[AT] Weather keeping old tractors parked (now rambling)

[Francis Robinson]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "charlie hill" <chill8 at suddenlink.net>


> It's mighty dry here too Farmer.  I was over at the farm today and the 
> only
> thing that not twisting up and dying is the yellow flies.
>

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    Its been too dry for flys... Not that I miss them. It has also given us 
a break from too many skeeters. We have had more ticks than the Timex 
factory though. A combination of this dry time and a bad cold snap earlier 
has really put the brakes on a lot of fruit. Many fruit trees were starting 
to bloom then froze. I saw one little apple on a small tree in the yard. No 
cherries, no pears, no peaches and no plums. The strawberries are a wipe 
out. It really seems strange because this is normally an area where you just 
throw down seeds and stuff grows. Sometimes something takes a hit but not 
usually all at once.
    I need to get the Yanmar 1500D out and mount the 5' Woods mower on it 
just in case it rains someday. I did mow a few "spots" this afternoon that 
were mostly weeds. They are doing well...   ;-)   We need a market for 
Canada Thistle. They are growing like... well... like weeds.   :-)   If they 
would find a product that they could be made into they would develop all 
manner of diseases and die out... I have been running both lawn tractors 
with the decks all of the way up.
    I thought it was kind of interesting that my new (bought late spring) 
Deere 21 HP 48" cut tractor has been burning a little oil. Not a lot, but 
enough that I have to add a tiny bit to keep it between the marks. This is a 
twin cylinder Briggs that Deere brags is made especially for them. Neither 
of the MTD Yard-Man mowers burn a drop of oil nor have they ever. The one I 
bought very early this spring is a 22 HP twin, 46" cut and the other is the 
one I have used for 3 years which is a 20 HP twin, 42" cut. That 42" has cut 
a lot of very heavy grass but still burns no oil. Its oil is still very 
clean and full bodied when I change it. I was going to use it for two years 
and replace it but it was doing so well that I kept it three years. It was 
tempting to keep it for four but I would rather sell it while it is still in 
good shape. It looks very good and I think I can get half of what I paid for 
it out of it.
    The 46" cut Yard-Man that I bought very early this spring was sold and 
they ran a half tank of gas through it and it quit (The black paint was 
still on the blades). The Wal-Mart guys couldn't make it run (surprise) so 
it was taken someplace (supposedly) and they could not get it to run more 
than a few minutes. It ended up back in a corner at Wal-Mart for a year. I 
asked them about it and they just wanted for it to go away. I bought it for 
"well" under a third of new price. I had noticed that the fuel level in the 
tank was the same as the carb level. I took it home and filled the half full 
tank and fired it up. It has ran flawlessly ever since. ???? (shrug) It had 
to have been a spot of dirt in the little fuel pump check valve. When I 
filled the tank it was then running as gravity feed. Apparently that was 
enough to clean the bit of dirt out and allow it to pump fuel OK. And unlike 
the new Deere it doesn't use any oil either.   :-)
    I need to do oil changes on the engines, trannies and diffs on about 
half of my old tractors this summer... DANG!!! that is getting expensive 
these days... Those old Farmall "M" series tractors hold about a half 
zillion gallons each...   ;-)


--
"farmer"

Francis Robinson
Central Indiana, USA
robinson at svs.net