New to us

[Corley5]

Here's a pic of our soon to be new to us Massey Ferguson Iron Mule.  It's a 4500 model basically a model 50 industrial tractor drivetrain with a Perkins engine and torque converter tranny.  I haven't seen it in person yet but Dad has looked it over, ran it, and likes it ;) so he put some $$ down on it and we're going to get it probably on Wednesday.  It's near Marinette Wi.  The tach and hour meter work and show 5,000 hours, it's been repinned and bushed, has lots of new hoses, 1 new tire and three very good ones, an updated continuous rotation bucket and we're also getting a full set of original manuals and a near new pair of bear paw tire chains.  The owner also made up a set of plexiglas panels to enclose the cage and installed a heater for cold weather operation.  We'll be the third owners.  It's also had a new paint job since that photo was taken and Dad says it's a good one  8) 8)  Paint makes em run better ;D   The Treefarmer we had been looking at sold before we got there  8) so we did a little more looking and found this not far from where Mom and Dad were this weekend.  Another plus is it's small enough we can haul it ourselves which wasn't the case with the Treefarmer.  This'll be way more fun than a skidsteer ;) ;D :D

[sprucebunny]

Very cool  8) 8)  I've been lusting after one of those but I don't think I have quite trailer enough to move it myself. What does it weigh ?

[Corley5]

In the neighborhood of 12,000lb according to the current owner.  We'll be right on the edge of our trailer's limit ;)  Have to trade it for a tandem dually now ;)

[oakiemac]

Nice machine. You need to bring that on down here to try it out on some of our trees. ;D

[jackpine]

corley5

Just for curosity what model of Tree Farmer were you looking at? I have an old Tree farmer C5D but it's not in nearly as good of shape as you describe the Iron Mule. Gets the job done for what little I use it though. It weighs in at 16,000 lbs. so is a bear to move.

Bill

[Corley5]

The Treefarmer was a C4D.  Looked good from the pics but I think we're doing better with the Mule

[jackpine]

corley5. I think your'e right. I was looking at a friends Iron Mule last Friday and they apear to be much easier to work on than the Tree Farmer. Small things like having hinged side covers for the motor instead of a lift off cast iron panel that weighes a ton and has to be pried out >:( There appears to be more room in the cab also, esp. when facing rearward. In the Tree Farmer it's very cramped.

[UNCLEBUCK]

 Oh yeah !  8) 8) 8) 8)

[Dana]

Looks like a winner! I was going to p.m. you about theBobcat at the hydroseed auction (it has a grapple) but you probably aren't looking for one now?

[Corley5]

Pretty much blew my cash on this    The Bobcat will have to wait    When is the Hydroseed Auction ???  This weekend ???  I haven't got my # or sale bill yet.

[getoverit]

Nice score on the mule Greg !

Now I know how you will be dragging out those huge beech trees this winter :D

[Ron Scott]

Good choice on the Iron Mule. It should serve you well.

[Dana]

The auction is Sept 16 @ 10.00 They went low budjet on the sale bill no color sale bill or sale number included in the mailer this time. There are two Bobcats, a 753 and a 843 with new hydrostat pump, grapple bucket, and tracks. Also anyone interested iapple cidar equiptment, there will be a complete system from an estate for sale.

[Corley5]

The auction is Sept 16 @ 10.00 .

Looks like I'll have to miss it.  I've made arrangments to process 22 pulp cords of wood this weekend.  Poor planning on my part but pretty short notice on the auction too :(  The cider equipment sounds cool

[Mike_P.]

Greg:

Was there also a Massey Ferguson Iron Mule that was a Model 2200 or Treever?  A fellow that I knew a number of years ago cut and hauled pulp wood and used a Massey Ferguson forwarder that seemed smaller than the older Iron Mules that I see around here.

Thanks,

Mike

[Corley5]

I'm not sure just what other models were made but a place I worked once upon a time had a MF 203 Treever or Treevor.  It was a bit smaller and older than the one we're getting.  The newer ones made in the 90s before Valmet bought Gafner were larger.  Emil Gafner began making Iron Mules in 1956  8) 8)

[Corley5]

Here's a pic of a 203 I came across.  If anyone happens to be interested it's in Skandia at http://www.bergdahlsinc.com/index.html

[Corley5]

The first Iron Mule was made in 1962 but Gafner began business in 1946

[Corley5]

Made a whirlwind trip to Wis. today and brought her home 8)


As we pulled in the yard 8)






My training




Loaded and Ready to go to Michigan ;) ;D ;D




We made it and didn't even get stopped by a weighmaster  ;) ;D  We were probably a bit overloaded ;D ;D  The old girl's been pretty well gone over.  All new pins and bushings everywhere, cylinders rebuilt, sandblasted and painted.  There's no old paint under the new.  It's even had a new main hydraulic pump 8) 8)  According to the manuals it's a 5000 model.  Pretty neat old machine.  I see lots of uses around the farm for it besides logging.  Like hauling and loading round bales, picking up rocks and slabs, demolition etc  8) 8).  The torque convertor tranny is nice too.  To switch directions you just step on a different pedal.  It works good too and that's good cause that can't be cheap to fix :(  Even all the gauges work right down to the fuel one  8) 8)  Haven't gotten to play with it yet though.  We spent the evening putting the finishes touches on an elevator for loading firewood that's needed for the custom job I've got tomorrow.

[getoverit]

Looks like brand new Greg!  I'm sure something lie that will come in handy for all of the jobs you have going on. GREAT score !

[Burlkraft]

WOW...

That was a good score....Congratulations 8) 8) 8)

[UNCLEBUCK]

That is the coolest machine I have ever seen !  It is totally a beauty ! I bet one could even take that to the deer stand , haul em home and hang em without ever getting off !  8) 8) 8)  You must be a happy camper ! I am  ;D

[Paul_H]

That's a real load on the ol' pickup  :D

It looks like you've got a great machine there.

[sprucebunny]

Looks GREAT  8) 8) 8) Thanks for all the pics !!!

There are SO many things to do with that loader ;D

[Corley5]

We finally got to use the Mule some tonight.  Unfortunately I got a battery exhausted message on my camera and didn't get much in the way of pics except for the not so good one above of Dad loading firewood logs out of the pile to load on the processor.  The old machine works good but someone in its past reversed the hoses on the valve bank so everything works backwards :  Really confusing but easily remedied by switching the hoses back.  I'm not sure why someone would've done such thing.  It's all backwards.  To lower the boom normally you push the lever away and pull it back to raise it.  Not the way this is hooked up.  The same with the second part of the boom.  It's all confusing : : ;)   Have to stop and think before each movement.  Even the bucket rotation and boom swing ops are backwards.  Never seen such a thing   It was a pretty good load for the truck.  I kept the over drive locked out  It didn't like running in over drive with this load ;D  The Mule has also had a new radiator installed.  The old one was fine but when he was putting the new water pump on the engine he slipped with something and jabbed a hole in the old one 

[UNCLEBUCK]

Oh thats too bad Greg but you will get it changed I know .  That would drive me crazy in a heartbeat . Get em changed and charge your camera up and knock that log pile apart !  Make that mule scream !  8) 8) 8)

[Corley5]

That would drive me crazy in a heartbeat .

Oh it makes me crazy and Dad too ;) ;D  It's gonna get switched right away   We put a loader on a 300 Farmall this summer and before we read the book ;) ;D and found out the valves had selectors for dual or single acting cylinders we could only get it to work backwards.  That was bad enough with one lever off.  Five of them like that is  smiley_dizzy

[sprucebunny]

I've run into the backwards levers a couple times because "float" was at the wrong end of the lever. That meant that the hoses to the cylinder needed to be swapped and, of course, one was TOO short :

Don't think I could handle having 5 backwards.

I'm looking forward to more pictures of that classic, Greg ;D

[Ron Scott]

Relocating the hoses should get it back to "normal'.

Some of my loggers have had night time vandals change their skidder hoses around so that everything works backwords when they go to start up in the morning. Aggrivating "down time" relocating the hoses back again.

Better than sugar or sand in the fuel tanks though. ;) We now hide the equipment on the jobs so that they aren't found as easy by the vandals.

[Corley5]

I've run into the backwards levers a couple times because "float" was at the wrong end of the lever. That meant that the hoses to the cylinder needed to be swapped and, of course, one was TOO short :

Thanks for pointing that out SB 8) 8)  The main boom hoses will need to be switched at the cylinder and they look long enough ;) ;D  The other valve with a "float" is the swing and it won't matter for it.  We can change it at the valve body 8)  It takes a pretty determined vandal to take the time to switch hoses and even know how to do it for that matter.  I fired it up today between rain squalls and Zach and I went for a ride.  He was impressed especially since he can run the blade ;D ;D

[Ed_K]

 Well I'm jealous now, I've been looking for a machine like that for a yr and can't find one here in newengland. Can you switch the in-out line from the pump rather than all the lines?

[Nailhead]

Nice find Greg  8)
How many tires on the ground does that make? ;D
I just keep showing my wife how many "TOOLS" you have and she can't complain too much on what I bring home. :D

[Corley5]

We had our first breakdown with it today.  The fuel line between the filters and the pump broke :   Of course we don't have any ferrules that small so off to NAPA in the morning.  I can't count that many tires and to replace them all we'd need to sell the farm  ;) ;D  I didn't realize these were that hard to come by until we got this one and I've been browsing around looking for them.  They aren't out there.  Three other potential buyers stopped to look at it and wanted it after Dad put a deposit on it.

[Corley5]

http://www.richardsmachinery.com/  Send this guy a message.  He's got lines on machinery literally all over the world.  He may know of one in your area

[Corley5]

It looks like the H Farmall and its manure loader have been replaced.  We've done a couple little things to the Mule.  The return line from the injector pump broke which wasn't a big deal.  The new tire on it went flat which was unexpected.  When it was put on the extra valve stem hole in the rim wasn't plugged so the tube worked there and went flat :  We compared the operation of our backhoe's valves to the Mule's and decided that we needed to switch the hoses on the valve for the jib.  Now it works like we think it should ;) ;D  It's amazing how one lever being off throws the whole works out of whack ;D  The plan is to take it to the woods on Monday. 

[beenthere]

That mule sure seems it is a good fit with your wood splitting operation. And as you say, many other uses you will find for it too.
Are you creaming any logs out for the sawmill?

[Corley5]

I pull one out now and again.  There's one in the pics that I probably shoulda taken out.  It was a 10' white ash 14" on the small end.  Sure made nice firewood and a lot of it ;) ;D

[Corley5]

Finally made it to the woods with the Mule today 8).  Dad and I cut this timber a week ago and then a bunch of firewood orders came in 8) ;D

The machine works very well 8)  It's fairly agile and has good power.  The loader will lift more than it should ;)  It's possible to tip the machine over.  I'm glad I had my hand on the down lever ;)


Sugar maple sawbolts destined to be flooring.


Firewood on the left


Basswood sawlogs.  Too bad they aren't worth more :(

These piles grew quite a bit by the time I shut down tonight.  I've got about that much more to haul out yet.

[Tom]

Isn't basswood a favorite of carvers?

Wish I'd have had a machine like that. 

[Corley5]

Carvers do like basswood.  Duck decoys used to be carved from it.  I'm gonna have a bunch if anybody would like some 8)  I wish we'd have had this a long time ago

[dail_h]

   THOU SHALLT NOT COVET CORLEY'S IRON MULE  THOU SHALLT NOT COVET CORLEY'S IRON MULE

[Furby]

Says you!!!!!!

[Corley5]

    Other uses so far- Crunched and munched an old board fence at Grandma's, picked up and hauled away slabs from mill, cleaned up a cottonwood that had fallen in the barnyard, held logs too big for processor in bucket so I wouldn't get the chainsaw in the dirt or most importantly have to bend over ;) ;D and then piled the big chunks with it 8) 

[Corley5]

View from the Driver's Seat


Basswood Logs


Maple Sawlogs, Bolts and Firewood


American Elm Log


Elm Log and Assorted Firewood


Sorting Basswood According to Length


Adding a 12' to the Pile

So far the old machine has been good to us 8)  We've put 130 hours on it with only minor maintenance.  Today was the second day with new bypass grapple.  It's a night and day difference in efficiency and most importantly safety.  I'm saving almost a half hour per load  8)  Makes it fun again  ;) ;D   Thanks for the recomendation on the Valby Buckets.

[Jeff]

Hey greg, did ya tell em about the forum when you got your bucket?

[leweee]

Great pics Greg   8) Thanks for sharing ;D

[Corley5]

Hey greg, did ya tell em about the forum when you got your bucket?

no  :(

[Jeff]

I'm glad I reminded you to do it! ;)

Thanks for the recomendation on the Valby Buckets.

[Corley5]

 ;)

[farmerdoug]

Corley,

What is the differences in the 203 and 4500?

Also what is the log length limit you have found on the 4500?

Farmerdoug

[Corley5]

This is actually a 5000 and has a 4 cyl Perkins rather than a three.  Torque converter trannys were optional on these and not on the 203s and the sheetmetal is a bit different.  I don't know if the loader is the same or not.  I think the 203 used the MF 203 Work Bull tractor as the base while the 5000 used the MF 50 tractor loader backhoe drive train.  I haul 12 footers all the time and could haul sixteens if I had some shorter ones to stack on top of them to hold em down  or if I didn't have to make any sharp turns I could slide them tight to the front ;)  I did find some logs I couldn't pick up with it.  I could get them about four feet off the ground and that was it.  They're three big 8 foot beech logs.  They're too big to run through the processor and worth little as anything but firewood so I was going to haul them to the neighbor for firewood.  Guess I'll have to cut em in half. 

[Reddog]

On the ones that it won't pick. Back the machine right up to one end. Pick the end up and drag the log on. I have seen the old timers load some large logs on a mule that way.

[Ed_K]

 Glad that new bucket's work for you. On my small forwarder trailer the boom will only lift 900#s so I grab the small end and set it on the back of the trl then pick up the butt and put it on the front. I've lifted 1500-1800 # logs this way.

[Chelsea Tree]

Has the she been sold yet?  I noticed the post about her being for sale has disappeared......  ???

[Corley5]

I got zero bites from the ad I placed here so I put an ad on Craigslist and sometime in Nov. it left on a truck bound for Quebec.  Selling price was 9,500.00.

[mad murdock]

Nice looking 'Mule Corley 5. Congratulations.  I bet the bypass bucket is a nice addition to the machine!  FYI, the factory standard Gafner loader configuration is as follows from left to right #1 main boom up (lever away from operator)-Main boom down (lever towards operator), #2 Stick boom up (lever away)-stick boom down (lever towards), #3 boom swing-left (lever away)-right (lever towards), #4 rotate bucket-left(ccw, lever away)-right (cw, lever towards), #5 bucket open/close-open (lever away) closed (lever towards)- for driving the main boom and swing levers are pushed away to the float position, if memory serves.  I have spent hundreds upon hundreds of hours at the controls of an '83 model, but the last time I did that was in 1983! I am pretty sure on the controls config. In case you were wondering.
Looks like a mighty fine old machine there, that has been looked after well.

[Corley5]

It served us well.  It was also time for an upgrade

[Autocar]

Great looking machine ! 

[Bobus2003]

It served us well.  It was also time for an upgrade

What did ya upgrade too?

[Corley5]

 







[img]

It's newer than an 1986 according to an old TF guy I talked to a while back.  It's got a 4 cyl Deutz for power.  These pics are from last summer when I took delivery.  It's got some scars on the blade and isn't clean now  8)  I've been meaning to take some pics but just haven't taken the camera to the woods with me.

[ScottAR]

That is one sweet machine!

[Chelsea Tree]

This was your Mule right?

http://www.publiquip.com/Heavy_Equipment_Truck/Massey-Ferguson-Iron-Mule-5000-Forwarder--2104734133.htm

It's unfortunately been sold again.  Not to me.....d'oh!

I tried to post the pic of it but I can't quite figure out how to do that yet.... ???

[Corley5]

That would appear to be it