[AT] Confessing a complete lack of knowledge here

[Larry D. Goss]

The current owner of the JD 316 has that plus a Snapper Comet in similar
condition.  The suburban lot they live on is mostly wooded.  I suspect
that they couldn't hack working with either a small rider or the John
Deere because of all the trees.  The new deck on the John Deere shows
evidence of having hooked the discharge chute on something.  I suspect
that they sideswiped a tree or two and gave up.  Reports from the
neighbors are that the lady of the house has been mowing the whole thing
(three to four acres) with a 20 or 22 inch walk-behind mower.

Larry 

-----Original Message-----
From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
[mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of David Bruce
Sent: Friday, May 05, 2006 9:52 AM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: [AT] Confessing a complete lack of knowledge here

Larry,
My grandpa was "old school" so we had to "do things right".  The only 
time we widened the track on the Ferguson was to pull the two row AC 
corn planter (converted from snap coupler to 3 pt - and I have the snap 
coupler tongue -NEVER threw anything away here).
The "reason" for planting with the Ferguson was the thought that it was 
lighter than the AC D-14 (is that true?  I never knew and I really 
haven't concerned myself with that thought).
We planted corn and soybeans with this planter.  Then cultivated with a 
two row cultivator mounted on the D-14 (spin out wheels really helped
here).
Picked the corn with a one row John Deere model 100 mounted snapper - I 
remember hand pulling rows along the outside of the fields so there was 
a space for the tractor on the first trip around the field.
Unlike many of you I never really "worked" on the farm.  I was the first

grandchild and was still rather small when my Grandpa retired from 
farming so my "work" was "helping" - I did get to do a few of the chores

but never felt like I was "working for real".  My favorite was plowing 
in the fall.  I would run the D-14 from after school until about 
9:00PM.  Nothing like plowing in the dark for giving one time to solve 
all the world's problems.
Maybe the owner of the mower is like my uncle.  He wanted a new riding 
mower this year (anything but black and it HAD to be a 42 inch cut).  He

had a perfectly good big box JD mower with only a year on it and NO 
problems but he just knew a new mower would be better.
So, my aunt and I found one of the MTD clones 42 inch cut, NOT BLACK and

picked it up for him.  Now he mows with the JD - says he can't figure 
out how to put the MTD into reverse (probably just a good excuse as he 
has always kept his "new stuff" in the shed while he used the "old
stuff").
David


Larry D. Goss wrote:
> We didn't use the option of keeping the tread running correctly on the
> John Deere-L.  Obviously, we could have exchanged the wheels from side
> to side so that when the rims were reversed the tread still ran the
> right way, but we only had one jack on the farm that had the reach to
> lift the rear of the tractor and we didn't have any blocking lumber to
> rest the tractor on during the process.  So we set the wheels narrow
and
> had the tread running correctly during plowing and cultivating but ran
> the treads backwards when the wheels were set wide and the mower was
> mounted.  There was some question about any difference in traction
with
> those tires anyway -- they had closed cleats.
>
> I ran into an interesting situation on a John Deere 316 a couple of
days
> ago.  It's a cream puff machine.  It's been through two owners in its
> life, and it appears to have had almost no use.  For some reason, the
> current owner replaced the mower deck, tried it once, and then parked
> the whole tractor for seven or eight years.  The only things I could
> find wrong with it are that the hour-meter is missing and one rear ag.
> tire is mounted backwards.  Otherwise, it's in showroom condition.
> Strange.
>
> Larry
>   
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