Tractor Stories

Today I put the air cleaner on the tractor which was a chore just a bit easier than removing it. By greasing the pipe which goes to the carburetor it went on a tiny bit easier. After a wonderful Memorial Day meal and a mandatory nap. ( I hope you believe it is mandatory), I decided to change the oil in the 8N. The oil drain plug used to be a one inch square fitting; however, long ago and far away someone did something to it and it was tapered and rounded. In order to get it off I used a big pipe wrench and a piece of two by four below that with a bottle jack holding it all in place so the wrench would not slip off the drain plug. With a lot of effort it began to turn and I was able to remove it. Before it came off I thought I had hit an oil well. This black, thick, evil looking stuff came from around the plug. At one time it was oil, but now looked as though it was ready to be used to oil a road. I replaced the oil drain plug with a new one and put five quarts of oil in the engine. The...

This is what I did before breakfast today – after sloshing through the rain to my Tractor Building . Last night I could not get the battery case back into place because the part which covers the steering mechanism was shifted about 1/16 inch too low. I am sure it has been this way for many years. This morning I loosened bolts holding the steering housing to the frame, squirted with Parts Blaster, and used a Sears pry bar at least two feet long to lever the housing up that 1/16 inch so the bolts would enter the holes. Some time ago I bought a set of pry bars because they were on sale and I thought they would be needed at some time to work on the tractors. It seems I also bought extension shafts for a ½ inch air tool and used one of those to get my 3/8 inch air wrench onto the battery case bolts and the steering housing bolts I loosened. A third arm would have been handy, but I managed. I coated the bolts with plenty of moly grease before tightening them in place. One of the bolts requir...

This evening I started putting the 8N back together again. The pictures show what I did today. It took me nearly a month to get through the broken off bolt which I never could get out of the tractor. This evening I used a new 3 inch air driven cut off tool to slice through the hardened bolt from Tractor Supply. I labeled all the pictures. I think the grommet and boot are a nice touch although probably not necessary. Tomorrow after church I will continue with reassembly and put the battery shelf and air cleaner back on the 8N. I am using good moly grease on the bolts in hope they do not get stuck again. I am also cleaning the bolts and bolt holes (sometimes) using a tap and die set. It sure helps to have a lot of good tools. Tractor Boy

Today I got the new right angle attachment, bored out the hole to 3/8 inch and used a tap powered by a 7mm small wrench to re-cut the threads to 7/16X14 and after a few tries cut them through enough to insert the too long bolt I bought at Tractor Supply. Then I decided to clean the threads in an inconspicuous place - beneath the batter holder – and use the long bolt there instead. That way the visible bolt will be original. It seems the head of the bolt is larger than the new one I bought although both are 7/16 inchX14. Now it seems the depth of the cut threads in the location under the battery is less than the length of the bolt so I can either cut the threads further or cut off the bolt – maybe. I have an air cut off tool and three inch disks and so will give it a try since I bought two of those bolts so one could be a spare. Anyway, I got tired so decided to come in the house and rest. I believe I have some moly grease which I can put onto the threads of the bolts before putting th...

We have had major flooding in Killeen since Tuesday and last evening a tornado missed our house by just ¼ mile. It passed west of us after starting on the ground at Rancier and Twin Creek. I heard it, but did not see it. It sounded as though a freight train were traveling on 60 th Street. I was pretty sure that was a tornado. The sirens did not sound. The power went off, of course. At least five people have died due to the rain. Flooding effected all major streets, and cars as well as walkers were swept away. Some folks are still missing. One car over toward Priest drive is still under water and too far from shore to hook a cable on it. We have exceeded the record rainfall for the month of May and have had more than half the annual rainfall already. The lake is up 12 feet since Tuesday, I think. At the start of the year it was 8 feet low. We have two more days of rain predicted and it rained hard this morning in the wee hours. It is not raining right this minute though. The ground is...

Picture 1423 shows the last of the row of stumps. In the foreground is the sub soiler device which I was about to remove and replace with a bar and chain to try dragging the stumps from the ground. 1425 is the fence line showing grooves made by the sub soiler on the 8N tractor. I hope I did not get anything vital other than bushes. J I hosed off the mud when I switched to a bar with clevis loop for the three point hitch. Picture 1426 is a close up of the meter on the tractor. I replaced the broken one with a new one and have put 3.4 hours on the engine since then. Most of the engine time has been the fence and bush project done recently. 1428 shows the doors on my tractor building. The actual color is tan, not gray. The doors slide. Yes, they are two different sizes! 1432 shows the bar and chain attached to the last of the stump. It was three times that size and really stopped the tractor cold when using the sub soiler. I managed to jerk the stumps free using the chain wrapped around t...

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