Leaderboard

Mergers and acquisitions built the Massey brand The namesakes of the future Massey-Harris company would operate farm equipment and harvester manufacturing businesses independently for much of the later part of the 19th century before their paths merged. Daniel Massey started out in business during the 1840s, while Alanson Harris followed about 10 years later. Both men were in the same industry, manufacturing their own designs of reapers and implements. When one brought out an improved model the competitor would then matched or exceed it shortly thereafter. In 1891 the two companies came together in a merger of the Massey Manufacturing company of Toronto and the A. Harris, Son, & Co. of Brantford, Ontario—two of Canada’s brightest agricultural companies joining forces for what would be a bountiful future as the Massey-Harris Company. As is the case with so many agricultural manufacturing companies of the 1800s and early twentieth century, the order of the day was acquisition. “Acquire, acquire, acquire,” was the secret to adding capacity, outlets, and variety to their line. The Massey-Harris Company added company after company during this time. By adding the Deyo-Macey company of Binghamton, New York, to its line, Massy Harris entered a new arena with gas engine manufacturing capacity. The company entered the U.S. market in 1910 by taking a controlling interest in the Johnson Harvester Company, but it would be more than 10 years before it would acquire an additional large U.S.-based company. Massey Harris wanted to get into the growing tractor market. The first tractor to carry the Massey-Harris name was made by the Parrott Tractor Company of Chicago (see Tractor Trivia and other interesting stuff 1/21/2024). The model was known as the No. 1 or No. 2 there and was based off the Parrett 12-25. This wasn’t quite the answer Massey-Harris was looking for, but its destiny with tractors was soon to be realized. In 1927 the company agreed to sell Wallis Tractors in Canada through the Massey-Harris dealer network. One year later, Massey-Harris bought J.I. Case Plow Works, the maker of the Wallis Tractor, and continued to build Wallis Tractors, including the 20-30 and in 1929 the smaller 12-20. (We will learn a lot more about the Wallis Tractor Company tomorrow). Massey-Harris then rebranded the Wallis with the name of the Massey-Harris Company of Racine. It finally had a viable tractor line under its ownership, control, and design. The following decades were fruitful times for the Massey-Harris Company. During World War II, Massey-Harris produced and fulfilled war department orders for a variety of vehicles and needs to support the war effort. Meanwhile, a man across the Atlantic Ocean was beginning to make some waves and eventually would join with the Massey-Harris Company. His name was Harry Ferguson from Northern Ireland, he was about to revolutionize the tractor industry. Ferguson met Henry Ford when he came stateside to demonstrate his revolutionary 3-point hitch system. Ferguson and Ford came up with handshake agreement, Ford would manufacture the 9N model incorporating the Furgeson System and Ferguson would distribute and sell them in Europe. The arrangement worked until just after World War Two. Formal negotiations were pursued but in the end Harry Ferguson and Henry Ford went their own ways. Both Massey-Harris and Ferguson needed help to remain competitive so in 1953 they began negotiations and Massey-Harris made an offer to acquire Ferguson’s company, Harry Ferguson accepted. In the five years after the merger the company was offering Ferguson branded tractors, Massey-Harris tractors, and Massey-Ferguson branded tractors under three different dealer networks. This led to confusion for customers and the dealer network alike. In 1958, the name change to Massey-Ferguson was finalized. Soon the company was again in acquisition mode, and through the 1970s it bought such companies as Perkins, a leader in diesel engine design, Italian tractor company Landini and numerous other worldwide brands. The Massey-Ferguson footprint was truly multinational, and its reach was immense. It became the largest agricultural machinery manufacturer in the world. AGCO Corporation came into the picture in the mid-1990s. Massey-Ferguson had a 20% market share of worldwide agricultural machinery sales, but nearly 90% of its sales were derived from non-domestic locations. AGCO had a domestic base but no international manufacturing or dealer network. AGCO acquired Massey-Ferguson in 1994 for cash and stock. What followed was a resurgence in the brand and an even further expansion in market share, estimated currently to hover near 40% of farm machinery sold worldwide today—a wonderful testament to the power of a strong and reputable brand name

I mentioned in another thread that as a young man I worked with a Chinese carpenter that had unusual to me at the time , tools and methods. Prominent were some unusual wood rasps he used that were similar to the expensive Nicholson’s # 49 and 50 pattern makers rasps. They were not as smooth but cut extremely well leaving a good surface and having a long pointed end which is invaluable in many circumstances. They are also thin and flex which is very useful. He had family in Hong Kong and when visiting brought me back a couple. He stated at the time that they were used by the ivory craftsman to produce intricate carvings. I had these now for around forty years and they still as good as the first day. Around a year ago I started seeing similar ones on eBay but gold colored, and selling incredibly cheap as expected, available in a few different lengths already with handles. Finally curiosity got the best of me and since I found them on Amazon already here, I sprung for two. Not quite the same shape as old ones , thicker and not flexible but still surprisingly good. They also come with a sheath to protect them Time will tell as far as tooth durability but so far I am pleased with them. Definitely superior to most out there unless you want to spend over 100.00 on a Corradi or an Auriou. These merely cost 17.00 for the two. 40 year old Ivory carvers rasps. Coarse and fine Extremely useful long skinny taper New models Identical in profile and cut

Big Thanks To, @Vinylguy for helping me out with this custom decal. Thank You, Sir! My part doesn’t do this justice…lol. I need to do this more often.

Finished painting weights this morning and then pulled the engine back out of the frame. When I pulled the tins off I discovered an issue with the starter. The way it was mounted it would have never engaged with the fly wheel as it was too close. To remedy this I made a .215" thick shim to put behind the mounting bracket. With this installed I ran the starter gear out by hand and turned the engine over with the gears engaged. The teeth look to mesh together well so I believe this should solve the issue. Next I pulled the rod & piston assembly out so that I could measure the crank pin. The pin measures out within specs so there will be no need to have it turned. Finished up the day by scuffing the cylinder in preparation for a new set of rings.

For those of us old enough to remember when car magazines were the only place to see photos of upcoming models and / or parts......these were spotted recently at the K & B proving grounds :

However, if you plan to have a garden you should leave the chickens on that spot for several weeks. They will kill the grubs, insects and weeds as well as fertilizing the ground for you.

This is one reason I buy all my belts at TSC. Keep the one that fits and return all the belts that don't fit.

What a well built machine. Massey was the featured tractor at the steam show last year. Wish I could have read this article before the show, clears up some questions. These old girls are worth something.

Happy belated birthday @rmaynard Bob ! You share a birthday with my dad and he turned 81 . Last year he spent his birthday in the hospital doing chemo fighting stage 4 cancer and yesterday he spent it at home and is a cancer survivor .

I spent the day sandblasting and painting wheels for the new 854 I picked up a few weeks back. Couldn't take the 23x8 50x12 tires that came on it so I bought a new set of Carlisle Tru power 6-12 tires for it. Hopefully it looks good with new shoes

Blizzard conditions for us NC folks... Schools and all government offices closed. No milk or bread or toilet paper at the grocery store. Brine sprayed on everything...

13.6-38s? Yes those are pricey, I priced a pair of 14.9-38s for my M a couple years ago, tires and tubes were right around 1300 and that was my cost through the tire shop I work at. I found a guy in the Tulsa OK area that has brand new 12.4-28s for the Allis for $325 each, not sure how he’s able to get them that cheap but worth the 4 hr road trip to pick up a pair. Messed with the old tractor some more yesterday, discovered a broken impulse spring, swapped mags for another I had on the shelf and we have spark again, didn’t have any gas at the farm so didn’t get to make her run, maybe tonight after work

Well I did indeed curse myself and we had a snowfall warning yesterday, last night and this morning. You can see the horrific amount of snow that fell, I hope my machines are up for it. Actual good thing is that so far as I know no salt was put on the roads around here. You can see the orange posts in my side yard, those are markers for the snowmobile trail. A fairly major trail runs through here. However, this year it never opened for the first time in the 32 years I have lived here.

I remember those magazines. Car & Driver, Popular Mechanics, etc. It was an exciting time. Looking forward to following the K & B info as well.

A week of 50F temps and an inch of rain yesterday = a roll down the frost lumps day. Put the "new" $175 310-8 to work for the first time. He did good, but could use a couple new sneakers and some weight on his rear. I'm a hydro guy, but the gear drive was OK for this job. It ran for 2 hours non-stop in H2nd. I only had to push the clutch one time to back it in the shed.

Happy belated Birthday

I hauled a load of mixed junk to the scrapper. $ / lb prices iron 0.08 aluminum 0.50 brass 2.00 copper 3.00 batteries 0.15 elec. motors 0.20 420 lbs netted me $95.00....almost enough to fill the 36 gallon tank in the F-150. I passed two road kill deer on the way. The one smelled OK, so I brought him home for bald eagle food. Put him along the field with a trail cam.

I am not the one with the bad tach, just verifying what a good signal looks like for the OP.

Happy Belated Birthday!

Perhaps you were the one upside down...?

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes. I did have a great day. You guys are the best!

I could fix the mess that yellow tractor made.

Good luck on the tires.... Having new sneakers on the M. Had to have the tire Dr. make a house call...pump the beet juice out of the old ones and back into the new. Found that one rim was in bad shape so a new one of those is coming, Tubes tires and rim +/- $1800 plus house call and labor.....

Onan 20 looks inside likes it's a 500 hour engine. No scoring on the cylinders. Some honing, rings and valve work is all that's needed. Nice to see.

i would definitely like to have a lot more. We have 8 layers and they really cover a lot of ground. I never had chickens before so didn’t wanna dive in tooooo crazy. We also raise some meat birds in a chicken tractor and I am going to try to have them cover most of the yard this summer. It was amazing to see the dark green trail of grass behind them. We have about 2 acres of lawn, the garden, and some old apple and maple trees I’m trying to bring back. This is our second year here, so I’m curious if I’ll notice any improvement from all the work last summer.

Picked up this 1946 WC last weekend from a friend of mine, finally got it to the farm and off the trailer into the shop this evening. He had it running a week ago, but today when I went to start it it seems we have lost spark, probably tinker with that some tomorrow and see if I can get it running, then will have to bite the bullet and buy at least one tire for the rear, and maybe see a little mowing duty this summer while I do some needed repairs on the Farmall C

Waste not, want not. Someone’s vehicle will be making a body shop visit.

I just went out and checked using my 520HC This is between the grey wire on the tachometer and ground. I get 16 Volts AC at idle and around 34 Volts AC at full throttle.

Thought right! Looks AWESOME!!!

Seems to be a new Hobby - Mud Mowing...😎 I have much more troubles with mole‘s and Mice’s. thinking ’bout several times about a grass roller. But moles here be under strictly protection , you not allowed to harm them.. Thinking about to reduce the mole troubles - maybe sell moles... 😎

Happy Birthday 🥳🎂

Are we looking at hydro pedals?

Happy Birthday Bob

very, very good chance you’re correct!

To answer both quotes above… I don’t want to get my Wheel Horses dirty when I still have a commoner Cub Cadet to wear out. And no, the Work Horse was not the least bit happy about getting mud on her tires and that made two of us !

your Workhorse must not have been happy getting it dirty --- looks like you tried to keep it on higher dry ground

Now thar's a real mud mower.

Stuck again…

Work Horse GT-1600 got ‘er out… Back on high ground…

So today I did my annual first mow of the year… and of course I did my annual “Get stuck in the mud-lowest part of the yard that stays wet through late spring”. So it’s Wheel Horse to the rescue to pull the Cub out. Looks good- eh ? First pic is obviously what it is… Other pics trying to show that the yard actually looks better…

Always nice to vent the spleen in this forum page! Let's see, never lend a 2 stroke to the neighbor without providing your own extra fuel - a great friend but starting to forget himself at 76 years of age. Used my lovely old Homelite chainsaw and returned it full. I should have known its smooth running suggested fresh 4 stroke fuel. That's now in the landfill and a nice little Stihl on order so the trees will have to wait. What about the 520H sitting in the garage - a true mess. It donated its lovely 48" deck (my reason for purchase) which I restored and run on the 516H. Time for that lovely Eaton to play. I've got two frozen exhaust studs to remove. Drilled the first and re-tapped. Came out OK. Welded on the second several times. No soap. Neighbor mechanic lent his Snap-On extractors and they're super heavy duty but again, and with heat and a 3/8 socket wrench, no soap, doc. Don't want to snap those beauties. Drilled it. Uh oh, just slightly off center so I now have a nicely tapped hole just barely interfering with the head stud. It's OK, but infuriating. Grimy engine flywheel came off but required a good sledge whack. clutch material fell int pieces. All looks OK as the engine hits the bench today for disassembly and inspection. 500 hours on the meter but the wiring is so bunged up, can't trust it. She's a clear oil burner. So. With rings and gaskets, she'll at least run by month's end. Undecided on whether it should be fully restored or just refreshed with lots of bushings. With the great 2024 uncertainty, maybe I'll be prematurely retired and will have all the time in the world to do the deed OR maybe just punt and put those 4.56 gears in the old Ranger. Happy Sunday!

I bought this Woodmaxx 8" hydraulic infeed chipper several years ago and while a little expensive and really only gets used a few days per year it sure cleans up a lot of brush, limbs and small trees in a hurry. Makes the 30HP diesel tractor work hard, only time I ever see it blow some black smoke.

Back at it again this weekend. Stacked my dumb bell weights on the mid mount weight bar to see how many I could fit. @ebinmaine might recognize these dumb bell weights. Any way, I can only fit 4 in between the frame rails due to a clearance issue when I slide the front weight bar all the way in. I can how ever fit 10 on each side on the out side of the frame. Grand total of 168lbs. Made a cover plate for the opening on the block for the fuel pump. Then it was time to make some paint fly. No, I'm not prepping sheet metal for a flawless paint job. Just some fizz bomb paint squirted on the pieces that I had to fab. Some silver squirted on the wheelie bars. Why silver? Just wanted to show off the fab work on them. Also added a center brace to stiffen the wheelie bars up. One coat of self etching primer and two coats of flat black on the front weights. Dumb bell weights received the same treatment, got 18 of them painted today. 6 more to paint tomorrow. OK.... I did spray some sheet metal too. The fender pan did get a top notch paint job to protect the add on pieces and the spots where the welds burned the paint off. Yep a little red oxide primer to help keep the rust at bay. Blends right in with the faded red & rust finish.

Glad to have that cleared up. I was thinking it was for "Men in Black” mowing the ceiling of the MidTown Tunnel on a Wheel Horse

I thought I recognised that model. It was only made for a very short time, and was primarily made for export to the Australia / New Zealand market🤪😂