Farmall 560 Hitch, and other questions

I just brought home a Farmall 560 diesel to replace my tired M as the main horse around here. I looked at it last year, but didn't have the money. This year I went back to ask about it and the owner said the TA had gone out, and he would sell it for a lot less. I can live without the TA, even though it would be nice to have. The tractor is basically in very good shape, straight, no leaks, doesn't overheat or use much oil. I drove it fifteen miles home, then yesterday hooked up the brush hog and beat up half an acre of pasture that didn't get clipped last fall. The tires are 80%, with no gouges or weather checking. It has two new batteries, but it doesn't charge, I still need to find out why.

What concerns me most is the hitch. I don't want to run a baler hooked to the fast hitch draw bar. I could probably add a chain or two and a binder to keep the hitch from flopping around, but the thought of hanging the weight of my Hesston 1071 moco off those two little three eights inch bolt at the bottom of the lift rods really scares me. I know the standard hitch from the M would bolt on to the axles, and I could fabricate a bracket to pin the swinging draw bar to. However, I still want to be able to use the M. I know where I can get a draw bar from an H, will that work, or is it smaller?

I have ordered some manuals, so don't give me a bunch of static about that, but I would like to know a couple of things before they get here.

Is the rear axle/transmission/hydraulic system all one reservoir, and how much does it hold?

There is a plate on the right hand side,in front of the brake pedals, that looks as if it should have a filter under it for the hydraulics, is that what it is, and is it a replaceable element or just a screen to be cleaned and replaced?

How much oil does the engine hold?

What kind of fuel consumption should I expect, mowing and baling, about the same as the M at the same speed, or a little more?

Is the PTO lever supposed to lock in the engaged position, or does just the internal mechanism lock, leaving the handle to flop around? The PTO works fine, just the control seems a little funky.

wish i had a dollar for every square bale ive seen come out from a hesston baler floping around like a three legged dog hitched on to a 560 fast hitch. every stroke of the baler the fasthitch would kick sideways a little

Hi Harold, I think you will be happy with the 560D. It will use more fuel than your M and but lot more power. Not to mention the live pto, hydraulics and power steering. The diesels tend to be cold blooded when you first start till they warm up. I would recommend you put a 55-60 amp sef exciting alt. on it instead of the genterator if its bad. That way it will charge all the time. The pto lever should lock into postion both in the disengaged forward and engaged rear postion and not move around, they rod may be sticking inside the pto lever. As for the fh once you have your manuals, it will be easier to see adjustments on everything. There are two ears at the top of the rearend housing and bottom of seat support that you fasten the adjustable lift arms to for pulling equipment like disc, mower, wagons, etc. This keeps the hitch rigid and at a fixed height, plus on the lower right hand side standing at the rear of the tractor you need to lock out the swing arm adjustment by placing a pin in the first hole. It may swing side to side just a little due to wear. I don"t have my books handy to scan a picture to show you exactly. Much easier if you have a visual. The engine will hold 9 quarts with the filter being changed. The rearend, hydraulics, ta, ps is all one, it holds 15 gallons of hy-tran oil. There are 3 drain plugs, and the hydraulic filter is behind the plate on the ta housing on the right side of tractor near brakes as you said. To fill the entire system remove the 3 3/8s bolts and cover on top of the trans next to the gear shift lever. There is a level indicator plug on the left ta housing behind the clutch pedal rod. I might have missed some things but you should get a good understanding, hope this helps.
Brad

My 560 has baled thousands of square bales, done our own and custom work with a two row fox chopper and a hesston 12 foot windrower and I know nothing has been done to the fast hitch in the last thirty years. Now its mostly a chore tractor, so that means it gets to pickup 1500 pound round bales, but still no problem. There was a thing you could put on that was an option for a 2mh picker that stabilized the draw bar, but they are few and far between or you could try adding more machine washers to the stabilizer you have, but its probably not necessary. Lee

Hi Harold, I think you will be happy with the 560D. It will use more fuel than your M and but lot more power. Not to mention the live pto, hydraulics and power steering. The diesels tend to be cold blooded when you first start till they warm up. I would recommend you put a 55-60 amp sef exciting alt. on it instead of the genterator if its bad. That way it will charge all the time. The pto lever should lock into postion both in the disengaged forward and engaged rear postion and not move around, they rod may be sticking inside the pto lever. As for the fh once you have your manuals, it will be easier to see adjustments on everything. There are two ears at the top of the rearend housing and bottom of seat support that you fasten the adjustable lift arms to for pulling equipment like disc, mower, wagons, etc. This keeps the hitch rigid and at a fixed height, plus on the lower right hand side standing at the rear of the tractor you need to lock out the swing arm adjustment by placing a pin in the first hole. It may swing side to side just a little due to wear. I don"t have my books handy to scan a picture to show you exactly. Much easier if you have a visual. The engine will hold 9 quarts with the filter being changed. The rearend, hydraulics, ta, ps is all one, it holds 15 gallons of hy-tran oil. There are 3 drain plugs, and the hydraulic filter is behind the plate on the ta housing on the right side of tractor near brakes as you said. To fill the entire system remove the 3 3/8s bolts and cover on top of the trans next to the gear shift lever. There is a level indicator plug on the left ta housing behind the clutch pedal rod. I might have missed some things but you should get a good understanding, hope this helps.
Brad

Harold: If your M was a gasser, this 560 diesel will use about half the fuel on the same work. It will burn a bit more if you load it up to rated hp. I ran a 560 and 656 diesels for years and haying was the easy work at my place. I've never seen either one of them hit 2 Imperial gallons per hour, even pulling 13' vibra shank or 5 bottom plow.

The hitch will be a pain, kind of like pulling the baler on a 3' chain. I found the fast hitch very hard on pto drive lines. A drawbar from an H or M will bolt up, however the swinging drawbar is different length on H. I cut my fast hitch up for scrap back in the mid 60s. What I installed was a new drawbar out of IH parts, I suspect that was ordered from 560 parts book, I know both U drawbar and swinging drawbar were both much thicker than anything I'd seen on an H, M, 300 or 400.

I saved the hitch lift cylinder and rear rockshaft in case I'd want to someday install a 3 point kit. Never did, within a few years I had factory 3 point tractors around.

The only time that pto lever needs to lock is when disengaged, locked out applies the pto brake. Engaged once the lever goes over center, it needs nothing to hold it.

In my books the 282 diesels were the most efficient horse power IH ever built. Sure my 1066 burnt 5 times the fuel, but it wasn't 5 times the hp of a 560 or 656. During the years my 560 and 656 were the main source of power with 130 and 300 as backup, I made more money per year than ever before or since, and I have the financial statements to back it up. That is precisely why there are so many M, SM, etc gassers around in good shape, they never got used much once the 282 came along.