The International A8-3 arguably the worst Header ever made

By Phil Petersen

Note - The picture is a file image and not the actual Header.

I reckon my worst header experience trumps yours. In my earliest years in the 1960’s, my uncles were Contract Harvesters of my dad’s Crop.

They used an International A8-3 Header, among other Headers, to get job done. In the mid 1970’s, when my brother left school and, by coincidence, my uncles quit the contract business, we bought the A8-3 as our first ever Header to be owned by dad and us boys. Dad had no clue how to drive or operate or maintain the Machine, so he let us have free rein.

My older school-leaving brother was keen as mustard. He and I were both as naive as dad when it came to operating and fixing the A8-3, and the learning experience we both gained, as a result, proved invaluable. The A8-3 had only two endearing features. 1. it was auto (in a district where PTO headers reigned supreme), and 2. It was maneuverable- being a zero-turn Machine, a feature I have not seen in any Header since.

My uncles wore it out twice before we acquired it, so we learned how to fix stuff as it broke down frequently and constantly (invaluable schooling experience in the school of hard knocks).

There was no steering wheel but brake levers on planetary drives to each drive wheel, with the 12-bag Grain bin directly above the LH drive wheel (weight not evenly distributed). It constantly pulled into the crop when Bin was empty and out of the crop as the weight increased as the Bin neared full capacity. This alone led to constant operator fatigue bouncing on one steer lever or the other to keep the Machine going straight.

It was probably the smallest capacity Machine in the district, even though it was auto. It was old and all we could afford at the time.

If memory serves me correctly, the drum/feeder house etc, was a massive 28” wide. Our particular Machine had a peg drum which limited concave closure. The neighbours had often been harvesting 2 hours or more each day as we had to wait for a hotter part of day to start so we could separate the clingy Heron Wheat from the stalk with our antique Machine. The peg drum did not help with cracked Grain in the sample either. It was a catch-22 situation.

OH&S was nonexistent. For example the main drive clutch being an over-centre locking jockey pulley on an unguarded 4” fraying flat belt just 12” or so from the driver’s right arm.

The power unit was a guzzling VG4D Wisconsin Petrol engine which not only kept the driver from feeling the cold and spat hot stuff from the exhaust. It had a mere 6-volt starter system which, even on the best days, left the operator wondering if it was going to crank fast enough to even start.

The operator’s seat was the standard IHC(Aust built at least up to 711) poorly sprung/cushioned seat mounted solid atop a 1” water pipe. There was no cab, and my uncles had used tatty beach umbrellas (not sure if they were IHC OEM or not) in the 60’s but had “upgraded” B4 we took over to a luxury 4 post( ¾”pipe) aluminium roof sheet for shade.

The rear axle castor wheels (a mere 10” or 12” rim diameter) had been broken out, repaired and reinforced more times than I could remember. It was one of the most obvious of the numerous flaws and weak points in the machine design. Oh and the unloading Auger was simply far too short to reach into the majority of Trucks and Field Bins at the time. So we often had to carry railway sleepers with us to ramp up the height of the left wheel and consequently the Auger to unload to make the too frequent stops (12 bag bin only remember). Open top Bins and Trucks were OK but aiming the auger chute into a tiny finite Field Silo hatch with a sloping roof and simultaneously climbing the sleeper without damage was an acquired skill and pure art form.

Those were the days. Our Harvest usually took about 2 months to complete, from December through to January, almost unheard of in these trendy times.