[AT] Last Saturday plow day (long)

[Indiana Robinson]

	I mentioned going to a plow day Saturday in my last 
message. I ended up just going to watch. I spent about half 
of two days getting my Farmall Super MTA and an old plow 
ready to go then didn't take it at the last minute. The 
tractor didn't need much other than oil and filter change 
etc. but the plow needed a bit more. It had a tire 
(converted from steel) that would not stay up and I pulled 
it and patched it but it leaked again. It was just too old 
and weak and opened up another spot. I got a new tube and 
put in it and it is OK now. The old IHC plow has a NOS non-
directional military tire (lots of weather checking) on the 
land side to operate the rope lift. On the other side I 
have a NOS (also with plenty of checking) 3 rib tractor 
front. The tail wheel rim was shot so I had grabbed an all 
steel tailwheel I had saved off of an old John Deere plow I 
had torn down and used the frame members to make a 3 
point fork lift (just the three point, no mast). The center 
hole of the tailwheel  was OK but the bolts didn't line up. 
A bit of drilling took care of that. I didn't mind chopping 
that other old plow up... It was just a John Deere...   
<(^¿^)>
	I had puttered with that IHC plow a few years ago on a 
garden and I knew that  the back plow point was not too 
great but I didn't have any more to fit it. It was not just 
awful but didn't have any suck left. I just heated it good 
and red and with a solid support under it about 3 inches 
back I hammered it down enough to give it some decent suck. 
Does it sound too negative to say that my plow now sucks... 
<(^¿^)>
I painted the moldboards with some graphite paint then I 
went out and plowed about a half acre with it getting it 
all sat right for that tractor and it was doing pretty 
nice. I got up Saturday morning and started to load up.
	Weeeell... I bought my old trailer new originally to haul 
my backhoe I used to own. That backhoe was pretty heavy but 
it was also fairly narrow. I keep most of my tractors sat 
fairly wide and don't change them. I had configured my 
trailer with extra rails and a platform between the wheels 
so that with a wider tractor I could just drive on the 
rails and across the wheels and that platform to get on the 
other side of the axles. I had hauled that MTA on it before 
and never gave it a second thought. Trouble is that back 
then the tires I had on it were not filled. The tires I 
have on it now are filled. Also the old GMC I used to tow 
with most of the time I had cut the frame off just behind 
the rear shackles and installed a hitch as close up as I 
could so it didn't stick back far from the truck axle. This 
4x4 Ford has the hitch sticking waaay too far back and I 
have not had a chance to shorten the frame on it yet. The 
combination of the filled tires which I could not center 
front to back on the trailer to suit me, facing either 
forward or backward (it doesn't tow well with a tractor 
sitting on the trailer tires)   <(^¿^)>  and the long 
overhang on the truck just would not let me load in a 
manner that I felt was safe enough. I was not about to set 
those MTA wheels in for one trip so I just ran it off and 
parked it...
	The fellow having the plow day is a heck of a nice fellow
and has done a plow day for 20 years. He is over west of 
Cambridge City IN just south of US-40. It is probably a bit 
under 50 miles from me. His family and Diana's family knew
 each other from years ago. He is also the guy I sold my 3 
Allis Roto-balers to.
	It is maybe just as well I didn't get my tractor hauled since
 the plowing was all done a lot earlier in the day than normal.
 There were quite a few 4 bottom plows there and one guy 
was using a John Deere 6030 and pulling a plow with seven 
18" bottoms. He ate up ground really fast.
	The host has a flock of oldies, all colors, none fancy trailer queens. 
Many of them are more like the tractors that the Girards (sp?) 
bring to Portland. Looking around keeping a casual mental
 count I believe they have around 35. BTW, for Gary Dotson, 
he does have a decent "Leader" tractor. One tractor, an Oliver
77 was painted black with a red grill. I intended to ask him 
about that one but I forgot (what else is new). He also has 
one in one barn that is a Farmall M painted like a John Deere.
 The name on it is Deere-all.   <(^¿^)>
	I don't know how many tractors were plowing since they 
were scattered over several fields. I'm guessing around 50+.
	The host has an old progressive pulling sled and after lunch 
(about 3:00) there was a lot of very un-official pulling. All in all 
it was a great day...


--
"farmer"

"The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be 
continually fearing you will make one."
Elbert Hubbard (1856 - 1915)


Refurbished Shopsmith's
Good used SPT's
http://www.indiana-robinson.0catch.com/


Francis Robinson
Central Indiana, USA
robinson at svs.net