriculture. Am i correct cheers Atlas

A thread that contains over 656 replies and has been viewed over 66,000 times with some of best Agriculture photo's I've ever seen!
Jeff

Atlas- yes the special application cats were the series of cats that had direct drive transmissions with gear ratios intended for ag use. Later models also had factory cabs, etc. for ag work. The variable horsepower was on the latest models so horsepower could be increased in higher gears.



A neighbors D5B.

Thys, I will pass your comments on to the winemaker. She will be impressed to hear the grapes were praised by one of knowledge from SA! Once in a while we enjoy a bottle from your country.

Atlas, thanks for the comments on the D5. I do not own it so I can't take credit for its condition other than I do take care of all the equipment here like it was my own. When I was teaching high school I wanted to farm on my own in a bad way but after retiring decided it would be too easy to loose my life savings and retirement in one bad year, so I enjoy running someone else's stuff.

NIF, looks like you moved your D6 fuel tank back a skosh so you could swivel the seat around a little further. I'm going to put an automotive type spindle on this one this winter. I think it will take a little of the steering shock out of running it on the plow. Tommorow it will be time to roll some bluegrass sod over and it will be a hard pull. Might have to set the plow to 16" cuts--look north for smoke!