Back when Men were Men

dwag · Dec 9, 2015

Replaced inner axle brg on a Farmall M today in a heated shop, on concrete w/chain hoist. Remember Dad having Mechanic out from local IH Dealer early 60's to do the same thing in the field with a 2MH mounted picker plus snow on the ground.

Don Hopf · Dec 9, 2015

During a bad winter here in SD in 68-69, a Cat bulldozer steering clutch broke while pushing snow off a township road. They fixed it right there on the road.

gajack · Dec 9, 2015

Does this qualify? West Georgia, High schooler (16 yr old n 1966) changing out clutch on 56 ford 2 door on cardboard in two inches of snow? For me, it WAS a good start for all the other stuff to follow. Thanks for bringing back this memory.

sms · Dec 9, 2015

Used to work at a ski area changed a sheave on the chairlift tower one morning at -20 something. Taught skiing in northern Vermont at -36.

pete 23 · Dec 9, 2015

I replaced a few broken axles on 400's through 1066 out in the field . One 856 we had to have a skid steer take away the snow banks. I did have help on most but remember putting new axle in a 400 by my self but the owner did leave a tractor and loader to put the wheel with tire back on. A couple of 1206's broke their axles and I talked the owners into hooking up another tractor and rigging up the three point hitch to cart them into a shed.

Andy Martin · Dec 9, 2015

Back in high school in the sixties, I liked to spin the tires on my '50 Chevy. Got free takeoffs form the station I worked in if they were bald. I broke so many axles I kept two in the trunk and had to change about one a week. Actually pretty easy on an old torque tube Chevy, this was back when boys were boys.

Never had a shop for farm repairs, just fix it and get back to work. No torch, no welder. I like having a good shop to work in with the right tools.

VicS · Dec 9, 2015

When I was 14 and my buddy was 18. We drove Dads 8n with a boom pole, 6 miles took a 230 dodge motor out and drove it back swinging the old flathead on a chain. Then putting it in his dodge. He drove it home that night. It was froze and spitting snow then sleet. No doors on garage but did have a coal stove. Think the motor was $50.

oldtanker · Dec 9, 2015

(quoted from post at 19:28:35 12/09/15) When I was 14 and my buddy was 18. We drove Dads 8n with a boom pole, 6 miles took a 230 dodge motor out and drove it back swinging the old flathead on a chain. Then putting it in his dodge. He drove it home that night. It was froze and spitting snow then sleet. No doors on garage but did have a coal stove. Think the motor was $50.

LOL in Jan 88 I came home on emergency leave with my father in law in the hospital. While we were here (west MN) the clutch went out and I laid on ice to replace it because that's where I had to work on it.

Rick

BushogPapa · Dec 9, 2015

Mine was a '55 Ford with 3 speed over-drive, with a Police interceptor 352 in it to travel from home to the Army base..that one was FUN..!!

Ron.

RBoots · Dec 9, 2015

When I was still wrenching for a dealer, I needed to replace a starter on a JCB Loadall, which is on the underside of the machine, which someone had shut off in about 10" of standing water, not frozen yet, but in late November and raining. The only water hole on the place, and the only machine there so it couldn't be drug out of the water. I managed to scrounge around and find a pallet and a smashed pallet to throw underneath it, so once I crawled through the water to get underneath it, I only had to lay on my back in 3-4" of water.

Ross

Brian G. NY · Dec 9, 2015

Ron, I helped a buddy replace the auto tranny in a '58 Ford with the "332" Police Interceptor engine in January.
The good thing it was in a shed but the wind blew right through.
That must have been a T-85 O.D.tranny in the'55 Ford; they are heavy.....I had several Fords with overdrives. As a matter of fact, I have quite a collection of those trannys still, including a few T-85/R-11 units.
Too old to do anything with them now. LOL

Royse · Dec 9, 2015

I dug a trench in a snow bank, put some straw down and pushed
my '69 Polara in it to change the tranny in February in Michigan.
Piled the snow up around 3 sides to block the wind out.
That little job is EXACTLY the reason I have a heated shop now!

01gentdc · Dec 9, 2015

aint saying I WAS TUF AS NAILZ ,, but I got the battle scarz to prove I was thru a hale of a lot .. from age 17-55, I workt home improvement in all kinds of weather, and then come bak to work the farms many tasks and ALWAYS fed the hogs in the confinement building , I could do that in my sleep ,, every day , day after day . and ground feed many a nite until 11pm ,. only to start at 6 am the next am , I thrived on that schedule/// ,my wife use to brag to her sisters and aunts that I workt like a mule all day and like a bull most the nite ,,. my God she was a inspiration that could warm a body just thinking about her on a cold day . ,..I recall being so cold in winter and so dam hot I was smutherred in the summer ..., and the scrapes and bruises and wretch knees and mangled ankles and broken arms ,, cause me to have me walking off a limp when I start to walk ,,. and I walk out of it,. some days I have to think acout how to medicate myself before I go out to meet the demands of the day ... I am glad I did all I could while I was young and agile , but I still need to do impossible tasks from time to time,. in the gawd awfullest conditions ..

jimg.allentown · Dec 9, 2015

How about changing out a blown engine in a 1970 Chrysler Newport in January of 1976 in a backyard in Baldwinsville, NY under a homemade tripod with a come along for lifting. That was one miserable, cold job. One that I would not care to repeat.

Greg1959 · Dec 9, 2015

LOL!, LOL!

fixerupper · Dec 9, 2015

I haven't put a tranny in laying in the snow but I did replace the starter in a 630 Deere when it was hung up in a snow bank in zero degree temps. I had to dig under the tractor, then remove a loader bracket before I could tackle the starter. All because I got in a hurry and kicked the starter in during engine rollback. I welded the nose cone back together and got back down in the snow to put it back together. We tend to remember those kind of mistakes.

Fred Werring · Dec 10, 2015

Done my share.

And that's why I appreciate my nice, warm, dry shop now.

Fred

JimIA · Dec 10, 2015

Majority of our customers talk about how they will never own a tractor without a cab again!

L.Fure · Dec 10, 2015

I like to say, "When men were men, and women cared." We all did things while we were young that we wouldn't do now if our lives depended on it.

sotxbill · Dec 10, 2015

I had to walk 5 miles to school every day... Uphill both ways... I fought off a heard of dinosaurs in the morning and two bands of warring Indians in the evening, in 5 foot deep snow in the middle of July. And that was before the weather really got bad in South Texas. (William Eardley)

Ozlander · Dec 10, 2015

(quoted from post at 09:53:40 12/10/15)

I had to walk 5 miles to school every day... Uphill both ways... I fought off a heard of dinosaurs in the morning and two bands of warring Indians in the evening, in 5 foot deep snow in the middle of July. And that was before the weather really got bad in South Texas. (William Eardley)

I remember those days.

dwag · Dec 10, 2015

Never let the truth get in the way of a good story! lol

BushogPapa · Dec 10, 2015

Yes..!!!

I was blowing transmissions every few days, until I found this one..

It was from a '55 Mercury and held up to much abuse..!!!

Man, where did all those old Ford go..? I'd love to put another one together with a 406 or a 410 (390+4" stroke)..!!

BushogPapa · Dec 10, 2015

I still have a set of 427 Heads, with Tunnel Port valves and the Cam to make them Fly..!!

Identical to the cam used in the original "Thunderbolts"...

vscummins · Dec 10, 2015

Last transmission I did was laying in a garage on a tarp laying in about 3 inches of standing water . Every time I start a project the weather goes crazy.

1948CaseVAI · Dec 10, 2015

I always heard that the complete saying was "back in the days when men were men, and sheep were scared..."

Back when Men were Men

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