One of the many hard to find things, a factory hand lift for an early "A" popped up an hours drive away and for only $50. I will usually dicker on the price but when someone posts a great price out of the gate I'd feel guilty to offer less. To top it off I was also there to pick out a complete Cub trans for a friend from two that he had. Again $50. Correct me if I'm wrong but that's a bargain too.
One trans was a '50 the other a '71. The '71 had a broken bolt where the rear rockshaft bolts on. Other than that it was complete and 100% working. I grabbed the '50 so my buddy didn't have to wrestle a busted bolt. With that deal done he offered the '71 trans to me to take as a parts trans for another $20! Ya, I grabbed it.
I asked what else he may have and ended up with a Cub grader blade (just the blade with scraper edge). $30 got that. No haggling what so ever.
I told him he was making me buy'em to which he explained he was moving soon and needed to clear things out. Timing is everything!
Now I haven't seen a lot of these hand lifts but this one looks to be the genuine article. Two bolts in a bracket bolt up just forward of the PTO and one bolt to the torque tube. The small springs need replacing but that's easy. Now I will be on the look out for a Farmall A front grader blade/snowplow and a front rockshaft. The snowplows aren't nearly as easy to find for the "A" as they are for the Cub and when you do the seller has put an unreasonably high price on it. I have seen them at a realistic price too but also at a time when I was short on cash. Isn't that usually the way?
I believe another plow will eventually become available but the rockshaft has me worried. I put an ad on the vine hoping someone may have one and care to part with it.
Below are pics of the lift sitting on one of my "A"s. Can someone confirm that this is indeed the lift that would have been used on my '46 "A" back in the day?
I think this one does not use the exhaust lift.
