Progress on the Spreader is slow right now. Most gears and such are REALLY rusty, and an entirely new frame needs to be built. That's going to take some time to do, since I need to be very careful duplicating things so I can put it back together. I'll be taking LOTS of pictures as I go, but I don't have much for you now. As for the condition of the machine I'm starting with, well, manure is really corrosive, and the entire frame is shot, along with most of the boards and all of the apron chains. I believe it was parked when the frame started to give way, and that wasn't recent history! When my brother and I loaded it onto a wagon to haul it home, we almost broke it in two. And that's lifting it with a loader chained to it in 3 spots! Pretty bad! On a plus note, I was helping out the guy whose uncle originally owned it, and he had a replacement for one of the original gears in the drive assembly hanging in his shop! Still has the original factory red paint on it, no rust at all. He also gave me some spare chain for the drive system as well. It's used, but at least it's serviceable and ought to help me find proper replacements. As for pictures, I don't have a scanner on my system, though a friend does have one. I'll have to trade favors with him and get some pictures together once some real progress has been made. Maybe it'd be better to scan all the pictures at once, then send them to you. That way people can see the whole thing from start to finish without forgetting about it. Also, just made another acquisition. I used to work for another neighboring farmer helping him with haying. He died as little over a year ago from cancer, and I've been helping out his widow cleaning up the place and finding homes for his old machines rather than see them scrapped. While I was wading through the tall weeds, I fell onto (literally - Ouch!) an old JD 2 bottom plow. It's all on rubber (including the tail wheel which I've never seen before) with mechanical lift. I remembered Ted saying that he used to have a JD B and a plow, but I knew the B was long gone so didn't think much about it. Overall it's in great shape, but needs shares, shins and landsides as most old plows do. I told her I'd be interested in it myself, since it was Ted's. She ended up giving it to me for helping her with the rest of the estate, and because she knew I'd restore it and use it, rather than sell it off like so many people do. I also bought the parts manual for the No. 5 JD mower I have. I need a few replacement parts, but they were made for so long, the parts are quite dependent on the age of the machine. Hopefully, I can trace a few parts from the book to the castings, and go from there. Guess I'm accumulating more projects than I can finish this summer! As for hard data on the spreader, I haven't much to go on. Like I said before, the body is totally gone, and the frame is really bad. I can't find anything that matches it in the books, though there is a picture of a McCormick Deering 4A in the IHC book by C. H. Wendell (forgot the page number - Sorry) that's the closest I've found. That picture isn't a perfect match, though it's really very close. I do know it's made by IH, because it has IHC cast into the top of the steering knuckles. It's a 4 wheel ground driven machine, with automotive type steering, and it appears to have had a mount up front for a seat, though that's gone now. If anyone's got ideas for helping to identify it, let me know! I'll stay in touch with you about this and anything else I happen to trip over (ouch!). Mr. Ed Ed Wiest Sr. Network Analyst Executone Business Solutions Ed Wiest, entered 2000-02-16
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