[AJD] Tractor Pictures

Duane Larson jdlarson at comcast.net
Sun Aug 14 12:26:46 PDT 2005


Duane,
I first met Jerry in the early '80's when he and his family attended a gas 
engine show in upper east Tennessee.  The show featured very early engines 
(flame lickers, slide valves, etc), and Jerry also has some pretty unusual 
gas engines.  He comes to Portland and LeSueur swap meets most years and 
always has some interesting stuff.

I've always enjoyed the prairie tractors, and often go a week early to the 
Camp Creek Thresher show near Lincoln, NE to help some friends get their old 
tractors dug out, oiled and greased, and running.  More fun than the show 
for me!

Yes, making sure the impulse coupler is functioning properly so the engine 
doesn't fire before TDC is a critical part of the preparation!
Duane

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Duane Ledford" <dledford at classicnet.net>
To: "Antique John Deere mailing list" 
<antique-johndeere at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Sunday, August 14, 2005 1:15 PM
Subject: Re: [AJD] Tractor Pictures


> Duane,
>
> Thanks for mentioning Jerry's name. I knew what it was, but did not write 
> down the correct spelling of his last name and didn't want to butcher it. 
> Got to speak with him a little bit. Great guy and he has a real passion 
> for these large machines. Don't even want to think about what it takes to 
> restore these beasts. And you think you have trouble turning your hand 
> start JD??? Watched them fire these tractors up for the parade of power. 
> Jerry had them tuned up pretty well, but still old engines can be 
> cantankerous. A couple of the tractors were flywheel start where a person 
> had to actually stand on the spokes of the flywheel and use their weight 
> to pull the engine over TDC. Wouldn't want to think about what would 
> happen if the engine would kick back. As far as fuel economy, Jerry said 
> most of them burned 12 gallons per hour...whether at idle or under load. 
> This is a really good show with a great attendance in spite of it being 
> put on by a small community. Also, if you have German or Mennonite 
> interests, the show grounds are on the Mennonite Heritage Museum site. 
> Lots of displays of Mennonite culture and history in that area. Lots of 
> good German/Mennonite food.
>
> Duane
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Duane Larson" <jdlarson at comcast.net>
> To: "Antique John Deere mailing list" 
> <antique-johndeere at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> Sent: Sunday, August 14, 2005 9:24 AM
> Subject: Re: [AJD] Tractor Pictures
>
>
>> Duane,
>  Most of
>> the large prairie tractors belong to Jerry Toews (pronounced Taves). 
>> There is a nice article about him in the August issue of Gas Engine 
>> Magazine.  We think we have troubles restoring our JDs - it is a whole 
>> different world of hunting, casting, machining, etc. to get these old 
>> tractors up and running again!
>> Duane Larson
>>
>
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> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/antique-johndeere 




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