[Farmall] Winter sounds - ramble

[birddog]

I am still trying to catch up with all of the batteries for winter 
storage.  Some are left in with maintenance chargers and some are 
removed to be kept charged in the shop.  A few are left to fend for 
themselves with only a startup each month.  Last week I got to the cub.  
That battery has been off and on since the tractor followed me home last 
summer.  There is no date punched, but the last possible on the label 
was 99, so it is a given ti is probably ten years old.  I took the 
strong battery from the JD 316 for the cub.  The 316 will not see any 
winter running so the battery should be out of it. The cub has always 
had a hit and miss connection.  Occasionally the button may need two or 
three tries to get any result.  In looking things over, the G (stands 
for Farmer's G-word which is currently banned from ATIS lists)  G- cable 
only attaches to the battery case on the south end, under the battery.  
Well now, it would never rust under there, would it??  Took it off and 
did a good clean up.  Put in the JD battery and walla, the starter spins 
it like it is already running.  Naturally all this work required a 1/2 
hour ride around before putting it back to bed. Purrs like a kitten.

Next issues were last Friday.  I started the 560 for ten minutes or so 
of running charge.   The muffler rusted  off at the base last summer.  
Having just put a new one on the M, I decided not to buy another one 
right away.  I cut the outlet pipe from the old 560 muffler and mounted 
it on the manifold stack pipe to get the exhaust outlet up a ways.  This 
still gave the ability to keep on the rain hat and put a coffee can over 
that when standing.  For a straight pipe, it is not terribly loud, but 
it sure has a nice voice.  Sounds good to me.

I thought the battery in the M was about shot so removed battery and 
case.  The floor of the case is about gone so it is time for a rebuild 
anyway.  Before chucking the battery to the scrap battery stack, I put 
it on charge to see how it would do.  Good news.  It seems to have taken 
a good charge and is holding at 12V so far.

Today I needed to retie the front of the tarp on the 10-20.  I have had 
an itch to set the spark and throttle, give it a handshake and give the 
crank a turn for about a week now.  I guess it hasn't run in at least a 
couple of months.  A nice cloudy 35 degree day seemed like the time for 
that..  Pulled the tart 1/2 way back and did the drill.  The second 1/2 
turn of the crank did the trick.  To be fair, it was necessary to run 
the 10-20 as long as the battery machines.  Nothing like listening to 
that for a cure of the winter blahs. 

Charlie V  --  not too far from the Rochester snow fleet.