Cleaned out the basement today! Needed some equipment!!! LOL

My wife always tells me I like to "play" with the tractors too much. I asked her what is "TOO" much???? LOL She teased me all afternoon for having TWO tractors to clean out one basement. I still had to carry every thing up the basement steps. All my help bailed on me today. LOL

I have owned this house for 20 years. Up until two years ago it was a rental for 10 years and then my second oldest son lived here. When I move in we were straightening things out up stairs to what we wanted. Well the basement was stuffed full of JUNK!!! It is a rock laid basement so it is damp. So most of the stuff down there was not in good shape. I always just considered the basement on this house as access to the utilities only. Maybe store stuff from freezing in the winter but nothing of any value down there.

There was the sand and Portland cement left from when we plastered the walls 10 years ago. The Portland cement was rock hard and the sand bags fell apart. Those Portland bags where the old 95 lbs. or 42 kilos ones. I am glad there was only five of them. The sand I just carried out with a scoop shovel. All together I had two full barge boxes full of "stuff" to take to the burn pile/dump.

Now for the equipment: The JD 4020 gas was already here so it would run well enough to load the barge box with the heavier stuff. Then I had my little JD 5210 on the barge box. That little tractor is the handiest tractor for its size I have ever owned. Easy on and easy off an nimble as all heck too.

Now for the old equipment fellows. The barge box in the picture is one of two that my Grand father bought new when I was in the second grade. The fall of 1957. I think he gave $1000 for the pair. I do not know if he traded anything or not. Those two barge boxes with hydraulic hoists where making it "BIG TIME" then. LOL Up until then we had flat bed wagons with short side boards and you shoveled the loads off. I can remember thinking how BIG these were when riding in them while they picked corn with my Uncle's Ford 900 with a mounted picker. They hold about 100 bushels of ear corn and maybe 130 of shelled corn. Really BIG time. LOL

Some additional things. Nether wagon has ever been wet, not even a dew. My Grand Dad was afraid the wood would buckle if they got wet. So as long as he lived those wagons were under cover every single night. If they set out he tarped them, loaded or empty. The one in the picture trails better so it gets used more. They are all original other than the tires. The paint is pretty good for the use they have seen.

Think about how these were the state of the art when they were new in 1957. Now 1000 bushel wagons are not uncommon around here. Time sure changes things.

PS. I did not get to work on the JD 4020 gas any today. It was running somewhat better but still had a little miss but it would take throttle.

On the 4020 gas, there is a guy in Walnut, Ill the has converted a 4020 gas to throttle body and did away with the carb. I talked to him a couple years ago, don't remember all the details, but he said it ran better than ever and had more power. I can probably find a phone number if you are interested. Chris
PS I'm glad that was you moving the bags of cement, if it was me, they would probably be there for the duration!

We always told our kids we would place the front loader by their window if they didn't clean their room.

:! While growing up, Mom always told us that whatever we left out would be put in "her" box. Sure enough, whatever we left out was never seen again. She never told us what she did with the items we left out.

Regrettably we never actually did it. We have a storage building full of all kind of toys and stuffed animals and our youngest is now 23.

You are right those wagons were big in their day. Dad bought a 6X10 Heider in the late forties or early fifties and it was the pride of the neighborhood. It did not have the top hinged rear gate though, only a small slide gate. Then he bought another 6X10 Heider in 1959 and then a huge 6X12 Heider in 1962. Another 6X12 Heider with a silage end gate came into the scene sometime in the early seventies. Now we could haul big time, 350 bushels at a time with a 6X10 and 6X12 hooked together. The 51 A had to dig and scratch to get them moving in the field, if it even could. The 630 had a little easier time with them but not by much. We made sure the wagons weren't parked on soft ground when the combine filled them to guarantee the tractor could get them going. Oh the memories. I still have these wagons and they are shedded or covered.

nice stuff! I like that 5210,, ! Do you still have your uncles 900 Ford?

If you have a cement mixer you can salvage that hardened Portland. First, remove the baffles from the cement mixer; then bust up the Portland with a sledge to fist sized chunks & put them into the cement mixer. Next put in 2-3 steel Shot-Put balls 8-10 Lbs. each (available at Walmart and most Sporting Goods stores) and turn on the cement mixer. Those steel balls will pulverize those Portland chunks back into a usable powder. Store the Portland in plastic pails with tight fitting lids.

I've done this a couple of times, so I know it works.


Doc :>)

My mom told us. Any money she found in our clothes on laundry day was hers. She always had money.

Good morning. Did heider have one color for their wagons? I've seen them painted just about every color. Old brown wagon of mine looks like it never had paint.I also have 2 painted red. Neighbor has one that he always varnished that looks pretty sharp. Another neighbor had one painted white with red lettering.

jd ,,, tryvsea foam in the 4020 ,, I admire your efforts and how you protect your heritage ,.

As far as I know the wood was varnished on Heiders. Ours all had green steel parts but if memory serves me right a neighbor had a Heider with red steel.

I bought a 5210 new in '98 w/syn.shuttle trans.,521 loader....best buy I ever made. Handy,reliable,strong, I even have the same rear wts.

Larry I do not know where that tractor ended up. He died in 1963. My Aunt had a sale sold everything and moved to town.

Heider Wagons. Grandpa, Dad, and my uncle had a total of 5. Two had the triple box pictured. 2 were bought new around 1950. All had varnish wood and red steel.