[AT] Good tractor day

[JParks]

I've been anxiously waiting for a couple of antique TD35 crawlers to arrive
to arrive and today it seemed like everything came at once.  By 9:30 this
morning I had unloaded a D8H 36A w/ 2 bbl parallelogram ripper and as soon
as I came in from that I got a call that the TD35's were on the way, along
with a Hanomag/Massey 33 4 wheel drive wheel loader (crispy critter)

I'm most excited about the TD35's.  They are almost a matched set, both
1937, so I can make one good one from the two.  Just last week a gentleman
from Oregon offered me the running gear out from under a 1937 AW grader
model SC which used the same engine, the PD40.  His engine runs and mine do
not, so I guess  I'm making one good runner from 3 machines.

I also got to play w/ my tractors in getting them off.  The owner of the
trailer that brought in the 3 machines at once did not want his deck
scratched or chewed up.  He wanted me to lift everything off by going
straight up.  Tricky, if you don't want to scratch, bend or destroy any
tinware.  On the one TD35 that had no tracks (they came in unattached) there
were only two lift points at the rear,  the drawbar mounting brackets, that
could prevent any damage.  It was not long before I had it up in the air
like a dangling fish about to be landed.  I learned that this method is also
a good way to shake the dust and dirt out of an old tractor but not one I
would recommend without a very good lifting device.  I wish I had a picture
of it but had my hands full of hydraulic controls at the time.

John Parks
Boise, ID