Five Thousand Pieces, mostly tractors

Tom OConnor · Jan 31, 2021

My wife allowed me to decorate one of the walls of the garage of our new home. Thats it, one wall of the garage. She and the builder did a beautiful job designing and building the home but I feel that I contributed very little. All I did was stand back and try to guard the cash register and many say that I did a poor job of that. The ten pictures were sent in to a website and were made into five hundred piece jig saw puzzles. It took me about four days each it put the puzzles together and then very carefully frame them. Tell me what you think. L to R Top row is before and after restoration, number three is fifty years of progress. Four is the garage full of the thirty series and five is our magic carpet Beechcraft A-36 Bonanza. Bottom Row L to R 630 on display at the last expo in Waterloo, Iowa. 530 Standard, 630 and model 42 combine that we restored several years ago. 520 with the model 68 auger wagon which was the birth of the modern day grain cart and then the last was I backed the truck in off the road and my wife came along and took the picture on the last field that I harvested in my farming career. Tell me what you think. It gave me a little something to do during the lockdown.

Robert (ID) · Jan 31, 2021

Thats awesome... much better use of your time then watching politricks on TV....

Tom OConnor · Jan 31, 2021

The next five pictures

Tom OConnor · Jan 31, 2021

Johnnypopper · Jan 31, 2021

I think the Two Cylinder 30 series Tractors are about the best looking tractors ever built. That’s just my humble opinion. Putt Putt.

Janicholson · Jan 31, 2021

Which of those is actually a window? Jim

DeltaSteve · Jan 31, 2021

I personally like the x20 series better. But the x30s are pretty sharp tractors.

tomturkey · Jan 31, 2021

Yes dear, whatever you say dear, oh yes dear thats what I think to, Oh I see, yes do it your way lol lol peaceful home....gobble

BlaineM · Jan 31, 2021

The slant steer 320 is my dream tractor! A 530 standard???

AL Moyer · Jan 31, 2021

Like the A-36 !, Yours also ?

55 50 Ron · Jan 31, 2021

Where did you farm? How long is that semi trailer? It looks long enough to reach into the next county !!!

rrc300 u · Jan 31, 2021

Looks good. I remember when you posted the picture of the truck and said it was the last load of your last harvest.

super99 · Jan 31, 2021

Nice pictures, lots of work on the puzzles!!! I'm curious about the grain trailer, 6 axles? How much can you haul on it? All you see here in the Midwest are tandems with the occasional rock hauler with a drop down tag axle. I would think it would be difficult to turn tight with a load?? Anyhow, nice looking Deere's! Chris

gtractorfan · Jan 31, 2021

Looks like a Michigan truck.

830 · Jan 31, 2021

Nice tractors and puzzles . I like the 830 and 9430 just showed where the big ones came from . You have to be in Michigan. Enjoy !

flying belgian · Jan 31, 2021

That's very nice. Can we get a picture tour of the house?

Dave H (MI) · Jan 31, 2021

I remember standing in front of that big overhead door talking to you about the grain truck. That is the building it was parked in right? You had some nice equipment and an impressive collection of green. Always good to hear from you Tom! Good work on the puzzles!

Tom OConnor · Jan 31, 2021

Hi Dave,
Great to hear from you. Yes that is the same door and building. Thanks for the compliments on the puzzles. The hardest had to be the soybean stubble in front of the truck. Those pieces all looked the same but I must say that they were all made of good quality material and if it was the right piece for the spot they fit perfectly. If you were ever to try to force a piece to make it fit it would come back to haunt you. I am sure glad that the truck worked out for you. Tom

Tom OConnor · Jan 31, 2021

I'll take a few pictures and post them in a few days. Wife just got her drapes up and some other finishing touches done and I am way behind on the photo duty. Thanks for asking.

Veronabob · Jan 31, 2021

Very nicely done Tom, really enjoyed seeing them.

Tom OConnor · Jan 31, 2021

Dear 50-50
We farmed in Genesee county, Michigan my entire life. The trailer is a Titan 51 foot made over in Ontario. Michigan and Ontario have different weight laws regarding truck limits than the rest of the U.S. and Canada. You can have up to eight axels under a trailer and even allowed more if you can get nine foot spread between any of them. This trailer is known as a nine quad nine. There are three hoppers and the back two unload between the spreads.

Tom OConnor · Jan 31, 2021

Dear Blaine,
Yes, the little 320 slant steer is one of my favorites also. Quite hard to find, this one came from a gentleman out in California and if I remember the story it spent its life cultivating blueberries on his father in laws farm and his wife inherited it. The 530 Standard was never marketed by John Deere but it is possable to custom build them but it is much more difficult than it looks. It is all made out of John Deere parts but the frame is narrower on the 530 and the casting under the front of the engine has to have all the holes filled and then machined down then redrilled and tapped to fit. Also the platform has to be cut down. The wheels came from a junked combine to get the tractor to be level. I have only known of four or five of them in the country but all the rest of our thirty series collection were standard tractors so I just thought it proper to have a 530 standard.

SVcummins · Jan 31, 2021

Beautiful . I think I’d put them in the living room though

Tom OConnor · Jan 31, 2021

Dear Tom Turkey'
I am kind of a "Crusty Old Farmer" but everybody that has ever met my wife, loves my wife. They all know and will agree that I married well above myself. I gladly delegate jobs to her and know when she is finished with a project it will be perfect and she will not be changing her mind half way through the project. There are at least a thousand choices to make and several hundred decisions to be made building a new home and she can read a blue print and decorate it in her mind while the ground is still bare.

Tom OConnor · Jan 31, 2021

Dear 99,

Lots of comments on the Titan grain trailer. On this tractor trailer combination you are allowed 135,500 pounds and the trailer will hold 17 to 18 hundred bushel of fairly good test weight grain. You ALWAYS lift at least the front and rear spread axles before you go into a turn. You have an option to turn on the quad axles all down or you can also lift the lead of the quad to turn. The quad axles are 30,000 pound axles so they have plenty of capacity to carry the load when the others are raised. If you should forget to raise the spreads going into a tight turn the trailer will continue to want to go straight and will push the tractor tandems straight. You will only make a mistake like that once. Surprisingly they will stop well loaded as all axles have brakes and you can raise and lower the lift axles quite quickly as there are several air tanks on board.

Tom OConnor · Jan 31, 2021

Dear Al,

Yes, the Bonanza I bought from the Beechcraft Factory in 2001. Quite an experience as the company said that you get a free course with Flight Safety so they sent up to Michigan a new Barron for me to fly back to Wichita to tour the factory and go through this Flight Safety Course. The training was a piece of cake for me as I had over five thousand hours in several Centurion
Planes that I had owned but come to find out you had to be certified by Flight Safety before they released the plane to anyone. Great experience, aviation opens up a whole different world to a person. I flew a lot of charter flights but the most rewarding were the Air Life Line and Angel Flights.

Rich'sToys · Jan 31, 2021

Tom,
Nice puzzles! Where do you have them made?
I had one made with one of my tractors also. I will post it in a separate thread so as not to hijack this one.

Tom OConnor · Jan 31, 2021

Window is on the other side of the garage. Reflection is from the roof of the car and flash of the camera.

AL Moyer · Feb 1, 2021

Yes Tom, I happen to have gone through the Beech Factory quite a few years ago, my friend that had a P model were there American Bonanza Society Convention, That's when they were starting the Beech Starship. He just recently sold his Bonanza after 47 years of ownership, He too did over 500 Angel Flights, & was recognized for it down in Fl., but started doing tose flights up her in Pa. AL

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