Our Tractor Story

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March and April, 2000

March

3-2-00:  Carolyn and I take off on the Gathering of the Green trip.  We arrived at the Holiday Inn at the Moline Airport and registered for the event in plenty of time for the reception, where we meet Charlie and Mary Lou Cook.  Charlie and I have been exchanging email message at the Antique Tractor Internet Service mailing list (I will call it ATIS to save typing later on) for some time now.  For those who don't know about ATIS, here is a link to the main page: ATIS.NET.

There will be about a dozen ATIS members at the event.  We looked the vendor area over and found a lot of friends and businesses we have used there.

3-3-00:  The event opening ceremony at 8:30 went well, with Ken Reese as the M.C. and Mark Johnson (both are Directors of the NEITCC) cutting the ribbon.  Carolyn and I visited with Donnie and Melanie Sharp, where I bought a carburetor overhaul kit, and Carolyn registered in their 10th year drawing.  We picked up the gauges and seat at the K & K booth, where we visited with Kent Kaster  and his wife.  We also visited with J.R. Hobbs, Travis and Shirley Jorde, Ed Miller, and Greg Stephans.

Click here to see the opening ceremony

We took the afternoon Harvester Plant tour.  The factory builds seven models of combines on the same assembly line.  We watched a short movie about the plant, then rode around on wagons behind a couple of large lawn tractors.  We got to see the complete process, from cutting the flat sheet steel, the punching, bending and welding processes, the sub-assembly areas, and the major assembly area.  They have a new 32 million dollar paint shop, where they dip the large assemblies in tanks to first clean, then etch and finally paint them in tanks that each hold more than 50,000 gallons of liquid.  The entire paint process is automated, except for inspection and touchup.

Click here to see the Harvester Plant Tour

I met up with the other ATIS guys about 5:30, just before J.R. Hobb's seminar.  I met Dean Van Peursem, Frank Greamux, Hank Wessel, Phil Kelley, and Dick Carlson, where we were joined by Charlie Cook and Ken Reese, and posed for our group picture. Edward Allandar, Paul Ostrander and Gordon Hart all came also, but we didn't link up in time for the picture, but did meet at the banquet.

Click here to see the ATIS Group

We also picked up a new hat, some show buttons, and a pair of John Deere Suspenders.

3-4-00:  We went over the John Deere Pavilion to pick up a few items before leaving for home.  They had several two cylinder tractors on display, along with some new equipment.

3-10-00:  Carolyn got a letter from Melanie Sharp today telling her that she won a $25.00 gift certificate from the Sharp's display at Gathering of the Green a few weeks ago.  Lucky gal, don't you agree?  And now, for the good news, she says she wants to use it to get an umbrella for the tractor!  We sent the order today.

3-20-00:  Back surgery day.  I will not be working on the tractor for a few weeks.  I had a disc repaired, and everything went OK.

3-22-00:  The umbrella arrived today from the Sharp's.  It is a real pretty yellow four corner model, with a universal mounting bracket.  I will mount it when I get a few minutes out in the shop.

April 2000

4-9-00:  I went out to the shop with Dan and we took the dash end cap and carburetor off of the tractor so I can tinker with the new parts.  I am able to walk OK, but it hurts to stand too long.  I will take it real slow and keep my doctor's weight limit of 5 pounds in mind.

4-12-00:  I got the carb bushings in and the throttle shaft sure feels better, with no wobble at all.  I took the old gauges out and installed the new ones, only to find they are just a little smaller than the old ones, so I will have to repaint the end cap.  I sanded it and filled a few little imperfections, then primed and painted it.  I will let it dry for a few days before installing the gauges.

4-15-00:  Pat bought an F250 Ford 3/4 ton pickup.  It has the 7.3 diesel engine and four wheel drive.  The truck has the XLT Lariat package.  This will be the tractor hauling truck.  We will provide the trailer so we can haul both tractors to shows.  I am starting the search, looking for a 24 or 25 foot gooseneck deck over with 14,000 pound capacity.

4-18-00:  I got released to go back to work, so I will be able to do more on the tractor this week end.

4-22-00:  I got the gauges in the end cap and installed the carburetor and end cap on the tractor.  I put water in the radiator, and Dan helped me get it started.  I ran it a few minutes, and the temperature gauge shows it warming up above 100 degrees, which I have never been able to see before.  It sure feels good to hear it popping again.

4-23-00:  Carolyn's co-worker Rita Riley and her husband Jim came over for Easter Dinner.  Jim likes old cars, trucks and tractors, so we went out to the shop and started the tractor.  Jim said he had never seen the engine on a two-cylinder John Deere before, so he looked it over and asked lots of questions about it.  It really is an amazing machine.

Clickhereto go to May/June, 2000.