Tractor woes
You know how it goes...you get along for a couple of years thinking a piece of equipment might be helpful, but you just can't really justify it. Then you purchase it and can no longer function without it!
That's me.
I got along without a tractor fine, but then I purchased one about a year ago at the Spanish Fork Farm Auction and it has proven itself to be a tool I cannot work without! It is a Massey Ferguson F-40 and is around 60 years old. This old beast still gets along great, has a front end loader that I've been using to move dirt and all. I have been able to borrow my buddy's box scraper to level out my dirt and try to prepare for the lawn to come in.
Then it happened...the tractor ceased to function.
I was driving it into the shop, unloading a barrel (about 500 pounds!) with the front end loader and I pushed in the clutch to stop and it didn't...it kept running into my shop!
Well, I tugged it out of gear and got the thing stopped, unloaded the barrel and moved back to the front dirt (where a front yard would be if there was anything green there!) and sure enough it seemed the clutch had died. I took off the inspection cover and right there on the bottom was the head to a screw...it seems to be one that holds in a spring so the clutch has died and I need to replace it.
To make sure, I headed over to my neighbor who restores John Deere tractors for fun and he confirmed...I have to split the tractor.
Now if you don't know what that means...it's bad. Very bad.
Unlike a car, tractors do not have a frame they are built around, they just are and you sit on them. It's like a person...people have bones and their organs (heart, lungs, etc.) are all held together with structure that hooks to the bones. Well, cars have bones...tractors do not. Tractors (at least old ones) just have a heart and lungs that are hooked together, you sit on it and go! That means when something bad happens...like the clutch going bad, you have to unbolt the thing and basically rip it apart right down the middle!
That's where I'm at now. My neighbor helped me remove the front end loader, I've moved it into the shop and removed all the screws...now I'm trying to convince this 60-year-old animal that it wants to come apart in the center. Currently it's winning, but I'm sure I'll be the ultimate victor!
Enough typing for now...back to the greasy tractor...
That's me.
I got along without a tractor fine, but then I purchased one about a year ago at the Spanish Fork Farm Auction and it has proven itself to be a tool I cannot work without! It is a Massey Ferguson F-40 and is around 60 years old. This old beast still gets along great, has a front end loader that I've been using to move dirt and all. I have been able to borrow my buddy's box scraper to level out my dirt and try to prepare for the lawn to come in.
Then it happened...the tractor ceased to function.
I was driving it into the shop, unloading a barrel (about 500 pounds!) with the front end loader and I pushed in the clutch to stop and it didn't...it kept running into my shop!
Well, I tugged it out of gear and got the thing stopped, unloaded the barrel and moved back to the front dirt (where a front yard would be if there was anything green there!) and sure enough it seemed the clutch had died. I took off the inspection cover and right there on the bottom was the head to a screw...it seems to be one that holds in a spring so the clutch has died and I need to replace it.
To make sure, I headed over to my neighbor who restores John Deere tractors for fun and he confirmed...I have to split the tractor.
Now if you don't know what that means...it's bad. Very bad.
Unlike a car, tractors do not have a frame they are built around, they just are and you sit on them. It's like a person...people have bones and their organs (heart, lungs, etc.) are all held together with structure that hooks to the bones. Well, cars have bones...tractors do not. Tractors (at least old ones) just have a heart and lungs that are hooked together, you sit on it and go! That means when something bad happens...like the clutch going bad, you have to unbolt the thing and basically rip it apart right down the middle!
That's where I'm at now. My neighbor helped me remove the front end loader, I've moved it into the shop and removed all the screws...now I'm trying to convince this 60-year-old animal that it wants to come apart in the center. Currently it's winning, but I'm sure I'll be the ultimate victor!
Enough typing for now...back to the greasy tractor...
posted by Pastor Tom at 6:41 PM
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