A4T or Plainsman

[Anonymous-0]

Can anybody help me understand a drop box on this tractor. Is it operated by a shifter like a high-low or what is this. Heritage Iron had a good article[thanks Sherry]in this magizine. Any pictures of this area or location of the box would be nice to see.Thanks

 

[BMG1]

The A4T had 2 drop boxes. The main drop box transferred power to the front and rear axles. It attached to the back of the transmission and transferred power to the front and rear axles via drive shafts. The second drop box was for the PTO and piggybacked the main drop box. Both boxes were gear drive mechanical boxes. The main box was 2 speed actuated through a linkage by a lever on the dash and the tractor must be stopped to shift between high and low. The PTO drop box is single speed and was actuated through a linkage by a lever on the floor near the seat. The engine must be stopped when this lever engaged the drop box but there was a lever on the dash that controlled the PTO clutch at the rear of the tractor via cable and was to be used while the engine was running. Hope this is what you were looking for.

Brian

 

[MM diesel]

I assume the PTO dropbox is on the left side of the steering column? Our A4T's don't have pto's but I saw some at Welters Farm supply that had a lever on the left of the steering column. Any ideas how many A4T's had a pto? How many had a 3 point hitch? We have 2 A4T's and only 1 has a 3 point hitch.

 

[Moline_guy]

Nice A4t's, which two are yours? Looks like three different ones pictured. I like the yellow and white, they look good that way. All three of dads are barebacks, have seen a couple with pto's but never a 3pt, but in our area there are a lot of western or standard tractors.
These pictures were from the late 90's, they are all 585 diesels, unfortuntely they don't look this good anymore. We still use one of them for dozer work and the other two have engine problems.

 

[BMG1]

The lever on the LH side of the dash engages the PTO clutch at the rear of the tractor. There's a lever at the LH base of the seat in the floor board that engages the PTO drop case. They recommended disengaging the PTO drop case when not in use. Both of our A4T 1600 have 3pt and PTO. One is in the shop getting its 585 rebuilt (read: expensive!) the other is awaiting its 800 transplant in place of its 585.
I wrote an article for the Prairie Gold Rush magazine this past summer detailing all the A4T options and production data. I'm thinking of posting it to our website www.michiganmoline.com but haven't yet.
In short, 3pt was not offered on the 1400 and 23% of 1400's had 1000 rpm PTO. For the 1600 LP 44% had PTO, 43% had 3pt and 37% had both. For the 1600 diesel 40% had PTO, 38% had 3pt and 25% had both.
I would have thought most people into Molines as much as you would be receiving the PGR. You definitely need to pick up the Heritage Iron mag this month. Mike Verhulst (former A4T engineer) contributed to the A4T article and it turned out very good. I've got an article on the 50 series in the January PGR summarizing the options and production data for the G1350,G1050,G950 and their Oliver equivalents.

Brian

 

[Anonymous-0]

Thanks for all responces and photos, this is a good website. I like to learn all I can about tractors and what makes them tick.

 

[Anonymous-0]

We sold 2 of the turbocharged A4T-1400 tractors before the 1600 models were out. Both had 3 Point & PTO. One was repowered with A Cummins and later went to Illinois.

 

[MM diesel]

We used to have subscriptions to both the MM corresponder and the Prairie Gold Rush. They are both great magazines. For some reason, we let the subscriptions run out, and always seem to forget to renew.

 

[MM diesel]

The 3 pictures I posted are of our 2 tractors. The 3 point hitch is on the yellow tractor. The yellow tractor was repainted yellow around 1980. It has been in the same place in the shop since 1999. The red tractor has probably not run in 8 years or more. Other than bad brakes, I don't think else is too mechanically bad. They were real horses at one time. Now we have 2 other big yellow tractors, along with about 10 White tractors.

 

[Moline_guy]

After looking again, it looks like the propane tank is behind the diesel tank, did you use it for air? Noticed both were diesel engine so I thought the one with the propane tank was another yellow a4t. Looks like that challenger brand tractor is set up to pull, there are some tracked ones around here but none on wheels.

 

[MM diesel]

The lp tank provided extra fuel. The tractor probably had well over 200 hp when the lp was injected. My dad used the extra fuel when pulling a disk and encountered a tight spot in the field. I think he burned about 1 tank of propane overall. When injecting the lp, he would watch the temperture guage, but soon found that the tractor actually ran cooler. I think he just wanted to see how good he could make that old MM pull. The yellow tractor did quite a bit of disking until the mid 90's. The red tractor was used mostly for pulling a scraper. We also have a turbo setup for the 585 engines, but have not experimented with that yet. Too much real farming to be done.

 

[Jayberd]

I hate it when the real (making a profit) farming gets in the way of restorations! On a lighter note, we had to stop all productivity to put our "first big tractor" in the shop for a cab kit and paint job. It's a 4-180 bought for 18k brand new! Got to love that old heritage!

 

[Jason Ulerick]

I think the A4T is the neatest tractor I would love to have one to restore I look at them every time I go to a show that has an A4T or a 2655 Oliver thanks for the nice pictures

 

[brubacher]

Hey we have A4T1600 PLAINSMAN FOR SALE 23,1,30 tires pto 3ph 1030 hrs on motor 585 des good running horse all sheed metal is with tractor 15000,00 can del we are in ont can 15192751450 thanks