tedbear - 11/21/2024 17:12

We had one. It was an 861. The leftmost digit indicated the power and frame style. 9 - tricycle large engine, 8 - standard same large engine. Guess there was a 7 and a 6 with smaller engines. The middle digit indicated the transmission/PTO. 4 - 4 speed, basic PTO, 5-5 speed basic PTO, 6, 5 speed with two stage clutch for PTO, 7 - Select O Speed independent PTO I think.

Since ours was an 861, it had the larger engine in a standard frame. The transmission was a 5 speed with the UP/DOWN shift pattern that you mention. The PTO was live but not independent.

To engage the PTO, the operator pushed the clutch pedal fully down. He could then engage the PTO, When he allowed the pedal to rise, the PTO started first and then as the pedal continued to reach the top the tactor would move if in gear.

I baled a lot of hay with a NH PTO baler with that tractor. The two stage clutch and live PTO worked out well for that job. If I saw a slug coming up, I could just push the clutch partway down. This would stop the forward motion but the PTO continued to run.

This was referred to as "live" PTO since it continued to run when you stopped the forward motion by pushing the clutch pedal partway down. You could not engage the PTO while moving however. Units that allowed PTO engagement while moving were referred to as "independent" PTO.

I believe those with the Select O Speed transmission had a PTO arrangement where the operator could select a setting where the PTO was connected through the transmission. As the operator shifted to a higher gear, the PTO speeded up also. I don't know where that would be useful but I believe it was possible.

We had a loader on our 861. It worked OK for moving snow since with the shift lever at the top position, forward was 3rd gear and Reverse was back. This made sort of a shuttle arrangement. However, for working with packed manure 3rd gear was too fast and we needed to use 2nd gear. This meant that we would need to move the shift lever to the middle position, push it down slightly and then forward for 2nd. To back up we had to pull the shift lever back to the center, lift it all the way up and then full it back for Reverse. This did work but wasn't very handy.