Thought I'd upload a couple of shots of 2 of the fleet still hard at it. Blue one had a replacement engine this winter courtesy of a late blue/orange super major, red one was a new addition to the fleet this spring and has proved to be a good all round machine needing a good service and I swapped out the injector pump due to a stuck plunger having been stood for many years. Both balers were also trouble free although they only racked up about 3500 bales between them it was enough to blow the cobwebs out.
Every year I threaten to take the cab off since dismounting to clear a blockage in the sledge can be a real pain, Landrover makes a useful support vehicle since this particular set of fields was around 20 miles from home so it pays to be well prepared when running this older tackle
Access to this field was pretty tight under some low trees so we dug out a couple of trailers from retirement, these were made from 1920's thorneycroft model A (I think) ex Great Western Railways. The ackerman steering requires an amount of practice especially with close to 90years worth of "play" in the joints but they still do the job! The one in the picture acquired a replacement axle from a Bedford sometime in the 60's, I didn't get a shot of the other one behind anything Fordson I'm afraid.
Nice to see the old girls out working. I can smell the hay from here. When I was a youngster, we use to watch Marlin Perkins and his side kick Jim out on safari's with Land Rovers in some very remote places of the world. The Show was Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. It was fun to watch them going fast while filming animals that were either along side of them, running away from them, or sometimes chasing them. LOL... I thought then that the Rovers must have been the toughest, and most reliable vehicles in the world. Dandy Dave!
For a couple of years in the 1960's I drove New majors full time on a farm. I loved Haytime.
After a the winter ploughing and harvesting roots my tractor (the one I drove!) was filthy.
When we cut the hay I washed it down with buckets of water, and cleaned the muddy soil off the wheels with a spade.
Running over the hayfield cleaned up the tyres until they shone like new. I then polished the bonnet and mudguards (fenders) .
I kept it clean until the autumn. - Happy days!
Thanks for the comments glad the pictures are interesting. I have 2 New Holland 268 super hayliner balers which pull cooks flat 8 sledges. This year a lot of the hay was pretty dusty so everything had a good coating of dust. If I get a chance I'll upload a picture I took where we have to run the machine through part of a stream to get from field to field, this cleans the wheels off nicely!
Roadless63 wrote:
Every year I threaten to take the cab off since dismounting to clear a blockage in the sledge can be a real pain, Landrover makes a useful support vehicle since this particular set of fields was around 20 miles from home so it pays to be well prepared when running this older tackle
I'm sure you're torn about that roof. When you remove it, you'll be working under the sun.But when you put it back on, it will be a challenge getting in and out of that cab!
I can smell the hay from here. 
When I was a youngster, we use to watch Marlin Perkins and his side kick Jim out on safari's with Land Rovers in some very remote places of the world. The Show was Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. It was fun to watch them going fast while filming animals that were either along side of them, running away from them, or sometimes chasing them. 
LOL... I thought then that the Rovers must have been the toughest, and most reliable vehicles in the world.