IH 544 Hydro Wheel Spacing or other suggestions

[newtron]

Hello Forum Guru's,

Let me begin with what I do. I'm actually a horse drawn farmer, and we grow allot of garlic. We dont own a tractor yet, and I have much to learn so thus reaching out to the forum. We just bought a mechanical water wheel transplanter. We need a tractor that runs at under 1mph for transplanting, so thus the interest in IH Hydro tractors.

I have found a IH 544 Hydro gasser. It has new tires and an IH2000 Loader. They ask 8.5k. I believe it is the utility tractor with the front axel swept back a bit under the engine, and the rear wheel appears to be fixed, not on some sort of sliding axel like other farmalls I have seen.

So the most important question is can i get this tractor to be 60" on center for the wheel width, or very close to that? We need that for our planting spacing to go back and forth from horse to tractor. I cant fully confirm this is possible via google, hoping someone out there has a manual or something.

The most important thing our farm needs is a tractor that goes slow enough to transplant, and can pick up the transplanter (800lbs). A huge bonus would be a loader to turn compost and unload heavy freight, run a brush hog for mowing around headlands. Open to suggestions of tractors to check out. Unfortunately nothing is in my neck of the woods and I will have to travel so I need to make sure I'm not just burning gas and wasting my time and go into looking at a tractor knowing that is can work for our situation. Thank

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

Utility tractor tread widths can be adjusted by reconfiguring the rims and wheel centers, ASSUMING the rear wheels are stock. Sometimes the rear wheels have been replaced by old combine wheels because they can be bought cheap and tend to have good tires on them. The combine wheels are not adjustable.

If the tractor has its adjustable wheels on the back, it can be set to 60" with the wheel center dished in, the rims flipped so the lugs are closer to the tractor, and bolted to the outside of the wheel center. This is according to my 504 owner's manual, which should be similar.

 

[K-Mo]

Here is the wheel spacing for a 504 which is probably similar if you have the reversible center dish.

Farm Manuals Fast is an excellent source to download quality manuals at a reasonable price.
Farm Manuals Fast

 

[caterpillar guy]

I think that is a lot high for a tractor of that size even with a loader. and as a loader tractor it will have a lot of limitations to it. The swept back front axles will be great for maneuvering yet be terribly heavy on the front axle loading heavy loads. IT is not going to lift 2000 LBS pallets off trucks and will be decent on your trans planter. I think you are really looking at 2 tractors. One for the trans planter and another for a loader tractor. I would think a 544 should be closer to the 3500 range even with a loader on it They are not that much of a tractor in the 40-50 HP range with a gas engine. Prices will vary with location. After all that tractor is in the 50 year old range. IT will have a little bitty pump for a loader tractor with a 6 GPM pump for hydraulics. Unless you use a PTO driven pump of more volume you will be able to eat breakfast while it goes up. We have a 574 with 12 GPM and 3 are prioritized for steering and brakes and trans lubrication leaving only 9 for the loader and it is slow like I describe. 20 GPM would be a minimum I would want to run a loader. There are better tractors for loader work and will lift the 2000 LBS pallets you will probably be getting to unload. I would look at skip loaders with a lot of rear weight they are basically a Tractor with a backhoe type loader on it with out the hoe on the rear. The reason for a lot of weight on the back like close to a half ton or so.

 

[newtron]

I've attached a side view photo. I think I follow what your suggesting, but I could via some unbolting and reconfiguring the rims get that tractor down to 60" centers

I also agree I need a real loader tractor someday, but the budget is tight on a veggie farm unfortunately. Only other thoughts I have are to finance a newer machine that can lift allot of weight and still be narrow. Thanks everyone