Tractor building

Here are some pictures taken late June of the progress on the tractor building.

The BIG thing I did yesterday was to use the 8N tractor to remove the fence on the East side of the back yard (pic 10). I then used the boom (pic 11) to remove the steel posts which have been in the ground since about 1983 (pic 12). All of them are bent to some extent. The hydraulic lift was unable to pull the posts straight up. I had great success putting the tractor in first gear and driving forward. The typical response was front wheels leave the ground then the pole is out of the ground. The last picture is the poles (pic 12). I suppose they can be straightened, probably best to heat them; however, they can be scrapped too.

I did notice there is no power steering! The old tractor started right off as soon as I replaced the ignition switch and added a new battery. I was able to recover the old battery power and will use it in the Ford 640 which has no battery at all right now.

Tractor Boy

Farmall Cub Switch Replacement

It was a cold, wet, dreary day in Central Texas. Perfect weather in which to replace the light switch I replaced last week. The first replacement was blowing a 20-amp fuse in less than a second when turned to the farthest right position. Fortunately, I had added a separate fuse holder to the circuitry when the replacement did not have a fuse position. I spoke with the nice folk at Farmall Cub Forever and ordered a three position six-volt switch which arrived a few days ago. This time I took pictures so you can see what I was doing. Again, I replaced one wire at a time. The switch has a protrusion which fits in a notch in the console, and I replaced it so the two were properly aligned. I discovered it was easier to take the console off this time, and I did not need a small monkey to reach in the confined space. I did; however, forget that I placed a piece of board between the hydraulic housing and the hood/fuel tank. So, when I started up the Cub to see how well it would run, there...

Farmall Cub greasing

Replacing gear oil and greasing the ’49 Cub ought to be a straight forward task(s). Well it hasn’t been. The transmission fluid was tan, looking like tan paint. Folks on Yesterday’s Tractor Farmall forum said it meant water had got inside the transmission. I wonder whether this tractor was under water at one time. I bought a Spectricide brand insecticide pump, put kerosene in it, and flushed the transmission, then refilled with 90 weight gear oil. The gear oil looked like and had the consistency of thin honey. Pic 1300 shows the transmission filler plug. A lot easier to reach than the plug for emptying the transmission. Note it has a square head. All of these plugs are square headed. Three and a half pints later, the transmission was back together. After the transmission, I decided to check the steering gear oil. It was not tan. It was black as could be so I flushed the housing with kerosene again and refilled with ¾ pint of 90 weight gear oil and replaced the filler plug. Pic 1301 s...

Yard Work

This afternoon I decided to attack the brush and thorns around the Guard Light pole again. I got an idea that I might be able to use my Kubota and its front-end grapple to dig below ground and pull up brush by its roots. It sorta worked. I did manage to get a few large grape vines and some thorn and tree plants up. I then used my lopping shears and pulled and pulled. I worked for about 2 ½ hours. In the end I had a pile about ¼ the size of the one taken away by the city truck on Monday. The area is looking better and better. Tomorrow I may be able to get a few cedar trees cut down and hauled away. I tried to rent equipment to cut cedar trees. The rental place said he had nothing I could use. He suggested renting a bulldozer to push the trees over. I have eight acres of trees in town and would need to do something fairly quickly with the uprooted trees or I would have a big fire hazard drying out on the ground. I will try a couple other ways to get cedar cut down. Mean time I am going t...

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