Guess it was our last rodeo

SweetFeet

Well-known Member
We really enjoyed the Root River Antique Power show in July.

But I guess it was our last rodeo?

My husband said that he?s getting to the point where the loading/unloading of our Farmall Regular and Little Genius plow is just getting to be a lot of work. I don?t blame him ? it is A LOT of winching. He doesn?t want to buy an electric winch because we?d only use it for 1 or 2 shows per year, so we can?t really justify the expense.

On one hand, it makes me sad. We?ve been going to shows or parades for over 30 years. : (

On the bright side of things, we plan to take our grandkids along for one show-day next year (they will be 3 & 4 years old next summer). We will solely focus on whatever they enjoy: riding the little train, the petting zoo, treats from the general store, etc.

I guess it all boils down to that old adage: ?When one door closes, another one opens.? We've been blessed with a lot of fun at shows over the years.

Here?s a few pics of our tractor, plow, and us. (I?ll post more show pics sometime - there was some neat stuff there? but will probably be awhile as I need to sort through hundreds of them).

Our rusty, old Regular ? lined up in a sea of red. (IH was featured this year.)

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A sign my husband asked me make to put on the draw bar of our Regular.

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A shot of my husband in his "last" tractor parade. (Daughter and I rode through the parade on Friday... we just watched on Sunday so I could get pics of him on the ol' girl.)

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A shot of the Ol' Ogre and the Ol? Hippie that he hangs out with, by their tractor and plow - she's his "first wife"... as John T always likes to say. :)
So we'll keep on keepin' on... just in a different way. Life's been a great ride!

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NEVER to old! Harbor Freight has their 12000 lb. winch on sale for $298. We have two of them. One is in our enclosed trailer. Pulls a 9500 lb. limited pro-stock tractor in with ease. Nice pictures. I see in the one there is a 400 IH with a 2 pr corn picker. Brings back memories.--TEE
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I like the old pics. My 105 is waiting for the rain to stop so we can start cutting rye. I might be using it for corn this fall as unless something bad happens we are looking at the biggest crop we ever grew well over 200 bu. Tom
 
Big Tee, it must be a 450, the 400's were all red, unless they painted it to make it look better.
 
SweetFeet, I quit taking things to shows a few years ago. It really gets to be a lot of work for an old man. I drive my Model T to town occasionally, like the other day when I went to the farm and garden store.
I really would like to take my Allis Chalmers 40 combine to a little show about 10 miles away next year because almost no one still around has ever seen one. I would have to pull it as it is very hard to load on the trailer.
Just getting too old to do it all anymore.
Is the okra doing any growing? Ours has just started to bloom. Got a late start because of all the dry weather.
Richard
 
Many thanks to you and to all who make these shows possible. I have a few working antiques, which I would drive to a show if close enough. I don't have the means to haul to a show.

Anything you can do with the grandchildren is most important, as they are the future, and the perspective they can get from grandparents is irreplaceable.
 
Reminds me of the day I bought a 105 and sold a 55. Then found out the difference between the two wasn't as big as I thought it would be.
 
Now you will have time to enjoy the show and watch the parade. You don't see much of the parade when you are a participant.
 
I found that as I aged, I kept coming up with more and more things that I decided I didn't want to do anymore. Just be realistic and a bit ruthless to get things down to where you want them. Then you'll find more things to cut out!
 
Hate to see you quit. Kids love tractors. I know your Farmall is your baby but why not adopt another rusty tractor in need of a little love. One with rubber tires and electric start that will load itself?
 
I just installed an electric winch on my fishing boat trailer. Was to the point I wasn't going out unless I had help. Now I'm back to where I can just go. You can get an OK winch for under 300.

Rick
 

It does get to be a lot of work, but around here, the plows are loaded onto the trailer with a loader, and usually someone has brought a tractor and loader to the show for unloading the plows.
 
It's called, OLD AGE but I don't think you qualify yet. Kind of like fishing. Wife and I fished most every chance we got. Now we watch it on TV once in a while. It would literally take a crane to get her body into a boat now, and she says no way can I go out in the boat alone. Really never went fishing with any one else, save brother or dad in younger days so I do a very little amount of shore fishing now and then. Boat sits in friends shed, motor in basement. Couple dozen fishing rods in rack and various corners of the house. Still plan on getting the shotgun out pretty soon though, but sciatica is putting a real damper on hunting possibilities also.
 
The 105 was a gasser---really under powered. One year we had a early frost and my Dad had planted some DeKalb XL-64. WET! I think we were going as slow as the old 105 would go trying to grind it off.
 
Your Regular looks just like the first tractor I drove in 1945---except
ours had rubber tires on the front. I stayed out of school 26 days that
year to help with the farming. Our Regular was also lacking paint----
 
Sad to hear no more show. A little farmall with rubber and a wide seat for grandkids would buy you some time.We have four grand kids and they all like going thru parades. I put a amish buggy cab on a old trailer so they can all ride.
 
I can imagine that is a job winching that on with those lugs.I sure appreciate those old original tractors like that,it would be a sin to paint it.I have a 1949 Studebaker pickup that looks like that,I love it the way it is.Enjoy the grandkids.Ron
 
Buy the winch for your trailer once you have owned it for 6 months you'll wonder how you ever did without it.I have one on a hydraulic tilt bed trailer best set up for an old
man like me to load and haul anything.You can get a 12,000 lb winch from Harbor Freight for around $300 on sale and they'll do what you need to do.
 
What I was gonna say about a winch. I have that 12,000 lb HF winch and have used it to load non-running tractors. It loaded this truck in less time then it took to chain it down. I was alone and had to stop to steer a couple times. I mounted the winch on a receiver plate and can move it from one trailer to another or to the back of my truck for anything that comes up. I just take along a charged battery in the truck or on the trailer to run it.
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We have a few in their mid eighties still bringing stuff.

Electric winch and some help at the show they get by just fine.
 
Sounds like you need the remote for the harbor freight winches . Then you don't have to stop. Just pull and steer.
 


"Life's been a great ride!" WHAAAAAAAAAAT? You guys don't look like you are in your 80s yet!!! You guys better switch over to tractor pulling in some heavier class for 10-15 years. After slinging a thousand pounds off and on a couple times in a day for a few years you can go back to just hauling the regular and the plow for another ten years to just take it easy.
 
How big of difference were you expecting? I know several guys around here that went from round back 55s to square back 105s. 30-40 acres a day was tops with the 55 and over 100 acres a day was easy to obtain with a 105. This of course is just in wheat.
 
Thanks for the replies everyone.

I had him talked into an electric winch last year... we even brought one home. Then he decided it was just too much money and promptly returned the unopened box the following weekend. (I always say he's very frugal... he always counters with, "No - I'M CHEAP!" LOL

Maybe he'll change his mind someday... or maybe we'll just enjoy going to shows without taking our tractor. Either way though, I'll let it be his decision.

And he will still use our old tractors (rusty Regular and painted F20, B-JD and our DC3 Case) around here for mowing, moving stuff and pushing snow. So he'll still get some seat-time.
 
I don't have a winch either. I hook up the trailer and use a snatch block chained up to the front of the trailer and a long cable hooked to another vehicle. She is pulling at a 45*angle to the trailer and pulling towards me so we are in visual contact at all times. She pulls me up slowly as I sit on the tractor and use the brakes. Never a problem.
 
Just a thought. You need to get the grandkids involved. You want someone to take over your tractors when you are gone. In the meantime they can start helping you. Make it a fun adventure to load and chain down the tractors. I know right now they are a little young to do much but get them involved and doing what they can. You could leave the plow home for a few years and just take the tractor. In 5,6, or 8 years they will be old enough to start driving in the parade maybe and soon with some tractor time loading the tractor on the trailer, and before that they will be able to take turns cranking the winch for the plow. How about loading the plow first with a block and pull it on with the tractor? But get the kids involved, after you get to the show you can do some other stuff they want to do to keep it fun for them too. I wish I had someone who was going to take over for me when I am gone. If the right kid shows up he is going to end up with tractors, machine tools , and fa shop and house.
 
Sweetfeet & Hubster, I agree with the comments that you folks are much too young and healthy to be calling it the End of the Ride!!
I also agree that harbor Freight has good prices on their winches.
Alternatively, you can use a smaller, less expensive winch, with a sheave (or snatch)block at the tractor to double the winch linepull - - thus, a 5000lb winch can pull approx. 9500lbs (loose a little pull each time go around a sheave).
A 2:1 sheave block also cuts the towing speed down by 1/2 - which makes it easier to control a wide tractor going on a trailer.
I used a 5000lb winch & block to load a F-20 and F-30.
Best Wishes!
John
 
IlliniJohn and others,

Thanks again for all the replies... and for the comments on the old Regular's "paint" job. I have to say, we really do like our rust. (There were some other nice rusty tractors and some in their work clothes too - will post pics eventually.)

My husband has used a snatch block the last couple of years and that has been a big improvement for winching.

MAYBE... after a couple of years away, he might decide to give it another go???
Or decide to spend that money on an electric winch??? I don't know - only time will tell.
 

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