The Tractor thread...

I just picked up two. From my in-laws estate. Both my wife's parents passed away last year and in the will her father left his Craftsman EZ3 Tractor (Not sure if it's considered a tractor or a ride on mower) and his 1972 Cub Cadet.

The Craftsman has a 42" mower deck, no attachments, yet I'm thinking of picking up a snow plow for it.

And the 1972 is also a mower but more of a read tractor. It's got a beat PTO which I will replace hopefully over the summer. It's actually still in the shed at her 'rents house because of the PTO we're unable to move it through, that and there is still 8" of snow to be had in the back yard.

We tried to move the Cadet yesterday but it's very heavy...800 pounds I'd say. The Craftsman we could pick up and carry around.

I have a '72 Cadet, it's a 108.

I want to say the one I have is either a 107 or 127 but I can't find the paper that had all the parts needed to repair it. The "7" sticks out in my mind.

I know it needs a PTO and cable and there were other things too. Looks like I'll be going to the shed tomorrow to get all the information again.

About to start on repairs on the hydraulics on the Wagner WM3 loader on my tractor. I plan to replace the cylinder for the bucket, it's really leaking and in bad shape. The main problem is the input shaft seal on the pump blew, so I'm looking at replacing or rebuilding that, as well as new seals in the valves.

freetown fred wrote:If it's red, keep it in the shed--the Amish told me that??? they all seem to like their Olivers up here

Olivers??!! About the only thing they have going for them is they are cheap, and rightfully so. Some relatives of mine had a few Olivers around 100 hp, and the Waukesha engines were JUNK.

My dad has used JD equipment for 30 years, and has no plan to change. When you have 20 year old tractors with 10,000 hrs that have never been apart and still run like new...stick with what works.

Picked up the newest addition to our collection! Figured we needed some more color to the bunch, so I added some Yellow! (Ok well actually Prarie Gold!)

1949 Minneapolis Moline RTU

Really fun tractor to run. Hooked it up to the brush hog and mowed a few acres of pasture to test it out. Runs and works real good.

http://www.minneapolis-moline.com/history.html
The following
Prairie Gold "Letter" models were offered between 1936-59.

"R" 1939-55 23.22 belt hp early years to 27.09 belt hp late years
"Z" 1936-55 26.84 belt hp early years to 37.48 belt hp late years
"U" 1938-57 36.48 belt hp early years to 51.27 belt hp late years
"G" 1938-59 55.00 belt hp early years to 74.95 belt hp late years

http://www.minneapolis-moline.com/models.html

very cool unit there...

freetown fred wrote:oros--google cnylivinghistory.org--it's in Cortland about 20 minutes from me--a real interesting place

Very cool!

I'm a member of the Beaver Valley Equipment & Crafts Association here just outside of Pittsburgh. My grandfather was a charter member and I was at the first show at 3 years old! This will be the 28th show.

We have a show and tractor pull every September. I remember when there used to be a bunch of steam engines that came to our show. My grandfather would haul the coal for them. Now it has become too expensive to transport the steam engines, they only go to a couple of the real big shows a year if they even do that.

http://www.bvaec.itgo.com/

I will soon be tractor-less. Over the last two years I have gotten very sick of 4.5-5 hours of lawn mowing per cut, so I finally pulled the trigger on a new zero turn mower. My Massey compact is worth too much to have sitting around, so I traded it against the zero turn. I will probably post some pictures of the new John Deere mower in the zero turn thread...31hp with a 72" deck, it should really eat some grass.

markviii wrote:I will soon be tractor-less.

I'm so sorry for your loss Rob, our condolences to you and your family.

I will probably post some pictures of the new John Deere mower in the zero turn thread...31hp with a 72" deck, it should really eat some grass.

Oh there we go! Thats what I'm talkin about! I can't wait to see the pics.

And lots of levers ,after about 10hrs running this thing you are whipped

Had a Cat D7 with a pony motor and cable blade and manual trans. Whatya mean 10 hours? That is boasting - I was beat after three hours but in those three hours I did a LOT of work. Bought it from my neighbor for $500 and I soon learned that the clutch on the pony motor was slipping and of course very soon gave out. Actually the clutch gave out as I was trying to put a track back on as I had it stuck in a ditch. Big grousers too - so when I say stuck I mean stuck! There is stood for 5 years until US army tank guy offered to show me how to put tracks back on. I lifted it up in bits with a 25 ton JDW track digger. Now to get it started I lit a wood fire under it, plastered in the ether (I know that is not good) and as it was a manual transmission put it in fourth gear and with a bull chain bump started it. Left it running day and night for a month until the project was completed. The guy I sold it too did had it running when it left me and we was going to move the top off a hill leaving it running and sell it.

Now you see about the non-paved roads bit. I think that operation also killed my back - but that is another story. I also have a yard full of old but operational tractors but that's for another post.