"Piggybacked" F-20s

"Piggybacked" F-20s TRACTORS Modifications 27-1-22 Dan Lowe is known as the F-20 man to friends and family because when he isn't tearing apart diesel engines and turbochargers with his partner and employees at Triangle Diesel in Kankakee, Illinois, he's at home tearing apart F-20s. In addition to owning 22 of the antique Farmalls, Lowe has a 48-foot semi trailer with enough parts on it to build three more. In fact, the only thing he likes better than one F-20 is two of them running together piggyback. He has a couple that he joined together and notes that piggybacked Farmalls used to be fairly common in the late 50's and early 60's. While there was never a factory piggyback kit available, dealers often fabricated piggyback attachments for customers. However, Lowe's piggyback hitch was built by a farmer. "He made twin square tubes from 5-inch channel iron," explains Lowe. "The tubes bolt to the drawbar of the rear tractor and run forward under the front wheel spindles and pin to the drawbar of the front tractor." Two drawbolts attached to the rear tractor frame draw the tubes up and against the spindles to keep the front end of the tractor from bouncing off on rough ground. A lever hooked to the clutch of the rear tractor extends up and over the hood to end just behind the operator's shoulder. "The operator would put both tractors in gear, get on and release both clutches and drive," says Lowe. "Most piggybacks had an M on the front and an H on the rear. You had to be careful turning, or they could jackknife. "Both tractors have identical transmissions with factory installed high speed 4th gears," says Lowe. "Each runs about 18 pto horsepower. Together, they could pull a four bottom plow, no problem." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Daniel Lowe, 4545 Main Street, Kankakee, Ill. 60901 (ph 815 933-4119).

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