CliffordK
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2013
- Messages
- 1,732
- Location
- Eugene, Oregon
- Tractor
- Toro D200, Ford 1715, International 884,
I finally got my Freeman 200W home Saturday morning. I've seen some very nice restorations here. But, my main goal is just to get the machine running, functional, and safe. Perhaps I'll slap on some paint when convenient.
The thing was supposed to have baled hay 2 years ago. But, suffered from a broken axle. And, being a heavy awkward beast, I had to get it running to drive it home (although, perhaps a towbar would have been a good idea, but it still would not have been easy to pull.
I contacted Freeman. The broken axle was made out of Stressproof Steel. It can be welded, but doing so weakens the axle. And, apparently they no longer make the part. The break, of course, was in the middle of the splines, so no matter what I did, I would end up doing half of the work of making a new axle. I tried welding it, but got it slightly crooked. Anyway, even if it was welded, half the work would have been in shaping the end and cutting new splines. What I should have done was cut off about 2 feet, buy a new piece, and weld it in the middle, and cut new splines on one end. Anyway, I went ahead and cut a new axle in my home shop. what an experience.
Actually, it came out a little tight, so I had to touch up the corners a bit, and it was still a bit of a pain to get put back together.
I think I had a bad coil on the engine, and some cleaning, new switch for the starter, and a couple of other things, but I did get the rear (drive) engine to fire up.
I think I have the front (baling) engine ready to fire now too, but I'm having some issues with the fuel priming as the way it is sitting, gravity flow isn't enough, and I don't want to top off the fuel tank just yet.
I can tell the previous owner had "issues" with the steering, and it was loose enough that one could almost turn the steering wheel 180 degrees before the steering would respond. It meant that even a slight angle in the road could catch one off guard. I think I've tracked the problem down to a bad rubber flex disk. However, I think one may have to remove the engine to get to it. Anyway, that will be a project to work on soon.
Wire to twine?
I Just don't want to bale with wire.
I thought the idea of all new knotters and etc would make the baler almost like new. That is until I got the price from Freeman. $5206.38 for the changeover parts. Thinking about it, it may still be worth it, but I decided to look for a parts baler instead.
I managed to find a good Freeman 200T (pull behind) parts baler across the state.
So, now I need to clean up the knotters on the 200T, and get them moved over to the self propelled model.
More notes to follow.
The thing was supposed to have baled hay 2 years ago. But, suffered from a broken axle. And, being a heavy awkward beast, I had to get it running to drive it home (although, perhaps a towbar would have been a good idea, but it still would not have been easy to pull.
I contacted Freeman. The broken axle was made out of Stressproof Steel. It can be welded, but doing so weakens the axle. And, apparently they no longer make the part. The break, of course, was in the middle of the splines, so no matter what I did, I would end up doing half of the work of making a new axle. I tried welding it, but got it slightly crooked. Anyway, even if it was welded, half the work would have been in shaping the end and cutting new splines. What I should have done was cut off about 2 feet, buy a new piece, and weld it in the middle, and cut new splines on one end. Anyway, I went ahead and cut a new axle in my home shop. what an experience.
Actually, it came out a little tight, so I had to touch up the corners a bit, and it was still a bit of a pain to get put back together.
I think I had a bad coil on the engine, and some cleaning, new switch for the starter, and a couple of other things, but I did get the rear (drive) engine to fire up.
I think I have the front (baling) engine ready to fire now too, but I'm having some issues with the fuel priming as the way it is sitting, gravity flow isn't enough, and I don't want to top off the fuel tank just yet.
I can tell the previous owner had "issues" with the steering, and it was loose enough that one could almost turn the steering wheel 180 degrees before the steering would respond. It meant that even a slight angle in the road could catch one off guard. I think I've tracked the problem down to a bad rubber flex disk. However, I think one may have to remove the engine to get to it. Anyway, that will be a project to work on soon.
Wire to twine?
I Just don't want to bale with wire.
I thought the idea of all new knotters and etc would make the baler almost like new. That is until I got the price from Freeman. $5206.38 for the changeover parts. Thinking about it, it may still be worth it, but I decided to look for a parts baler instead.
I managed to find a good Freeman 200T (pull behind) parts baler across the state.
So, now I need to clean up the knotters on the 200T, and get them moved over to the self propelled model.
More notes to follow.
