Covid induced Ferguson TE20

[MercuryMac]

Sorry about that Bill, I'll try harder next time.

 

[MercuryMac]

The little Ferguson came to life again this summer to go gardening. I hooked up my potato hiller and roared through the potato patch. The machine is a little rough on the plants if I get off-centre, straddling the row. Even going in first gear, it sure beats using the hoe.

 

[dutch]

works like a charm! I may have to steal the idea some day... Do the wheels help for anything?

 

[MercuryMac]

I stole the idea from a neighbour who put a little video on Facebook, so I guess it's alright if you steal it from me.
The wheels are depth guides, but they are set too high if I've rotovated the ground first. When the ground is soft, the wheels dig in too deep and so the hiller scrapes up too much dirt.
If you make the cross-piece that the lift arms hook to, about four inches shorter than other three-point-hitch implements, then the hiller will follow you better. Mine swings the opposite way when I try to correct when I drift off centre with the tractor. If I drift off to the right, and quickly veer left, the hiller momentarily veers further right, taking out a few potato plants. --- And anybody looking over the fence at the whole operation, will wet their pants with laughter. You don't want that.

 

[MercuryMac]

I was telling you that the hiller was a little rough on the potato plants because one cross piece is to low. [See the first picture, the black cross piece is bending the plants over]. Well, today I bored two holes in the vertical mast and lowered the back section five inches, [it was in the orange circled holes and I made the lime green circled ones, in the second picture]. The third picture tells the tale, the machine is bolted back together and the guide wheels are lowered a wee bit. The green arrow shows where I gained 5 inches.

 

[dutch]

that should help...

 

[smallfoot]

Hoho, hotroddin a tater hiller![cl

 

[Old Iron]

At least ya have a row ta hoe

 

[MercuryMac]

OI, I can't even whine that I have a tough row to hoe.
Mostly I planted those rows so I could use my new hiller, which some people would look at with a skinty eye. Until I tell them I also really like eating potatoes.

 

[MercuryMac]

Here I go, hotrodding a potato hiller, again.
The guy a took the hiller concept from gave me another dream to whip into shape. I wanted to make a potato planter, and he said, " just drop the seed potatoes on the ground and run the hiller over them right away." So I built a gismo on the hiller to plant my potatoes, ---- I think.
The first picture is just the hiller and then the added planter [taken from the tractor seat]. The last picture is from the side.

 

[Old Iron]

[P[P[P

 

[Couper]

[P[P

 

[smallfoot]

Should be go to go next year!