[AT] Tractor story

[Ralph Goff]

Kyle, we are in the same boat here with this past two mild days. The ground
that is exposed is now wet and muddy. Theres  only a couple of inches or so
of thawing on  the surface but theres plenty of mud to make a mess of the
yard and driveway. Wouldn't you know this was the day I had the semi come in
to the yard to haul canola. At least it was only two trips but I imagine
theres some bad tracks on the driveway especially where its short of gravel.
Heres a trick I use when a tractor (or truck) is stuck on ice , might work
in mud too. I happened to get stuck on a downhill slope while piling snow
yesterday with the 2090 and blade. This tractor has excellent traction and
pushing power but its not invincible. Sure enough , when I went to back up
the icy hillside, it spun out, even with the diff lock on. I couldn't go
forward as the blade was up against the snowpile. Its a little hard to pull
a tractor out with another one when you are the only driver available so I
used my handy traction aids, a couple of 4 foot lengths of expanded metal.
This stuff is light yet strong. When its laid behind the tires I was able to
get rolling without a problem.

Ralph in Sask.
http://www3.sk.sympatico.ca/lgoff/latestpage.html

----- Original Message -----
From: Kyle Sands <willys_46 at mail.com>
To: Antique tractor email discussion group <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 09, 2004 3:30 PM
Subject: [AT] Tractor story


>    Just thought I'd share my recent tractor experience with you all.  Some
of you may remember my success last summer getting my '47 M-M RTU running.
It was stored over at my neighbor's place during the summer, but last fall I
drove it home so I could use it to haul firewood.  We had a freak fire last
winter that consumed all of our reserve wood supply, so last fall we had to
gather more than we usually do to stock up and of course work later into the
season than we normally do.  As a result, the tractor was left outside with
a half-ful trailer when the first snows fell.  Rather than move it, I
decided to leave it parked and there it sat all winter in the yaerd behind
the house.  With the spring thaw now setting in, I realized that if I didn't
move the tractor soon, it would have to sit there until summer when the lawn
would finally dry out enough to drive on.
>
>    Last Saturday, I decided it was time to move it.  The house was built
up on a gradual slope, so driving around to the front required some
sidehilling and eventually I would have to drive up a short incline - maybe
20 degrees of slope, but only about 15 feet long.  It was this slope where I
ran into problems.  I almost made it to the top where I spun out.  Back up,
try again, spin out.  What happened was the ground is still frozen with a
layer of mud about 2 inches deep.  I would spin down to the "ice" and that
was it.  I had to unhook the trailer and use ashes from the stove to gain
enough traction to make it up.  By the time I was back on the driveway, I
had slipped and slid enough to really  trash the lawn - exactly what I
didn't want to do in the first place.  Oh well...I was able to use a rake to
knock down the ruts and smooth the surface back down.  Grass has never grown
well here anyway, so I don't think the scars will be very visible.  The good
news?  After sitting
>  for several months, the R started right up without any problems!
>
> Kyle Sands <>< Huntley, MN
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