Some farmer mechanics.

Should only have toy tools until they actually learn how to it fix something right.

Working on an 8N, no light option. Converted to one wire 12 volt by PO. Wiring is messed up. Not only that but the wire to the alternator is a 16 gauge wire when it should be more like a 12 or 10. The left brake backing plate and the bearing retainer were assembled in the wrong order too.

Oh well, just another day messing with old tractors. Sure beats sitting at a desk.

Rick

And it sure beats having a fire, I did the same to my old 850 when I first got it, unreal what I found in there, given its set up to run off a 30lb LP tank. Oddly enough I enjoy doing the wiring kind of work though, solder and shrink wrap.

I agree. Son bought a combine like that.
Guy had put soft tapered head screws to
hold cylinder pulley on a l2 gleaner.
Pulley came off and wiped out the
electrics. Bad deal.

Im always amazed at how many wore out plow lathes Ive seen welded on as steps or some sort of patch. My favorite is where a farmer welded lathes on a manure spreader beater to make it more "aggressive".

I think a lot of those cheap patches are made on worn out equipment just so they can pass it along as "field ready" to some poor sucker who is trying to get started and doesn't know beans about what he is buying. Ummm...well that is what I think. Not talking from personal experience or anything...

(quoted from post at 05:55:48 05/22/15) Should only have toy tools until they actually learn how to it fix something right.

Working on an 8N, no light option. Converted to one wire 12 volt by PO. Wiring is messed up. Not only that but the wire to the alternator is a 16 gauge wire when it should be more like a 12 or 10. The left brake backing plate and the bearing retainer were assembled in the wrong order too.

Oh well, just another day messing with old tractors. Sure beats sitting at a desk.

Rick

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Scoring high on an IQ test should be required before you can buy hand tools.

My dad always said, "Some farmers shouldn't have welders".... after seeing plow lays welded wherever on equipment I agree.

What is a plow lathe?

Its the owners equipment they can do what they want,personally I think its a waste of good
tools to use them on something like a N Ford but hey to each its own.

If you think that's bad, you should see some of the stuff I've seen over the years. Some issues have been so bad it's impossible to go into detail, but think wires simply skint and twisted together with no connector, a double handful if wire nuts of all sizes, undersized wire, etc, etc

One of the worst was a crane that had been royally screwed up. It had plain SO cord (not oil resistant) pulled on a lot of the circuits. The wiring ran through the belly pan which was full of oily water. This meant the coating had broken down on the cord, and it was all but impossible to trace circuits as the wires would intermittently make and brake contact between the individual wires within one cord. Add in the fact that the machine had industrial style contact switches in everything (the ignition switch was a stack of them about 8 high)and it gets worse. Top it off with the fact the last guy had screwed up and had the functions crossed with down being up, left being right, and so on, and go on to an even worse level in that it had a remote pendent with controls matching those in the cab for about 8 different functions, and it got even better.

I spent nearly a month tracing wires, and rewiring that machine before I ever got it back in operating condition.

Now when we get into things like welding the phrase 'chicken poop' goes a long way to describe some of what I've seen and had to repair.

As far as mechanical stuff goes, a farmers friend is a nail, bailing wire, duct tape, and what ever size O-ring might be handy that just might possibly fit and get him through the day (((((the rest of the season))))). Beyond that I'll leave it to your imagination....LOL

Another term for plow share or shear. It's the lower cutting part attached below the moldboard.

I often wonder why people gripe about the condition of an old piece of equipment that they bought to fix up. If it was in perfect shape why would it need fixing up.
If someone wants everything as it came from the factory they should buy new. Sometimes I see something a farmer has screwed up but more often than not it was messed up by a yuppie that had no idea which end of a cow the tail was on.

(quoted from post at 07:23:27 05/22/15) I often wonder why people gripe about the condition of an old piece of equipment that they bought to fix up. If it was in perfect shape why would it need fixing up.
If someone wants everything as it came from the factory they should buy new. Sometimes I see something a farmer has screwed up but more often than not it was messed up by a yuppie that had no idea which end of a cow the tail was on.

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I agree....farmer fixes usually get the job done. Wannabe farmer fixes are usually just....hilarious!

Plow lay.

(quoted from post at 07:23:27 05/22/15) I often wonder why people gripe about the condition of an old piece of equipment that they bought to fix up. If it was in perfect shape why would it need fixing up.
If someone wants everything as it came from the factory they should buy new. Sometimes I see something a farmer has screwed up but more often than not it was messed up by a yuppie that had no idea which end of a cow the tail was on.

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Pair-a-c and Eldon: That's because some of us were taught to do things right the first time and we expect others to do the same not some half baked repair cause it was cheap or someone was too lazy to go back and fix it right.

And I've seen far more half baked farmerized repairs done by farmers. Yuppies pay someone to fix their stuff.

RIck

Maybe the glow of the overheated 16 ga. wire
WAS the headlights ...

(quoted from post at 09:25:00 05/22/15) Maybe the glow of the overheated 16 ga. wire
WAS the headlights ...

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LOL could be. I know the origin of this tractor. I got it from the original owners daughter.

Rick

Wayne

Installed with the farmeriser tool kit - hammer and pipe wrench?

Hammer AND pipe wrench? What's wrong with your crescent-hammer?

what cracks me up is reading about guys complaining about farmers fixes on equipment that is 40, 50, 60+ years old. Especially when most of those making fun of those guys never farmed, let alone know what it was like back then. Dont know what it was like trying to scratch out a living on 30 bushel corn on 80 acres without fancy crop insurance or safety nets in place when they got flooded out or droughted out. Forgetting that most of those old guys had to do with what they had on hand, if it was a chunk of 16 gauge wire instead of 12 then so be it. if welding something got you through another year because you didnt have a dime let alone extra cash laying around to buy a project tractor to piddle around with and play farmer then so be it. How many others could have survived as long as they did with as little as most had...So instead of looking at something that isnt up to your perfect standards of how a 50 year machine should be, maybe take a second look and say hey, they did what they had to do to make it to the next planting season in hopes that the next year would be better and be thankful you have extra cash to do the things you enjoy....

Guess ill get off my soap box now...

(quoted from post at 17:02:26 05/22/15) what cracks me up is reading about guys complaining about farmers fixes on equipment that is 40, 50, 60+ years old. Especially when most of those making fun of those guys never farmed, let alone know what it was like back then. Dont know what it was like trying to scratch out a living on 30 bushel corn on 80 acres without fancy crop insurance or safety nets in place when they got flooded out or droughted out. Forgetting that most of those old guys had to do with what they had on hand, if it was a chunk of 16 gauge wire instead of 12 then so be it. if welding something got you through another year because you didnt have a dime let alone extra cash laying around to buy a project tractor to piddle around with and play farmer then so be it. How many others could have survived as long as they did with as little as most had...So instead of looking at something that isnt up to your perfect standards of how a 50 year machine should be, maybe take a second look and say hey, they did what they had to do to make it to the next planting season in hopes that the next year would be better and be thankful you have extra cash to do the things you enjoy....

Guess ill get off my soap box now...

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Shouldn't have been on it in the first place, might fall off.

My dad complained about farmer fixes in the 70's and 80 while he was farming. Subsidies and price supports were in full effect. Most of the guys that cobbled stuff together were farmers like my BIL's dad. Just to cheap to fix it right. And I knew more than just him like that. Guys that would go and buy a new Ford LTD and pay cash then refuse to buy a new battery cable for a daily driver tractor. Ever watch a tight wad farmer trying to stretch a battery cable and extra inch? It's hilarious! Fixed that cable so many times it was now too short to work!

And I did take a 2nd look. Wasn't anymore impressed the 2nd time than I was the 1st.

So yea, I'll sit back and complain about anything I want to. I've earned that right. And no I'm not going to make up a bunch of fairy tail excuses for some of the repairs that some of the people have done through the years.

If half baked poorly done jobs are OK with you that's fine. They are not OK with me. It's called having standards.


Rick

I'll with you oldtanker. Fortunately I got dad to let me fix stuff a little more properly and fix stuff the machinist way. Just last night I had to sleeve a cast iron hub for our Massey #12 baler. I'll admit neglect got it so far, as about 7/16 was worn off the face of it on the sprocket side. I bored it out a little bit, then pressed in a sleeve with a flange on it to bring it back to where it's supposed to be. I also replaced the bushings in the flywheel and the bushing and needle bearing in that hub. I'm gonna replace all of the chain on it tomorrow and retime it.

Donovan from Wisconsin

I've seen guys that could fix anything and not be able to read or write their own name......so.....I'm guessing you don't need a college degree...to turn a wrench!!

Everyone has the right to complain. I don't remember subsidies being in full effect in the 70's but in the livestock industry government help has been few and far between, as it should be. There are several branches of agriculture that have always struggled to stay afloat and anyone who has started from scratch knows this. It's hard for someone to understand who hasn't had to buy at the asking price and sell at the giving price. As well as fight mother nature, environmentalist, PETA, and politicians ans well as a fickle consumer.

I think we are on the same page just different paragraphs. I think most people would rather have things fixed back original if they are given a choice but as has been said, most farmers aren't machinists, welders or electricians but those jobs are required at times. If we had to hire one of those every time a repair was needed we would all be broke and the only ones farming would be corporations.

I tried to use "professional" help when the economics allowed and at times got my equipment back in just as bad or worse than it was when I sent it in. There is incompetence in all fields. It's my equipment and if I can I repair it right but if paying a professional repairman jeopardizes the bottom line then I will do the best I can to keep it going until I can do better or sell it. Those are my standards

A mechanic at the local IH dealer told me once that if everything was maintained and repaired according to IH standards, he would be out of business.