I one in pretty good shape local. It's made from Massy 135 tractor with litte Perk engine in it. I will have to fix a pic if I can find it
Not sure what an iron mule is but an MF135 with a 3 cylinder Perkins is one of the most desirable tractors on the planet.
I bought it. Has the front end removed, a blade on it, has a bracket with swivel mounted on the back and another rear end making it 4x4 with a bunk and clam. Looks simpler than Deere, looks like lots parts for it.
1978 Iron Mule 5000 Forwarder - Item# 124526 1978 Iron Mule 5000 Forwarder located for sale in Manton, MI www.lumbermenonline.com That isn't the one but it has the Perk instead of the Ford.
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I see after I bought this I get every add within 500 miles of me with one,, ha This has the improved grapple i wanted. If I had some extra juice sitting around would buy 2, fix both and sell one. Right now I have some use for it as the help is getting too elderly to wrestle big wood blocks.
My old neighbor bought something similar a few years back, old model with a screaming 3-53. Don't follow these things, don't know what brand/model Whole reason for this model ? You don't climb up to a seat, you step in and drive it standing up. Helps us old timers having to chase chokers all the time he says.
** Industrial built similar machines back in the 60's and early 70's. The MF203 Forwarder and the MF2200 Treever. Not sure if they continued them on newer tractor platforms.They were very similar and used the Perkins 3-152 engine.
I need to see what eng is in it. I never owed a Massy so feel free to enlighten me. I want to pull the inj pump and check it. Anyone with a shot of eng manual I would be interested.
If it's 3 cylinder it's a Perkins. They came in gas (AG3-152) and diesel versions (AD3-152), the diesel being the most popular. HP and torque are very similar between the gas and diesel versions. I read somewhere the AD3-152 was the most popular engine ever put in a tractor. Not hard to believe considering there were at least 340,000 135's built and the engine was in many other models as well. Arguably the best small diesel ever built. An MF150 set the Nebraska fuel economy record for many years. An MF135 with the same power train was a very close 2nd best.
Good to know. I looked and a lot of parts for it and priced right. We were looking at being good on fuel for working at idle in the woods lot. I am going to work on it some today. Going to pull some shields and the belly pan and steam it. It has good rubber. Any welding wasn't horrible. Going to clean it up and run it thru the paint booth.
I saw one with some rear bunk extensions, might add a short version of that. Hoses look good and has a new/modified clam and 360 rotation. Clam has bypass and will grab small about like a baseball bat.
We will picture it later today. I might service the pump. We did one a while back on a trouble shoot. If nothing wrong right back together and then it's known.
cool unit
Yabutt....if you pull back on the wheel....nothing happens....
Here, we would call that a porter. One time everyone and his dog had an old skidder, and some had porters. There is an old one just up the road from where I live. Most of them had detroits.
I will get a picture. Had 2 women scrape grease for most of the day, took the shields and the pans off. Used a shovel to scrape them off and not sure how long it had been. It took about hr and a half or so to wash it up pretty respectable. Most of the active oil leaks are simple loose hose clamps. I might change the oil as it has 15/40 and I am a 5/40 fan, worth the few extra bucks juice to start out with new juice. Its like giving batteries and starter a little boost.
I figured a lot had Detroits. I paid a little extra here for a couple things I wanted and econo is one of them and I like this dainty 4 stroke engine. I want to fix a leak on the pump. I do not have a manual yet. I havnt looked for timing marks but could use instructions. Let me look for ser nos etc. I am at work yet, when I go in will d a current picture so stay tuned for news at 10
We poked around it with putty knives and scooped it up then I washed it. I didn't do it paint ready but so it can be worked on and can tighten a hose clamp without swimming in grease. The paint always looks so nasty on this type of stuff it's kind of hard to tell the good from the bad.
I found a couple 3 cracks and only 1 important bolt loose. Got to make a couple covers for weather. I have a couple minor linkage holes to fix.
That's pretty sweet, sberry. very light and suited for smaller work like home tree farming.
Is it 4 wheel drive? Interesting machine, I'm a Massey fan.
I think it's a factory ** either a Treever or a Forwarder like I posted.
It's 4x4 and it's Massey. The brakes don't work and doesn't look like anyone worked on them. Looks like a 60's car master on them and the hose/line is rusted in half and master has seen better days. Last loader I worked brakes on didn't even have to open the wheels. Was all external. Wonder how these fare after not being used?
Clutch adjustment is near the top, seems to work. I wonder what the starting difference might be with lighter oil? I was going to paint. I might wait as the weather changed and I could fix the fuel and exhaust and go to work. I need to make bat box cover and fix throttle link.
It's going to the firewood lot. I wanted cheap idle and small clam to handle blocks and we will forward also. I just bought new splitter and it's going under the torch for redesign and this all going to work together to get rid of big block handling.
We made a vertical splitter on a set of transport forks for the 8N I welded a steel plate to the forks, welded and clamped an I-beam for the cylinder and wedge. Once you got a big block on there, you just spun it around and diced it up without picking it up. Roll them on and then tip them up. No safety features on the valve it locked in whatever direction. Mind your digits We turned the exhaust around on the tractor and sent it forward. You back into a pile of rounds and angle the haul truck in there. Two guys splitting and one guy stacking in the truck. 4th guy was often me, the rover with the 8 pound maul. I would smack the easy ones. It was 45 years ago.
Yes, going to make it vertical and up at bench level. I have old forklift mast was considering as a lift table,,, also maybe some sections of roller table, back truck up and slide them on. Somewhat similar to this.
Ours was on the ground so more bending but no lifting. Younger backs
If you weld a grab hook on the front of the wedge, you can use a chain with tongs to lift the heavy ones up to the table when you retract.
Neat machine. What's purpose of the small blade in the front (or back depending on perspective)? I'm not seeing it being needed for anchoring when cabling and it's too small for pushing so not sure why it's there.
Around here, they went through the woods to collect trees cut with a power saw. Sometimes you had to build a road. I think every porter or skidder I have ever seen has a narrow blade
those little blades are quite useful. Not for road building, but for pushing the end of a log out of the way as you go through. Those little machines really don't need a road. Just use your head when skidding to move out the obstacles and cut to lengths that make it around stumps etc. Come by some logs and use the blade to line them up as you swing in. Set choker and go.
Here, when the paper mills were dominant. They wouldn't take dirty wood, so no skidders. They fell the tree, cut it to length, and you had to pick it up with a porter. Only logs that were drug out of the woods were for lumber. Fast forward to the death of the chainsaw, most machines cut the tree, limb it, cut it to length, and load it on back to take to the pickup point.
It's got grapple. Hey,,, , I am changing some pitiful oil in the trans/hyd. I see a post or 3 says not to use hytrans. I have some filtered that is not too bad. I wouldn't mind a run a bit flush. I can find some hyd oil too if I have to.
Something about the smell of wood, oil and fuel
So, I check the final drives and change oil in one. Just replaced a bearing in the alternator and had a bud do/help with changing 2 orings on the throttle shaft inj pump. I got sidelined while he did it and see some fussy fitting getting it back right. We didn't have drawing or manual but didn't remove, just fix. I got I leak to manage B4 putting covers back to it, tried tightening clamps but it needs a fix.
It probably calls for ** Perma-tran oil in the trans. and diffs. Looks to have a std. dual range transmission but they all used the same Perma-tran fluid. The latest I think is Perma-tran XL821.
Final drives had gear lube.
I see the rear brakes use a disk and a caliper, all external and powered by a master from a 49 ford truck.
Had good looking juice in the hose. My bet is the master seized and never worked again. I am going to find a master. This is so rusted no way no how.
Got the stakes out of pockets. Spent today tightening and replacing bolts. Clean air filter. Dropped another pan and removed 5 gallons of grease and got driveline u joints that were tight but been missed about actually getting grease IN them. Think I fixed the major hyd leak in suction line. Decided I will change eng oil. Need to dump hyd back in and put shields back on before heading to welding bay for a day. Fixed alt bracket. Most of the bolting was decent. Some looked OEM. We scraped it pretty good as we went and would be ready to clean for paint. Going to unbolt rear brake caliper yet and take a look. Most of the frame bolting tight considering age.
That's a neat machine and looks like someone spent a couple grand on new tires. I imagine you could use it as a crane for picking up and moving all kinds of things. Even unloading stuff from a pickup or trailer. Look on the bottom of the oil pan. There may be a date code in the casting. There is on my tractor. I'm not sure if it uses the same serial numbers as Ag equipment and backhoes. If the serial starts with 9A you can tell the date by the numbers after it.
Handling scrap maybe. I have another truck.
Down herein East Texas we called them forwarders. We used them when we were still doing short wood (pulpwood). Most everyone around here used C5 Treefarmers.
There are several outfits built similar. This Ironmule and described as a forwarder. The clam is aftermarket and great improvement. I paid a little extra for couple of things but took the gut wrenching decision about upgrades out of it right up front.
Thing looks awesome! Love the newer grapple.
Yes, full rotation too.
Just got done, all day fixing linkages, unstuck some brake pedals, work on clutch link and it looks good. Decided to fix the clam control levers. did the first one perfect and tight MOD EDIT and got a bit more liberal with the 4 others but got them quite decent.. Whoops, hit the wrong key last night, pics and update later. DO NOT use that type of language on this Forum.
Ok, gave it a test run and works dandy cept for 1 thing. The boom rotation. It looks like it has smaller hoses and some reduction but it is wayyyyy too fast. I am not sure I have a needle valve. There is a detent position it's put in for travel but I don't outright see an adjustment????
Well 2 things, The rotation is too fast and I added a valve but that didnt work. Not sure what to do to adjust it. The thing is really wild and distracting to the operator. Second issue is looks like a leak between the trans case and the left axel housing. Now wishing I would have ordered the 135 tractor manual last week, just got tired of buying stuff. Getting it out of this assembly its horned in to might be a challenge but possible if it only has to come out about 6-8 nches before going forward might work
Not a bad looking machine. Once you cleaned it up, I don't see much of any field welding, cracking etc. like I usually see on these machines.
No, its not terrible. The repairs were decent and worked and only found a few loose bolts considering the age and lots never been out. I got this leak now that will not go away. I am not nuts about a couple more days of hard wrenching but no way around it. We were surprised, headlights worked.
It could be just like learning to use a backhoe the first time. Using two functions at the same time would make it a lot smoother.