Tractor Part 2

We are learning that everything takes at least twice as long as we think it will – especially if it involves a large piece of equipment.  After our 1945 Ford 2N tractor started and ran with really very little effort on Wednesday evening, we were excited to get it out to the farm (and off the driveway) so that we could take advantage of its mechanical advantage.  There were a few things that needed to happen first though.  The front right tire wasn’t holding air and was visibly very worn out and the battery was quite dead (it was stamped 1980). 

This was the plan:  Get up Friday morning, pick up the trailer from Sunflower Rental, load the tractor, go by the tire shop and then stop by Lawrence Battery for a new battery.  We had high hopes to be done with that by noon so that we could play around with the tractor a little before going to pick up the kids in Emporia at 3:30.  Needless to say, that isn’t quite what happened!  ;-)

We got around a little bit late on Friday morning after being up late several nights last week, so Jeremy got underway to pick up the trailer about 8:30 or so.  Our neighbor who helped us get it running on Wednesday recommended a tire place – K’s tires – and we called to see if they had a correctly sized tire in stock.  They did and since the trailer was at our house and the tractor already ran, I told them we’d be there in about half an hour.  Everything was moving along more or less as planned.

As I walked out of the house from talking to the tire shop, I saw our neighbor doing some general preventative maintenance on the tractor.  He and Jeremy were cleaning out the glass sediment bulb where stuff in the gas tank settles out instead of going through the engine.  It was completely full of rust and gunk – it was a wonder the thing started at all.  Then, just before putting it back on the tractor, Ralph dropped it on the driveway.  Being glass, it shattered into 100 pieces.  Great.  We had a new errand to run to Kaw Valley Industrial to purchase a new bulb, gasket and filter.  That took 20 minutes or so but only cost $8.50.  Upon my return with the parts, we got the tractor put back together and jumped it off the Honda.  It loaded up into the trailer with no real issues other than arranging the box blade on the back so that the ramps could fit around it.  Off to K’s Tires!

Loaded and ready to go....finally.

We pulled up to the shop with the tractor on the trailer and walked in to the office.  After identifying ourselves as the people who thought they’d be there about an hour ago, the shop owner (K) casually said – “No problem, just pull the tractor up to the 3^rd bay.”  We then had to explain that in order to move the tractor, we had to jump it.  Without missing a beat, he said – “No problem, I’ll pull my truck over.”  The second truck was pulled over to our trailer and we successfully jumped the tractor with a little fiddling (apparently fiddling is required in order to get a tractor to do anything, so we’re adjusting to this reality).  The gentleman who changed the tires for us was very friendly although less than enthused about changing rusty tractor tires (he had to angle grind on the rims a bit so that the new tire could make a seal).  He got them changed in about an hour including the jumping time.  Having never been to K’s Tires, I would have to recommend them to anyone.  They were very helpful in every way.  Then we were off to Lawrence Battery!

This was the only uneventful stop of the morning.  We pulled up, they pulled the old battery, put new terminals on the cables (they had corroded to the point that one broke off when it was removed from the other battery), and put in a new battery.  We test started the tractor and it cranked right over with the usually fiddling and no jumper cables!  The tractor was now cleared for field work.  Off to the farm!

Lawrence Battery technician fixing the terminals

You can't tell in the picture, but the tractor is running here for the first time without being jumped!

We arrived at the farm around 2:00.  The tractor started up again with the usual fiddling and Jeremy drove it off the trailer with nothing interesting happening at all.  He then drove it to the greenhouse site and started testing out using the box blade to level the soil.  It was unfortunately not a very successful exercise.  The ground was so dry that the blade couldn’t really bite into at all.  The two foot tall woody vegetation didn’t help either.  We made a mental note that we needed to water the ground before working to level it on Saturday – no worries there since we’d been watering our whole lot for weeks.  What’s another hour or so with a sprinkler?  Next it was time to take the now empty trailer back to Sunflower. 

We parked the trailer in their lot where it had been and Jeremy went in to pay.  I didn’t want to sit in the truck, so I unhitched the trailer and put Sunflowers chain, boomer and ball that we had rented on the trailer before I went in to see what was keeping Jeremy.  For the first time in all the times we have rented from Sunflower, there was a line.  He had finally made it up to the next position when I came in.  Eventually, we settled up and were on our way home at 3:15

It was pretty obvious we were not going to be on time to pick up the kids in Emporia at 5:00 since we needed to shower before we went out in the general public.  A quick phone call to Jeremy’s folks and the time was changed to 5:15.  That trip was also blissfully uneventful and everyone was home safely by 8:00.  What a day!

Our weekend camping at the farm was also very successful in a bunch of completely unplanned ways, so check back to hear about that!