[AT] anti-freeze

[Ralph Goff]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "charliehill" <charliehill at embarqmail.com>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 23, 2008 7:07 AM
Subject: Re: [AT] Ralph Goff CLOSE THE DOOR


> John my dad used to tell me about not being able to get anti-freeze during
> WW II and folks putting kerosene in the cooling system.
>

Charllie, my Dad also talked of using either diesel fuel or kerosene as 
anti-freeze in his John Deere D way back in the fifties. I don't know if he 
couldn't afford anti-freeze or if it wasn't available. It would have cost a 
fair bit to fill up that big cooling system on the D so maybe he was trying 
to avoid the cost. He did comment on at least one occasion when the 
"anti-freeze" (kerosene) got so thick in the radiator that it stopped 
circulating and actually overheated the engine.
This would likely have been in the early fifties before electricity came to 
the rural areas so block heaters were not an option. No battery chargers 
either so when the batteries wouldn't crank anymore it was time to grab that 
big cast iron flywheel and try to start the tractor. I sometimes wonder how 
they survived those winters. We have it pretty easy now even though we 
complain about the cold.

Ralph in Sask.