Friday, July 09, 2010

New Tractor at the Compound.........

I've gone through 2 tractor projects in the time I've been here at, "The GrumpyUnk Command and Control Bunker". The first was a 1947 Farmall H and the 2nd was a 1950 Allis Chalmers WD.

I'm not into total restoration and parade pretty tractors. I just want them to start easy, run well and that sort of thing. Crappy paint and dented up sheet metal is ok by me as long as everything works.

Not having a tractor around here is an inconvenience at times and using the Zero Turn lawn machine to cut the pasture and rough ares around is miserable on my back and likely to shorten the service life of that machine too.

So I set out to find something.
Well, here's what we ended up getting. A 1954 Ferguson TO 30.

Yep, came with a Bush Hog, a Grader Blade and a Lift Boom.

Like any old tractor, there's a few quirks and things to get corrected, but it's a pretty solid tractor, all in all.

My Friend and Co-Worker, KidK, was kind enough to round up a trailer and haul this thing home for me.

These Kids take good care of me and Damn if I don't appreciate 'em.

Today I found one thing I somehow missed when I went to check it out originally - One of the rear rims is badly rusted and is gonna need to be replaced.

It's plain as day to see, so I have no clue how I missed it. Had I seen it, I probably could have negotiated enough to cover the cost of a rim.

Ouch. My bad for not seeing it.
Rusted rims are one of those fundamental things to check when buying an old tractor. Knowing this, I have no excuse for missing it.
Oh well. It costs you when you don't pay attention.

It's a good running tractor. Starts easy, no smoke & all of the important stuff works.

Ordered an Operators manual, Shop Manual and Parts Book, along with an oil filter cartridge this morning.

I have zero experience with one of these tractors so having the manuals is vital. Hell, having the manuals is vital when you have to work on them anyway. Getting and having the proper info on hand saves you a ton of frustration and time.

I took it out and cut a bit with it this morning and I can see that the Bush Hog is gonna need some adjustment and maintenance too.
You kind of expect that and we'll get things tightened up.

This is nice little tractor and about the right size for my little place.
I'll have to start looking for some implements as money allows.
A Rotovator, disk, plow, post hole digger and a small wagon/trailer of some kind to move shit around would be nice.

I got my lazy ass out to the barn today and resumed the cleanup I had started a couple of weeks ago and made a pretty good dent in the mess.

At least I can park this thing out of the rain now.

Kinda looking forward to going through this thing and fixing it up. It's been awhile.

So that's the big news from here.

Gratuitous Picture for a Friday Afternoon-