Weekend Fun...

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


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.



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.....

Unobtainium....

A lot of the parts for old tractors, machinery, and other vehicles, seems to be made from that rare element - "Unobtainium". This is that EXTREMELY rare material that almost all obsolete and non-existent spares are made from.

I've found that a LOT of gaskets are made from Unobtainium....

Oh sure, you can get gaskets for the motor, radiators, and a few others, but if you tear a 1937 Farmall F-12 (or a HOST of other machines...) down to "bare bones" (every last nut, bolt, cotter pin, and washer....), you had BETTER be ready to make a LOT of them on your own - and a couple of them are BIG gaskets - like the one under the transmission cover. This one measures in at around 33" x 15" - and NOBODY carries it "off the shelf". It's a special order or you make it yourself.



Since it was over $100 to "special order" it, I decided to make it on my own. A 10-20 has a similar gasket - and a few more - that nobody makes for an affordable price, so it is a good thing I learned how at a young age. In addition to making them, try to store them as flat as possible - sandwiching them between two good pieces of card board does wonders.

In addition to gaskets, other parts are hard to find, even though they are not real expensive when you DO find them, it takes time, energy, and perseverance to hunt down and kill.....er.....FIND that part.

These parts are known in the scientific world as "Elusivids" - you hunt, and hunt, chase leads, and chase leads, then come up empty, only to jump when you hear the next rumor that someone has one.

These are usually parts that are simple to make - if you had the right tools. If you go to the machine shop, they charge you $200 for a $10 part (if someone actually made it).

I ran into a couple of these for my F-12 - the "Brake Countershaft Spacer".

These little gizmos aren't much to look at, but do important work in there, behind the brakes - and pretty scarce to buy off the shelf.

Luckily, I know somebody with a metal lathe...

He turned these out in no time, and all I needed to do was a little final polishing and burnishing (the old one is on the left).



Next, there are the "Brokenoids" - stuff you THINK you've found, only to open the box, and find them worn out beyond use, or have broken parts. Usually, the bad parts are Elusivids, so you know what you have to do there.

Still other parts are classified under the heading of "Goneivites" - they are just plain missing - the only thing left is where it bolted on. Not only are these hard to find - most people (nor books) can even tell you what one LOOKS like. Sometimes you get lucky, and get a quick look at a grainy black and white photograph from 1938 that shows a GLIMPSE of one, but that's about it.

The good thing is - you can fabricate a new one, and make it look just about however you want because nobody really knows what it looks like anyhow.

Then there are the "Unknowbians". These are those mystery parts that are THERE, but nobody can tell you just what they are actually FOR...(In German they are called "Vhatinzeeheck"). In fact, if you ask 10 different people, you'll get five different answers, and the other five will agree with the first five....

Go figure.

Usually, you have two choices - remove the part, and act like it was never there, or leave it on so at Tractor Shows - when someone asks what it's for - you can baffle them with some long winded explanation as to what it is ( in other words - BS them to death....).

These are just some things we deal with on old machines.

You don't EVEN want to know what a "MFSOBGDW" is......

(HINT -- It's what appears when you drop your newly found Elusivid on the concrete floor, and it shatters......commonly called "paint peelers")

Getting Hard To Find.....

I've found out recently, that some things are getting hard to find - not EXPENSIVE, really, just hard to find. It seems that just about everything I work on, I run into SOMETHING that isn't made anymore - mainly do to "lack of demand".


Basically - my tractor is the only one in the world that that certain part has failed.....

Sometimes, it's due to "outside influences", such as the price of scrap. It used to be, you'd drive down country roads, and see the fence lines full of old machinery. Not so now. Scrap prices have "encouraged" a lot of farmers to clean up around the place.

I, on the other hand, am still fond of bringing stuff ONTO the place, rather then see it cut up, and shipped to China....

Mr Jones runs and HIDES when he sees my place! When someone asks - on that RARE occasion - I tell them that I am "Doing my part to lower property taxes".

When a friend gave me my 1928 McCormick-Deering 10-20 last month, there were a few parts that were "damaged".....ok BROKEN. One being the water manifold that connects to the head, and the radiator. One of the "ears" on the mounting flange was broken off. Luckily, he save the pieces.

Since he also is a pretty good welder and fabricator, I handed the whole thing back to him for welding before I lost the broken piece. A couple days ago, He brought it back - all brazed up nice.




All that was left for me to do, was to clean it up, and blend out his brazing bead.




It's actually a pretty easy process - you start with an Angle grinder (with a wheel made for non-ferrous material when you are working on non-ferrous materials...), to cut the rough spots down, then use a Dremel tool, or die grinder, or file, or even sand paper to finish blending it out. I also use a sanding disc on my drill to help. On the "face" a good belt sander will flatten it out nice.

I haven't done it to this yet, but I will take a good metal Scribe, and "burnish" the out side. This just uses friction heat to do a final "polishing".

Now, at first, I wasn't going to use this manifold on my tractor - it would have hung around as a "spare", because I KNEW I could find another one pretty easy. I also knew I had another 10-20 heading my way. Unfortunately - that tractor was missing the manifold.

Scratch one idea.

So, I tried sending out a few "feelers" to see if anyone had one. I got a few "just sold the extra one I had", and even one guy who told me he "I wish I knew you needed one, I just took a load of scrap to the junkyard, and I KNOW there was a good one on it...."


AAAARRRRGGGGGH!

Oh well, at least I know!

Unless that part is so far gone, it would be pretty darn near impossible to fix, I try to keep it for spares. You never know - even the "common" parts now, might not be so easy to find next year....

Deja Vu.....

During August of 2010, a friend gave me this 1937 Farmall F-20. It was nothing but the frame, gas tank, and a "pile of parts". My wife didn't think much of it when she saw it being dragged off the trailer, and even less while it was sitting outside in the yard - in full view from her office....



Well, after several long hours cleaning, repairing, priming and some paint, the old girl actually RUNS! I still have some work to do, but it is a good feeling to actually hear the thing run. It got too cold to paint, so that will need to wait for spring.



I've also spent some time on other tractors, but this one is my favorite.....

Or at least it is my favorite NOW.

Since my birthday is in a couple weeks (January 22nd in case anyone wants to send gifts....), the same friend gave me another tractor. He ran across one that had more original things on it, had a better motor, and a few other things, so he asked me if I wanted it.

It took me a few nano-seconds, but I told him "If I GOTTA...." (Right).

So, he brought it over the other day, and unloaded it with his Skidsteer.

Deb was summarily impressed with the condition of THIS tractor, too - although, she's adapting rather well to seeing old iron being dragged in. She actually LIKES this tractor - it's a 1928 McCormick-Deering 10-20 - one of the style she has deemed "cute".

I'm not sure the designers back in the teens and 20's ever thought to put "cute" into their machines, but I guess it happened anyway.

There is a story that, when John Deere redesigned their line of tractors in the 1930's from "unstyled" to "styled" they realized that a farmer's wife had more input into what tractor he bought, then most of them would admit. Hence, the better LOOKING the tractor, the better it sold.

International Harvester also found out the same thing when they changed from grey paint to red paint - red just sells better.

This particular tractor has a LONG way to go before it lives again, but at least it is a start:



It's like "Deja vu all over again...."

I get a frame and a "Pile 'O Parts"



Now, I just gotta figure out what I need, clean some parts, dream a little (lot), and gradually get it back on it's "feet".

I might even convince Deb to drive this one.....

Reached A "Sticking" Point....

Well, as you know, I got the old Farmall "C" to fire over (FINALLY) So there was tinkering fun to do this past week. One of the first things I did was to evict Mr. Jungle Mouse from the torque tube of the tractor.



He had to be some sort of acrobat - this hole is on the underside of a slick, round tube, and is about 30" in the air (depending on how much air is in the tires....).
I can envision a furry little creature in a loin cloth, swinging on a piece of baling twine, yelling "AHHHHAAAAAA", as he swings from the brake pedals to his "tree" house.



One small misstep, and he'd plummet the equivalent of about 30 stories (in mouse measurements), only to dust himself off, climb back on, and try again.

I'd imagine that his "Jane" probably stayed home all day to tend to the little "Cheetahs"......

Going over the edge from the top would have pretty exciting for him. It would have been a fun, head first slide of about 12" straight down over a cliff, then a 6" jump through the air back UP to the inside of the tube.

At any rate - they've been evicted now. I dug in there with "Chinese Fingers", a screwdriver, and a wire with a hook on one end. I pulled enough "bedding" out of there to STUFF a large coffee can - not to mention all of the dirt, dried grease, and other crud. No WONDER the tires were flat.....

Then came the big day - the first "test drive" of the "C". I dreamed about it the night before (when I wasn't laying awake, waiting for daylight so I could go DO it....). I did chores, a few other things around the house, then headed out to see what I could see.

I climbed into the seat, pushed the clutch pedal down, Put the transmission is 1st gear, and pulled the starter rod (I left the switch OFF, just in case)....and the tractor started to roll forward with the clutch depressed.

Speaking of depressed - it was not a GOOD feeling when I realized the clutch was stuck. It wasn't unexpected, but depressing, none the less. The problem is - on these tractors, to do any clutch work, except minor adjustments, the tractor usually has to be "split".

On this size machine, that's not ALL that hard, but I sure as heck didn't want to do it. There MUST be another way.

I called a friend, and asked what he'd do.

He promptly told me to "run into a tree". Well, that's not too bad of advice - gently bumping a tree CAN dislodge a stuck clutch - BUT - the tractor was still in the barn, and hadn't had it's "maiden voyage" yet. I for SURE didn't want to run it into the wall or the barn.

His next suggestion was to :

Jack one rear tire off the ground
Block the clutch pedal down
Put the transmission in 4th gear
"Bump" the tire over by hand

Well, I was skeptical, and SOMETHING didn't seem quite right, but I got the tractor jack out, and proceeded to try it - I was game to try pretty much anything before splitting the tractor...

It was pretty easy to turn (bump) the tire over, and I kept watching the fan blade turn as I did it. All I was doing was spinning a tire and having the cats laugh at me. Other than that, nothing.

I was running out of options, when a little light bulb came on over my head (I turned on the trouble light hanging from the ceiling....), and it dawned on me - this was just turning the motor, what it NEEDED was something to "break torque".

I climbed back on the seat (with the rear tire still off the ground), put the transmission in 1st gear, held the clutch pedal down, and pulled the starter rod (switch was still off). The airborne wheel started to turn slowly....

As the wheel turned (sounds like a soap opera..), I stomped down on the brakes as hard as I could 4-5 times. All of a sudden, the wheel STOPPED turning. At that point I KNEW the clutch was free. My depression had just turned to elation.

Since it was too late in the day for a test drive, so I settled for a "forward and back" maneuver 3-4 times inside the barn.

It was the first time in 30+ years the tractor had moved under it's own power!

I was happy, the tractor was happy, the cats had lost interest -

And I didn't feel ONE BIT of remorse at evicting Tarzan....

Air, Fire, Gas....

A few months back - if you recall - I happened upon a 1949 International Harvester "C" in a barn nearby. I talked with the owner for 2-3 years before he finally decided to let it go. It was COVERED in - for lack of a better, usable, term - "Pigeon Paint".

A friend of mine hauled it home for me, and I proceeded to scrape and even SAND the years (and many coats) of the thickly applied coating left behind by the birds. It was not a "fun" task....

After a few weeks, I had it in fairly good condition - at least it was good enough to work on without coming up with Pigeon Paint on me or my clothes - so I set about trying to get the thing running.

As everyone knows, the things needed for a motor to start are:

Air
Fuel
Compression
Spark and
Timing

The first thing I did was take off the carburettor and clean it out. Nothing too in depth there - it was pretty clean for sitting 30+ years. Next came the distributor. I pulled the condenser, filed the points, and cleaned everything up. Even the plugs came out for cleaning and inspection.

Online, I found an electrical schematic that was close to what I needed, and replaced every wire on the tractor (ok, there are only 5 or 6....), complete with soldered ends.

Then the day arrived - the first attempt at bringing the beast back to life after all those years being abused by birds. I hooked up the battery, pulled the switch, hit the starter and......


RRRRRRR.......RRRRRRR.......RRRRRRR......

A whole lot of spinning, but no STARTING, no coughing, no sputtering, no nothin'.
Nothing except a lot of aggravation.

A friend came over, and we made sure the timing was right, the points were right, the plugs were right, and ran through everything 3-4 times. Still, the tractor was playing it's game with us - and WINNING. We couldn't get the thing to fire of for nothing.

So, over the past week or two, I've been tinkering with it an hour or two a day, in between everything else. I've gone over EVERYTHING a couple dozen times, to no avail. It all came down to this afternoon.....

I put a rebuild kit in the carb, tried another set of points, different plugs, and a whole lot of words to make a sailor blush. All did NOTHING toward getting the thing to "pop".

I even resorted to threatening to paint the thing green and setting it out for "yard art" (it shivered a bit at the green paint, but remained stubborn....). I decided to just pack it in for the day - even though it was only 2:30 - and go inside and check a few things on the computer, and text a friend.

It was somewhere around this point that I recalled an old skit that Cheech & Chong did in the 1970's - one about trying to start a car.

Cheech is grinding the starter saying "Come on baby, come on baby....", and Chong asks him if he has any gas. "We can't be outta gas - I put 59¢ worth in two days ago"!

Then the "great epiphany" happened.....

"Did you CHECK THE AIR IN THE TIRES"?

Well, that there was about the only thing left I DIDN'T check! I texted my friend that I was going to go out and air up the rear tires, and see if it made any difference. He probably thought I was nuts, but that's a whole nuther story....

The floor in my barn has never been smoothed out, so it has a nice "bump" about half way in from the front door. Naturally, the fully inflated front tires were sitting dead center on top of this bump - and the two rear tires were flatter than a super model.

So, I get out the air compressor, plug it in, and proceed to air up the tires. Once they were full, the tractor set CONSIDERABLY less "nose up".

The main thing was - the fuel line actually had a DROP in it, instead of forcing the fuel to "climb" to get to the carb (I suppose, if I could afford to fill the tank, it would feed better, too).

Well, I said a quick little prayer, laughed a little to myself, and pulled the stater rod.......

And she fired up after a couple spins. She didn't run LONG, but she RAN! I still need to "tweak" things, but at least I know she does run!

I guess the moral of this story is - don't let anyone tell you that checking the air in the tires won't help you start whatever it is you are trying to start!

It might not be the "air" you'd think of when you list what it takes to start an engine, but it was worth the time it took to check on it this time!

Good luck, and go check your tires.......

Hooves, Paws, Teeth, Tractors and Cuds....

I had some help this past week - some actually "helpful", and others annoying, but all of it unsolicited.

The "annoying" part came from the cats and cows. The cats didn't really join in, they just sat back and told us how to do things, then zipped across in front of us a "opportunistic" times when we least expected it. They also rearranged parts on the workbench.

I wish they'd CLEAN it while they were there, instead of playing with stuff....

Mostly, they holler about wanting fed more than twice a week......

The NERVE of some people.

Then, the cows got into the act. They all stand outside of the barn door, waiting (impatiently) to get in to be fed. If I am taking too long (in their minds...), they start knocking at the door.

"Knock, knock...."

"Who's there"?

"The COW....".

"The cow, WHO..."?

"Don't mess with me - I weigh 900 pounds, I'm hungry, and I can squish you like a grape".

If I am too slow at getting the door open, the offending cow (take your pick, they ALL have it figured out) bounces the door, causing the chain and hook to dislodge, and allowing the pointy faced cow to stick her nose in, open the door, and waltze right in.

I snookered them this week, though - I installed a different door latch - one that holds the door tight against the barn.



So, now they knock on the door, pause, knock louder, then LOUDER, then.....

Grumble because they have to wait.

Poor bovine.

I DID actually get some GOOD help from Honey the other day, though. I still can't lift much, so I wheel a bale out to the cows with my "Bale Buggy" cart. I just roll it up to the feeder, cut the twines, and put it in. I've gotten to the point where I can even just roll the bale off the cart, and into the feeder - then cut the twine.

Honey saw me rolling the bale one day, and decided to lend a hand....er...hoof....er CUD. I had one end of the bale, and Honey grabbed the other end. She lifted most of the weight straight up. All I had to do was flip my end over the feeder. When she let go (with a mouthful of hay), the whole thing dropped right into where it belonged.

I wish she'd help every day....

A couple days later, Yani lent a paw - or teeth. There I was, minding my own business, skinning a deer in the barn, when I feel a huge tug on the fur.



She sure was adamant about getting the skin off. I suspect her motivation was me taking too long, and her wanting a good, fresh bone to chew on.

I also had help on my tractor! Last Saturday, I got a phone call about 2:00 PM. It was a friend who said he was in town, and wondered if I needed help on anything, he said he'd be going right by, so it was no problem to stop.

We went to the barn, and tore into the F-12, and took the transmission completely apart. Right down to "bare bones". I just need to clean the "muck" out of the case, clean all the parts, make some gaskets, then start putting it back together -

if I remember how....




Now I have more parts laying on the bench for the cats to play with....

Absence of Mallets....

It one of those classic things where you use a tool, lay it down, and it disappears forever.....

There I was, working on my Farmall F-20. It was late July, 2011. I was working "intermittently" because I had several projects I needed to do before having back surgery the first week in August. I needed to finish part of the "Speed Control" lever so I could install it.

It was one of those deals where I had TWO of the correct part - and BOTH were broken. This made it necessary for me to make a whole new part.

I got about 1/4 done with it before time ran out.

Well - since I'm not able to do a WHOLE lot, I finally decided to get busy on finishing that piece. Last week, I got the thing MADE, but still had to grind it down, "dry" fit it, grind it some more, make sure it fit, then prime and paint it.

Yesterday afternoon, it was finally ready to install for keeps.

I loosen a bolt holding another bracket in the way, deftly slide my masterpiece in place, and "pop" it onto the swivels where it belongs....almost.

It wouldn't budge - I needed a hammer.

Not just ANY hammer, mind you, I needed a rubber mallet so I wouldn't mar my nice, fresh, paint. Now, where IS that mallet.....? I looked high and low, far and wide, and still couldn't find the durn thing. I knew I had had it the last time I worked on this part - just before surgery, so I figured it would be hanging around where I last used it.

Nope.

Then, in the dark recesses of my mind, I VAGUELY remembered using it in the shop, so I trudged up the hill to retrieve it. Only trouble was, another even deeper thought reminded me that I used it there about 6 months ago....So I trudged back to the barn and tore the place apart....again.

After about an hour and a half, I gave up - one of the cats must have eaten the thing or - more likely - knew I'm looking for it, and have it hid. I decided that I HAD to get that thing in there, so I used a small piece of wood, and a claw hammer. Sure enough, it marred the paint...

Not THREE SECONDS after I smacked that wood block, I look up and over my left shoulder, and see the elusive mallet laying peacefully on top of the tractor's rear tire, right in plain sight.

Stupid mallet....

I Finded Them, I Did.....

Earlier this summer - the last week of June, to be exact - I did some horse trading for a "new" front end (bolster and rims) for my Farmall F-12.

The deal was, the man I bought them from would haul it to Albert Lea, Minnesota to the annual "Red Power Roundup" - a yearly event which gathers all kinds of International Harvestor fanatics from all over the country (it's held in a different location each year....). Once he got them to RPRU, then ANOTHER friend would haul it back to my place (since I couldn't go).

Well, I was waiting with "baited breath" (which means it smelled like chum....) for my bolster to arrive. FINALLY, here comes Kirk down the drive and pulls to a stop next to my truck.

The first thing he does is hand me SOMETHING - I'm not real sure what it was. My excitement and attention was on the bolster. At any rate, it takes us two, a gorilla, and a couple of midgets to wrestle that thing into the loader bucket of the tractor. We figured it weighed about 3 tons. I dumped it on the ground in front of the F-12, where it would wait for another day when I could take it apart, clean, and paint it.

That day came about two weeks later. I pulled up my "barn chair" (and old, salvaged kitchen chair...), and proceeded to take the thing apart.

THAT'S when I discovered there were supposed to be 20 clamps - I had only 18.

After making a fool of myself by posting on a forum about needing the other two, the man I bought it from posted that he sent two with Kirk - and Kirk informed me that he handed them to me the first thing.

Yeah, RIGHT.....

I tore apart the truck, I tore apart the car, the barn, the HOUSE, the shop, even the chicken coop. I had all the birds lined up, and threatened them with a hatchet, but nobody knew where those two clamps went.

Today, over two months later, I decide to go out and do a little "something" to the F-12, so I go ahead and untarp her. As I'm looking around for a small item or two to take loose and clean up, I notice a couple of small "lumps" in the tool box of the tractor.

Yup. There those clamps sat...



So I got them all cleaned up and painted this afternoon.

I dunno. Maybe Kirk was just messing with my mind and stuck them there....

It's one of those cases where you say "I'll put them RIGHT HERE, so they won't get lost......."

Either that, or it was those darn cats - nothing is sacred to them.

See What I "C"....

Awhile back - 4-5 years, in fact - a friend told me about an old IH "Farmall" tractor that was sitting in a barn not far from my house. He told me he had been trying to talk the owner into selling it to him for about 10 years - until he finally gave up.

Well, I figured that, since he'd given up, I'd give it a try, so I asked the owner to think about selling it.

That was about 3 years ago....

He thought long and hard about it, and we finally got together on a price a couple of days ago. He needs it out of his barn, and I need it IN mine!

This particular tractor is a 1949 IH "C". It's been sitting for several years, but the motor is not stuck. It's one of those IH tractors from close by that I'm sure my Dad had is "finger prints" all over (Dad was Head Mechanic and Parts Man for the local IH dealer...). While Dad never OWNED the tractor, I know he ran it quite a few times.

Right now, she's covered in "Pigeon Poop", but I told the man I got it from that I'd give it a good home and make sure to get her running. The first thing that needs done is a BATH!





I know, my lovely wife HAS to be wondering what in the WORLD do I need another tractor for....especially one that has been "repainted" by the birds. Well - even though the first tractor I drove on my own was a Ford, my first love has always been Farmalls.

NOTHING beats a RED tractor! Even if it only USED to be Red!

Besides, I have to keep up with her brother - he has 5 tractors, so I figure I have to keep - at least - tied with him.



Hopefully, I can at least get this one running without too much difficulty. Then, I can start looking for the NEXT one I want...

I think I need a bigger barn....

F-20 Parts...

Well, since I ain't allowed to do too awful much, I still have a FEW (REALLY few...) parts I can work on for the old tractors. I am almost out of stuff to work on until I can get some more ready, but at least I will be that much closer to getting the F-20 running - and have less to work on when I DO get back to being able to work on stuff.

Today, I decided that it was time to get to work on this part - it's part of the "speed" control of the tractor. It adjusts the governor response - and thereby - the "throttle" of the engine. The old one was in pretty bad shape, and had been welded a couple of times before I got it. It has since become cracked again, so I decided to just make a new one. It won't be QUITE original, but only the Originality Police will notice.

Here is what the end of the old one looks like:



The "extra" piece welded to the side isn't supposed to be there! As you can see, the hole was getting pretty close to the edge of the metal in that area, too.

I've actually had the metal for this around for a couple months, but just didn't get time to work on it. I measured and bent most of it in my vise, but then took it to a neighbor's anvil to finish the job. It's not PERFECT - but it will do nicely for what it is used for. I have a little more grinding to do, then prime and paint, then I get to take a few parts loose in order to get it installed!

Here is a photo showing the old and the new:



I'll still hang on to the old one, just in case I ever want to "build it up and grind it down", but for now, it will go into the "dead pile".

I'm just glad the "old timers" found the need to do things simple so the average guy in the field could do things to fix it.

I've got a few other "home-made" parts on the old girl, but I ain't saying WHERE...

And nobody - not even the "Originality Police" will be able to tell....

Brought Another One Home

Albeit - this one isn't staying long....maybe....

My wife's brother has been looking for a small square baler in case his two Allis-Chalmers Roto-balers run aground. He's been on the look-out for about 2 years now, until this one finally came up. It's an Internationl Harvestor #46 Baler from the early 1960's.





I got it from a friend's brother about 15 miles away. It looks to be in good condition, but it will need "tinkering" to get it to work like it was supposed to. It was also pretty clean - for the most part - but there are always spots on things like this that collect crud. One of those spots is the knotter assemblies.





The nice thing on these balers is that, you take one bolt out, and the whole assembly rotates up so you can work on it. I decided to turn one up, hit it with some cheap dollar store oven cleaner, then hose it off after a few minutes. It did wonders on removing the build up. Now, a guy can see what he's doing on the thing.




Things will need polished up and adjusted - along with the right size twine put in, but once everything gets done up correctly, this should make a fine baler.

This morning, I took it to town and blasted it off at the car wash (not to worry, it was mostly de-crudded before I left here - just the nasty stuff was left). It's not "squeaky" clean now, but close to it. I did the same thing to my New Holland baler when I got it, and am glad I did. It not only cleaned things up, but showed me where any leaks were so I could take care of them. It also uncovered any wire or twine that was hanging from places it should have been - in addition to making it easier to work on.

At any rate, I wish I had some 7200 Sisal twine - I have to bale hay in a week or two, and I'd like to try it out. You never know, though, it MIGHT be here awhile...

The way it is now, we might need to put a boat hull under it to get it across the Missouri River to her brother's house....

There's A Hole In The Bucket, Dear Liza, Dear Liza

I can remember when I was much younger, and what the fields looked like on this place. Nice green pastures, big Cottonwood trees down by the ditches, and wide spaces between the ditches that Dad baled hay, and cows grazed peacefully.

That was before the infestation of the Cedar trees....

Now, there are places back there that a rabbit needs a chainsaw to get through. It's a huge battle - one the trees seem to be winning. When my wife's dad saw those cedars when we first bought the place, his first comment was "Pray for lightning....".

Well, it's not exactly lightning, but they will get "toasted" eventually. The first part of the process is to cut them down.

That is where my neighbor comes in. He has a nice, heavy-duty tree shear mounted on his skid steer. One of those big units that can chomp through a tree 18" thick. Over the last few days, he has been out there, chomping as many trees as he can, and I have been out there trying to keep the downed trees out of his way.

We've only been at it for about 4-5 hours total, but have gotten a pretty good "dent" in the "forest". Unfortunately, there are several thousand of the little weeds out there.

Yesterday afternoon, we spent about 2 hours at it. When I got back to the house, I fell off the tractor and discovered I wasn't the only one hurting.



The bucket was never in real great shape - it was rusted through in places and getting REAL thin. Now, there is a "head sized" hole in the back of it! It's not real weldable, either, the metal is just about wore out, and corroded to death - it would be like trying to weld a pop can - only a rusty one.

I have been on the lookout for a different bucket since we got the tractor 2 years ago. I guess I'll have to step up my efforts.

The Stuff Is Like GLUE....

I'm getting close to the point where I NEED to put the front end together on the Farmall F-20 Project Tractor.

I say NEED because - I NEED to get it rolling so I can clean out the barn when spring does finally arrive for good. It won't be RUNNING, but all four feet have to be under it so it can be moved. The thing about F-20's is - they weigh close to 4500 pounds - just the "chassis" (rear-end, front end, transmission and frame) weigh in at well over a ton and 1/2.

This makes them very stubborn to move without being able to roll them without wheels....

Well, the ONE thing that has been holding me up besides warmer weather so I can "spot paint", is the little "Dust Shield" that goes on the front axle between the front legs. The one I took off was CAKED with 80 year-old mud and crud. Besides, it has mysteriously been torn asunder sometime during it's long lifetime - only about 2/3 of it remains.



I thought about cleaning it up and using it, trying to make one, and trying to BUY one, and even just plain leaving it off. I quickly became convinced I didn't want to use it, I didn't really WANT to make one, and I couldn't afford to buy one, if one could be found.

I didn't REALLY want to leave it off, either - I'm giving the Originality Police enough to lock me up and throw away the key as it is.

Then it occurred to me (actually, it had been gnawing at the back of my brain housing unit for some time, trying to get in, but I was efficient at ignoring it) - I have the old front end that came with the tractor, why not take the one from it?

It had been ignored for good reason. It's a ROYAL Pain in the you-know-what, to get that thing off of that shaft - you need to take apart the ENTIRE thing to get at a stupid piece of tin.

OK, I couldn't stand it any longer, so I went out today and just decided to take the thing off. My project was nearly halted before it was begun, though - water had seeped under the door of the barn, and had frozen the thing to the floor.

Not to be deterred, I grabbed a nearby 8' piece of pipe, and leveraged it (rather easily...) from it's icy bed. After removing the three or four parts that need taken off, the hard part began. I don't know what kind of lubricant they used in the 1930's, but that stuff is like TAR when it's cold out (and even when it's warm). It will stick ANYTHING together like Superglue.

It's the "Tarhesion" effect.....and aggravates old iron addicts world wide. It causes two parts to "bond" together, forming one fused piece. Mix a little "crud" in with it, and you have something that a chisel has trouble with.

I like to cal it "Tin-Crud-Chi" - the metal and crud have found their "Inner Chi", and become "one" with each other....

There was no way I was even going to try and lift the whole front end off of the ground, so I chained it to the door post, then used a "come-along" to PRY the shaft out of the casting. I was actually amazed at how well it worked. Of course, it DID help that one of the front rims was still in good enough shape to help things "roll" apart.

In about 45 minutes, I had the shaft out, and the dust cover ready to come off - except for the front rims. I still had to remove one rim, and loosen the other so my prize could slide by.

Now came the REALLY hard part - cleaning the dust cover and removing the "Crustation" that had built up over the years. A little soaking, a LOT of scraping, and chiseling, then a wire wheel treatment, and I FINALLY had something I could primer. Here it is beside the "old" cover.



In the end, I did a lot of work, for not much gain. Oh well, it needed done, and at least I can go ahead to the next item on the list....

THEY'RE AFTER ME.....!

I can hear the sirens (ok, in my head...) -

WHOOOO, WHAAA, WHOOOO, WHAAA, WHOOOO, WHAAA......!

HELP! IT'S THE ORIGINALITY POLICE!!!!

I found that the shifter handle on my Farmall F-20 has somehow managed to end up getting bent (I found this out AFTER I painted it, of course), so I began the search for a "new" one. Amongst the "rubble" of the nearby farmstead, there is the remains of an old Farmall "Regular" - and it had a gearshift handle sticking out of it. The Regular is the precursor of the F-20, so I had high hopes.

Two bolts, and it was MINE (insert sleazy, covetous laugh...)! I couldn't wait to get it home and compare it with my bent one. It was a little rusty from sitting outside all those years, but I can handle rust. After removing the "spring, washer, and cup", I had the "bare" handle to set beside the bent one.

It LOOKED the same, but was about 3" longer than the damaged one. About an hour later, I got an e-mail from a friend who had compared part numbers. He said that it would work, but those OP guys would have a "field day" (bad pun - sorry...) with it.

I've been to a few tractor shows over the years (although it took me several years to get to the one 12 miles from our house...). It's always funny to watch - and listen to - self proclaimed "experts" in the "field" (ok - another bad pun...).

I mean, there will be guys going over each machine until they FIND a fatal flaw in it's "originality".

"Well Ralph, the guy did a FAIR job on his restoration - BUT - you see that washer under that fender bolt? NO WAY that thing is original"

"Yeah, Wayne, I saw that. It's a crying SHAME, too. Some people just have NO respect...."

Meanwhile, the poor owner as been milling about, and over hears every word the two "cops" have said. Now he's scarred for life, and just wishes the show were over so he can crawl back under his rock and search for that elusive correct washer. His only hope is that someone will take pity on his soul, and let him redeem himself by offering to send him one from 200 miles away for just shipping and a "handling fee".

It's only AFTER the guy has spent $45 on the stupid washer, that he finds green paint on the bottom side, and learns it's from a John Deere - and he has an International Harvestor....

Now THAT can never happen, so the search begins again. He MUST find the correct piece - or risk having to either be shamed again at the show, or leave his tractor home.

After months of searching, hours of lost sleep, too much coffee (cream, two sugars...), lack of food, pulling out his hair, wearing the same clothes for weeks, not showering, never shaving (ok, I do this one...), racking up phone bills, loosing his job, becoming a hermit of Howard Hughes' porportions, spending more time with his tractor then his family, sending hundreds of e-mails, hogging the computer, and missing several family functions, he finds some guy in Nova Scotia who has the same tractor he has - and he has a SPARE WASHER!

Of course, now he has to pay "overseas shipping", extra "handling fees", and insurance.....

This is where the wife leaves him and takes the kids with her.

At least he has that washer, so now he can enjoy life.....

Until he finds out his wife wants the tractor as part of the divorce....

Oh well, she ends up with everything, so the straight jacket won't clash with his wardrobe.

Somebody's Messing With My Mind...

Granted, it ain't THAT hard to do, but REALLY...

I have been working on and off at finishing up with the small parts on the Farmall F-20. Nothing major, just a few pieces here and there. Mostly, I run them through a wire brush and clean them up real good in the barn, then bring them onto the porch to paint and dry.

One of the things from the original tractor that was broken was the seat spring. On these machines, that consists of a coiled spring made from 3/8" steel. The whole thing is about 6" tall and 2 inches wide.

Since it was broken, I needed to find another. The friend who gave me the tractor, told me to take the one off of his "parts" tractor. So, there we were, braving the cold wind on a Sunday afternoon in November, getting the spring and a few more parts off his machine.

We gathered up all the bolts, nuts, washers and - of course - my "prize" seat spring (amazing how simple things can bring so much joy...), and tossed everything into a small, one gallon plastic bucket.

I drove home with my pile of parts, and unloaded them from the truck.

Fast forward three days. I wanted to work at cleaning the seat spring, so I went out to the barn to collect it (and a few other small parts). No big deal, I'd just go grab it, and the bucket from off the bench, and bring it on in....

No big deal...

Except that the bucket was NOT ON the bench! I looked on, behind (although the bench is against the wall...), under, beside, and around the work bench, but it just wasn't there. Reasoning that I had left it in the truck, I even searched THERE.

Nope.

Time was getting short (and it was getting dark), so I abandoned the search until the next day, and the next, and the next, and....you get the idea.

That stupid bucket had run off and hid good. I even interrogated the cats, but they weren't talking. The search was widened out to include shelves in the back of the barn, shelves in the milk room, shelves in the feed room, on top, behind and under my hay baler, in the hay stack (those cats will do anything...). I even searched the shop, and CHICKEN HOUSE (you just never know what those chickens are capable of....).

It was a daily ritual, go to the barn, look everywhere because I might have missed someplace the day before, tour around the barn, in case I left it outside, and even search the pickup again in case I was sitting on it and didn't know, etc, etc.

I was beginning to think I had left it at my friend's house when I got the parts. I could envision it sitting out there, freezing in the cold, wind, and snow.

Then again, I could also envision it sitting on the work bench....

This went on for over two WEEKS. That *#^<* bucket was around somewhere, and I HAD to find it. I was gong crazy(er) trying to find it. The cats would scatter every time I mentioned the ordeal, for fear their situation might escalate to some form of water boarding or something.

Then, one day last week, I was out on the back porch messing with some other stuff when I noticed Peaches, our 4 1/2 month old Dachshund, with her hands on the rim of a 1 gallon plastic bucket, and her head stretched down inside to see what was in there.

I bet you can guess what was inside....

Yup. The seat spring and all the other stuff I had been searching for for all that time. The bad thing is, the bucket was in PLAIN sight - I had walked by it a couple hundred times during the course of my intrepid search. It was INCHES away from where I put on my coat every time I went out the door (several times a day). I had to have even KICKED the thing a few times on my way out.

To my credit, there was a part of a paper towel inside, on top of the parts, so if I even saw the bucket, the towel would have partially obscured the parts.

Hey, it's a feeble excuse - I know - but it's all I got.....

An Admission...

Winter is (almost) here by the calender. Since the weather usually never actually FOLLOWS the calender, it has started to turn cold early.

Now, in a "normal" year, this would not be a problem. THIS year, however, it poses a severe medical problem for me - one with no known cure.

I am here to stand up and say - Hi, my name is Scrounger, and I'm a Farmallaholic....

I have a severe case, too - my addiction goes back to childhood. I THOUGHT I had it under control. I hadn't been bothered by it in years. Oh, there was an occasional "flair up", but I was able to control myself (ok LACK OF FUNDS controlled it for me...).

Then IT happened.

A Farmall F-20 showed up in my driveway. It was in pieces, but that didn't matter. It might of actually FUELED me to work on it because it WAS such a daunting task. To make matters worse, it was a later model, one that came from the factory painted (my favorite color) Farmall RED.

Not that I would have turned it down if it were the older "Battleship" Grey IH had used before then - until they found out Red sells better. I'm still on the lookout for an older McCormick-Deering machine I can play with.....I mean WORK on.

The way I see it, if it was grey, then it would help me "ease out" of my addiction, and get back to "normal". So you see, I NEED a grey tractor to help me recover.

This is how "bad" I've become:



Freshly painted parts on the back porch. These are actually dry so I COULD take them out and put them on the shelf beside the rest of them. But then they'd be COLD....and they look so pretty where they are. Besides, I have to protect them from those evil cats.

To make it even WORSE - these are some I painted this morning, hanging from my wife's soap drying rack on the porch (ok, I'm not THAT far gone - I painted them outside, then brought them in to dry....):



At least I haven't kicked the soap off.....yet.

PLEASE, before I get into real trouble -

Somebody send me a grey tractor before I do something stupid....

Dead Cat Walking..........

Have I ever mentioned that cats are evil creatures, bent on world domination? They've done some nasty, vile stuff before, but THIS takes the cake:



If you look close, you will see some "spots" on the surface of my nice, freshly painted, 1937 Farmall F-20 Bell Housing. These spots look suspiciously like CAT PRINTS.

I have a John Deere fan loose in the barn!

(Ok, maybe a CAT fan....)

Whoever it was, I better not find out - I'll spray paint THEM red! Maybe I'll just shave an IH logo on their back (maybe both....). I know one thing - they sure are lucky they waited until the paint was dry. I can wipe these paw prints off, if it had been wet, they'd been IN the paint, instead of ON it.

It would have made finding the culprit easier, though, I could have looked for red feet....

As it is now, I might have to call in the cops to take "finger" prints, and track the perp down. Only thing is - jail is too good for THIS criminal. Another bad thing is, these little varmints are good at acting innocent. Not FIVE minutes after I find the crime, every one of the little *#@^+* so-and-so's is lined up by the cow, expecting fresh milk!

Not one SHRED of remorse in the lot!

Well, I can tell you this - NONE of them got milk on THIS particular morning......

....and it's gonna be a LONG while before I forget enough to give them any.

Another Freebee

My Dad worked on and farmed with IH tractors all his life. He worked at a dealer in town for several years, as a mechanic and parts man. There wasn't a lot he didn't know - or couldn't figure out - on those old machines.

While the first tractor I actually operated by myself was a Ford, my first love is IH. When we bought this farm, the first tractor I bought was an IH 460. It was a nice machine, but was getting a little hard to get on and off, so I had to get something a little more suited to me. I WISH I could have kept it, but I needed to trade it on something newer.

I found an IH 454. It was a nifty little tractor, but just didn't have the power or weight I needed. I used it for a couple years, then sold it in favor of my Ford 4000.

Well - about 3 weeks ago, I got an e-mail from a friend. He had been on the lookout for an old "F" Series Farmall for me. I told him "cheap". At this point, my lovely wife interjected "Free, would be nice....". The e-mail stated that he had found an F-20 for me. It was "in pieces, and not complete", but it was mine if I wanted it. I - of course - turned him down....

RIGHT

Yesterday, I rode with him down to nearly Salina, Kansas, to pick it up, and another F-20 for him. He had already made the trip 2-3 times to get 4-5 other tractors from the same place. It was an enjoyable trip, even with getting up at 3:45 am, feeding sleepy goats, and milking cranky cows - even the CATS were still asleep.

We made it down there by about 9:30, got the trailer loaded, and headed back home by 11:15 or so. We stopped to unload his machine at his Dad's place, then came on to unload mine here.

I don't think Deb is REAL impressed....

I had showed her a couple of F-20's at the tractor show we went to a couple weeks ago, so she knew what to expect - or THOUGHT she did.

Here's what we unloaded from the trailer:







It don't look like much, does it?

All of the rest of it is over at my friends house - he has a tractor that he needs the rear end out of, and I need the front half. One of these days I'll need to get the rest of it over here so I can start work. For now, I need to get the tires on and get it so we can roll it around some.

The steering wheel is off a newer model - probably an "H" or "M", but there is another steering rod with a good wheel on it in the pile, I'll just need to change it.

This isn't a "work" tractor - I wanted this for tinkering and maybe a show machine - more of a "play" tractor.

All-in-all, it's a pretty good deal. I told Deb that it was the best tractor to have - it uses ZERO fuel....

She's Gonzo....

Well - a couple of weeks ago I put my 1971 International Harvester 454 tractor up for sale.

After a few calls, a gentleman from Lubbock, Texas decided he'd buy it. He had a friend come and check it over for him on Friday, the 10th of October.

After the "Wheeling and Dealing" was over, we settled on a price and he sent the money to my bank.

That's when the problems started.......

The first thing was, since it was a 'holiday' weekend (Columbus Day) on the 13th, his bank was closed (our bank was open, however..). By the time we haggled, it was to late on Friday for his bank to send the money. He had a trailer lined up and was ready to go but, we both decided to wait until the money was in the bank before the tractor left. That meant it would be Tuesday before the bank would have it.

THEN...

His friend that had looked at the tractor (and was also supposed to haul it to Texas for him....) called on Saturday the 11th and told us his triple axle, goose neck trailer had been stolen from the truck stop in Lincoln (that truck stop has a reputation for things "coming up missing" and vandalism...). He wanted to know if I knew where he could rent one. He tried everywhere and came up empty, so he left for Lubbock without the tractor.

(On a side note - The same truck stop had a Semi-trailer stolen from it on the 17th. It was a trailer marked "Swift" - a meat packing plant. Whoever stole it probably thought it was full of meat. It was, however, loaded with 21 tons of dog food....)

They called a couple of days ago and told me that they had bought a trailer in Texas and were headed our way. After going about 35 miles out of their way, and missing our turn-off (I watched them zoom past....), they finally got up here at about 9:15 this morning.

We were up at the end of the drive at 8:30, waiting for their arrival.



They parked in the middle of the road and loaded her up there. It took about an hour and 15 minutes to chain it down but, they headed back to Texas at about 10:30.



I did a lot of work with this tractor. It's no "farming" tractor, but it does make a pretty nice loader machine. It has "Hydrostatic Steering", so steers really well in tight places. He wants to use it to load used railroad ties, so it should be great for that.

I needed a bigger tractor so I had to sell it in order to afford a bigger one.

Here's Romper, saying goodbye to it as they drove away.....



Like I said, it's been a good machine for me, but it time to move on to something better....