Tractor loader you don’t see every day

Hoosier Perspectives: In this edition of Tractor Treasures, check out the one-armed loader that turns heads.

July 31, 2023

Tracking down a New Idea wire-tie No. W-5 hay baler, which made small square bales, took months to verify when I pursued it several years ago. Some people were convinced I was thinking of an Oliver baler. No, I remembered Dad having a New Idea baler in 1960. It didn’t work well, left wire pieces in the hay, and a cow died after ingesting wire, but I was sure it once existed.

Finally, I found literature, even an operator’s manual, and then someone who owns one in Indiana. The baler was such a failure that New Idea pulled it from the market and erased its image from promotional pamphlets — but it did exist.

My next quest was determining who made a cable loader, with hydraulic cylinders but that worked off cables. I was determined to find out after someone gave me a loader for my Massey-Harris 44 but neglected to tell me how it mounted and worked. Turns out a cable loader also existed, with a model made by the Horn Manufacturing Co., Fort Dodge, Iowa, starting in the 1940s. The company was later bought by New Idea.

So, when I happened across a one-armed loader on a 1958 Ford 961 tractor at the Hamilton County 4-H Fair recently, I was already way ahead in solving this mystery. I had never heard of it before, but I now knew it existed because I saw it. And it, too, involved a cable. Although rather than helping lift, this cable simply operated the trip bucket. When the bucket was full, the driver pulled a lever attached to the cable. The bucket tripped, dumped its load and was ready to reset.

When I went hunting for the New Idea baler that was barely more than a memory and the never-heard-of-before cable loader, YouTube was in its infancy. Today, type in “Ford one-armed loader” and presto! There is a video of someone driving a tractor with a one-armed loader, raising and lowering it. When the empty bucket hits the ground, it trips back in place, locking the bucket to go again … if all goes well.

So, why did Ford develop and offer a one-armed manure loader? The leading theory seems to be that enough farmers complained that they felt cooped up in a tractor with a loader on it, so Ford took a chance and asked an engineer to design a loader that didn’t leave the operator feeling hemmed it.

According to tractordata.com, the Ford 961 row crop tractor had roughly 56 engine hp in the field and was rated to pull a three-bottom plow. Similar to the Ford 951, this model had a live PTO. This tractor in the Ford Powermaster lineup was made in Highland Park, Mich., from 1958 through 1962.

The one-armed loader also fit onto other Ford models, and even some models from other companies, as long as you could find the right brackets. The Ford 961 with one-armed loader pictured is owned by Chuck Eiler, Hamilton County, Ind.

Tom J. Bechman

Editor, Indiana Prairie Farmer, Farm Progress

Tom J. Bechman is editor of Indiana Prairie Farmer. He joined Farm Progress in 1981 as a field editor, first writing stories to help farmers adjust to a difficult harvest after a tough weather year. His goal today is the same — writing stories that help farmers adjust to a changing environment in a profitable manner.

Bechman knows about Indiana agriculture because he grew up on a small dairy farm and worked with young farmers as a vocational agriculture teacher and FFA advisor before joining Farm Progress. He works closely with Purdue University specialists, Indiana Farm Bureau and commodity groups to cover cutting-edge issues affecting farmers. He specializes in writing crop stories with a focus on obtaining the highest and most economical yields possible.

Tom and his wife, Carla, have four children: Allison, Ashley, Daniel and Kayla, plus eight grandchildren. They raise produce for the food pantry and house 4-H animals for the grandkids on their small acreage near Franklin, Ind.