If you run across a post where the photo's aren't showing
please contact me so I can fix the links!


Monday, March 26, 2012

Weekend Fun...

WAY back in August of 2010, a friend of mine told me he had an old tractor I could have...
1937 Farmall F-20

It wasn't much to look at - just a frame and a pile of parts. My lovely wife just shook her head when she saw it being dragged of the trailer.

New Toy

Her dad said "THAT will take a LOT of work..." I figured that a lot of the work was already done - there wasn't much left to tear apart.....

Then, last November, it was to the point where - with the help of a friend - we got her started. I had had back surgery, so I couldn't even TURN the crank, let alone pull it hard enough to actually start the tractor. But - at least - she DID run. Here is a link to the blog post from back then POKE HERE.

Well - that's when I hit the "brick wall" The ONE FINAL thing I needed was 85w140 gear oil for the rear-end, transmission, and axles. When I checked around, the average price was in the $10 to $12 a gallon range - and I needed 8 gallons.
So - there she sat, in the barn, gathering dust for lack of funds for oil. At least it was winter - if it had been spring or summer, I'd have been bummed!

At least, over the past 4-5 months, my back has gotten better. Ever so often, I'd walk by my lonely tractor, and attempt to turn that crank handle. It slowly got better - to the point I felt confident that I could actually START the motor, instead of having someone else do it. By mid-February, I knew I'd be able to get her going when I did find money for oil.

Enter "Spring Cleaning"....

I've been hauling a few things to scrap lately - more stuff then I figured I even HAD. Then, one day last week, my lovely wife tells me "Why don't you use some of the money from scrap to buy that oil for your tractor?"

Well - my arm had done been twisted!` I hurriedly loaded up some more stuff, and headed out to the scrapyard the next day. It was a day or two, before I got things to the point where I could put any of the oil in the tractor, but I FINALLY got it done Saturday afternoon. THEN....

We had to leave, so my fun was over for the day....

Sunday dawned warm and sunny. I went out and milked the cows, fed the chickens, got mauled by the cats wanting their breakfast, and then fed me. Afterwards, I mosied out to the barn to give everything a final "once over" and to make sure things were greased up.

Then, I called a friend to come over to make sure I didn't "blow anything up".

He came over about 4:00 in the afternoon, and checked things out. I had already put gas in, so we were ready to go. I grabbed the crank handle, gave it a few turns, and she coughed to life! The FIRST time I had ever been able to start her!

We tinkered here and there, shut her off a couple times, tinkered some more, the Kirk said "You can back her out - if you want to...."

NAW, I'll pass....

RIGHT! I was up in the seat in a flash, moved the gearshift into reverse, let out on the clutch, and...

NOTHING MOVED.

I mashed down on the clutch again, then put the gearshift ALL THE WAY into reverse, let the clutch out once more, and we started rolling backwards out of the barn.

We had pulled and pushed that old F-20 around the yard, into and out of the barn, and re-arranged it while IN the barn, but this was the first time she ever rolled around under her own power!

She was running a little rough, but smoothed down more and more the longer she ran. We tinkered some more, and I FINALLY was able to take a trip around the yard.



We drove it around for awhile, then tinkered some more, and finally shut her off for the day.
I still need to adjust a few things, and - of course - paint, but she's pretty close to DONE.

Can't wait for show season.....

No comments:

Post a Comment