Mounted corn pickers

[Rich'sToys]

I knew of people in our area that had mounted pickers, but my Dad did not. He had a John Deere 200 when I was younger and later on had a IH 2-PR. Often he would either borrow or hire a mounted picker to open the fields for him.

 

[caterpillar guy]

Now why would you have to have wide rows for picking corn with a mounted picker. We cultivated 4 30 inch rows with an H and many did the same with an M. That being I would have thought you could get a picker for 30 inch rows that was mounted though I would not see why with mud every fall to get stuck in. We had trouble enough with a combine in the mud in the late 60's and 70's let alone a mounted picker on a tractor. I would think those side mounted Ford pickers would have been a problem with going down on that side bad in mud too. We never that I know of had a picker.Grandpa didn't raise more than about 10 acres and they always picked it by hand. then shovel it off. Dad bought a Gleaner E in 1963 traded an All Crop 66 for it and then 2 years later bought a 3 row cornhead for it. That was working in tall cotton then. By 1972 he bought a dryer and bin to hold the surplus corn in after we filled the overhead grain storage. Dad went to milking cows so the need for more corn. I bought a NI Uni with 4 row head in about 1980 and ran it till it burned right after washing it all up and putting on the sheller picking the first or second field of corn that year. Now we pick with a 9610 and 8 row head. Thought we were doing good with a 4 row head in the 80's most were still picking ear corn for cattle and what was left hired it shelled when done picking.

 

[Destroked 450]

Now why would you have to have wide rows for picking corn with a mounted picker. We cultivated 4 30 inch rows with an H and many did the same with an M. That being I would have thought you could get a picker for 30 inch rows that was mounted though I would not see why with mud every fall to get stuck in. We had trouble enough with a combine in the mud in the late 60's and 70's let alone a mounted picker on a tractor. I would think those side mounted Ford pickers would have been a problem with going down on that side bad in mud too. We never that I know of had a picker.Grandpa didn't raise more than about 10 acres and they always picked it by hand. then shovel it off. Dad bought a Gleaner E in 1963 traded an All Crop 66 for it and then 2 years later bought a 3 row cornhead for it. That was working in tall cotton then. By 1972 he bought a dryer and bin to hold the surplus corn in after we filled the overhead grain storage. Dad went to milking cows so the need for more corn. I bought a NI Uni with 4 row head in about 1980 and ran it till it burned right after washing it all up and putting on the sheller picking the first or second field of corn that year. Now we pick with a 9610 and 8 row head. Thought we were doing good with a 4 row head in the 80's most were still picking ear corn for cattle and what was left hired it shelled when done picking.

With a two row mounted picker you’re limited to the width of the tractor plus the inside half of the picking heads limit to how narrow the rows can be, also with the tractors rear tires spread out to mount the picker heads the overall with of the tractor could easily exceed the 90” width between 4 rows the tractor would be traveling through, 36” rows gave them 108” of width to fit through.
My brother had a similar issue running a 4 row 30” head on his 550 Massey combine, if he didn’t fold up the ladder it would knock down the corn in the row beside the left tire
As for the Ford side mount picker it adds ballast weight to the tractor to increase traction, normally the added weight on the tractor wasn’t what got it stuck in the mud, it was the loaded wagon behind it pushing mud in front of the tires creating a chock, with a pull type picker you had a lighter tractor pulling the picker and wagon adding two more tires pushing through the mud chocking forward movement
A modern definition would be which would get stuck faster, a tractor with a large tank of liquid on one side pulling a implement through mud or that same tractor pulling a tool bar with that same tank of liquid plus the implement though mud

 

[MMDan]

With a two row mounted picker you’re limited to the width of the tractor plus the inside half of the picking heads limit to how narrow the rows can be, also with the tractors rear tires spread out to mount the picker heads the overall with of the tractor could easily exceed the 90” width between 4 rows the tractor would be traveling through, 36” rows gave them 108” of width to fit through.
My brother had a similar issue running a 4 row 30” head on his 550 Massey combine, if he didn’t fold up the ladder it would knock down the corn in the row beside the left tire
As for the Ford side mount picker it adds ballast weight to the tractor to increase traction, normally the added weight on the tractor wasn’t what got it stuck in the mud, it was the loaded wagon behind it pushing mud in front of the tires creating a chock, with a pull type picker you had a lighter tractor pulling the picker and wagon adding two more tires pushing through the mud chocking forward movement
A modern definition would be which would get stuck faster, a tractor with a large tank of liquid on one side pulling a implement through mud or that same tractor pulling a tool bar with that same tank of liquid plus the implement though mud

One other issue with mud was the front tires. On the JD we would change the tricycle front wheels to a single front wheel which made a huge difference in plugging with mud. It was easy to do with the 630 as it just took 4 cap screws to change the front ends.

 

[NY 986]

With a two row mounted picker you’re limited to the width of the tractor plus the inside half of the picking heads limit to how narrow the rows can be, also with the tractors rear tires spread out to mount the picker heads the overall with of the tractor could easily exceed the 90” width between 4 rows the tractor would be traveling through, 36” rows gave them 108” of width to fit through.
My brother had a similar issue running a 4 row 30” head on his 550 Massey combine, if he didn’t fold up the ladder it would knock down the corn in the row beside the left tire
As for the Ford side mount picker it adds ballast weight to the tractor to increase traction, normally the added weight on the tractor wasn’t what got it stuck in the mud, it was the loaded wagon behind it pushing mud in front of the tires creating a chock, with a pull type picker you had a lighter tractor pulling the picker and wagon adding two more tires pushing through the mud chocking forward movement
A modern definition would be which would get stuck faster, a tractor with a large tank of liquid on one side pulling a implement through mud or that same tractor pulling a tool bar with that same tank of liquid plus the implement though mud

One thing I have noticed over the last 35 plus years of riding around my part of the state is there were far more Ford 601 pickers sold here than originally thought. Of course they are not a fully integral picker like the IH and JD pickers. Still NI 10 probably sold the most during the pre combine days (prior to 1970). I recall a dealer bringing used NI pickers from the auctions out in Ohio back to NY to sell.

 

[steve wi]

I found this mounted picker thread interesting. I honestly don’t know that I’ve ever seen a mounted picker in our area of Ny. There were many 1 and 2 row pickers though. Like you stated it always seemed muddy when picking and probably why mounted pickers weren’t popular. Pickers here were still around here in the 80’s. Most were on smaller beef and pig farms where they still ground their own feed.

I had less trouble with my mounted picker than with a pull type.On my 961 Ford there was more weight on the rear wheels and it tended to take weight off the front end,it would handle mud much better.

 

[Destroked 450]

One thing I have noticed over the last 35 plus years of riding around my part of the state is there were far more Ford 601 pickers sold here than originally thought. Of course they are not a fully integral picker like the IH and JD pickers. Still NI 10 probably sold the most during the pre combine days (prior to 1970). I recall a dealer bringing used NI pickers from the auctions out in Ohio back to NY to sell.

Could you explain the not fully integral part

 

[NY 986]

Could you explain the not fully integral part

The 601 appears to be three point hitch mounted versus tractor frame mounted unless I am getting the wrong idea from pictures.

 

[aged1440]

my dad had an IH 234 mounted on a 706D . we had to take off the fast hitch and widen out the rear wheels. then we put on the front mounting bracket and the rear axle brackets . we left the subframe attached to the husking unit. we then backed the tractor over the subframe and hooked up the lift arms to the fast hitch lifting arms. when we raised the arms the front bracket snapped in to place and the rear mounts came up and were locked in place on the axle mounts by 2 levers. then we turned around and lowered the fast hitch arms and drove into the gathering unit . we locked down the gathering unit with 2 levers lifted the gathering unit with the fast hitch arms hooked up the two drive shafts and put up the stands .turned on the pto and a snap coupler engaged the drive on the picker. you could change from the husking unit to the shelling unit in under 10 minutes . and have the whole thing off in under 15 minutes. the tractor did all the heavy lifting

My dad had a 234 on a 706 gas with the allen cab. very easy to mount/dismount. had the husking bed and the HD sheller with the roller mill.

 

[Destroked 450]

The 601 appears to be three point hitch mounted versus tractor frame mounted unless I am getting the wrong idea from pictures.

There are 2 brackets that bolt to the rear axle normally replacing the stabilizer bar brackets, the picker pins to those 2 brackets and uses a standard top link to level the cross frame
You disconnect the lift arms and connect a linkage to the right side lift link to raise and lower the head, a short shaft supported by a bearing has a u-joint and coupler that connects the tractors pto to the belt drive pulley, one size D belt drives the entire machine
The trick is to line up and connect the pto drive while your pinning the picker to the brackets
My 3 cylinder 4000 has extend o link lift arms, it’s best to just remove them, smaller tractors like 801’s, 4 cylinder 4000 and 3000 have smaller shorter lift arm that will fit on storage pins on the picker frame

They’re not rigid mount like two row units but not really 3 point hitch either

 

[billonthefarm]

234 IH wins the prize for easiest to mount dismount. Literally minutes to do it once the subframe was attached and that was pretty esay.

 

[Cheesehead Fred]

We had a 234 IH on a 656, complete with a sheller. We didn't have much problem with mud, just a couple of years we waited for it to dry up or freeze up and then went back to picking in a hurry before it was snowed in. Usually made a couple of temporary cribs out of snow fence so we had some ear corn to grind for cattle feed.