[AT] Probably not the best choice for me

[Indiana Robinson]

Most of you know that I recently bought a little Massey Harris Pony
tractor to add to the "herd". As I look at it I probably didn't make
the best choice for me personally by buying it. I bought it because of
fond memories of the first one I ever saw which was new in Ferguson
Gray paint on display at the local county fair back in the early
1950's. It was love at first sight and I looked at them several more
times at the Indiana State Fair. I thought then (as a kid) that one of
those was maybe even more desirable than that girl in my class that I
had a crush on.
The little Pony starts easy and runs like a top and I have driven it a
few times, the last when I drove it to the barns down the road and
parked it inside for the winter. Any work on it will probably not
happen before about March.
There are a couple of reasons that I say that it may not have been the
best choice for me. Probably the biggest reason is that like the
little Yanmar 1500 I just sold there are certainly other tractors that
are easier to mount / dismount. The next is that once in the saddle
and with my feet in the stirrups it is a little hard for my old bones
to twist around enough to see back. Not as bad as the Yanmar but no
where near as easy as on the Ferguson TO-20 or the Case VAC.
One serious defect that the Pony has is that neither the PTO nor the
belt pulley works at all. After looking long and hard at it and giving
it a great deal of thought I have concluded that the reason they do
not work is that it does not have either one of them... OK I can buy a
set and install them later but I'm not sure I want to spend the money
when so many are waiting in line for tires etc.
It has a rudimentary 3 point hitch on it that someone has created with
cultivator lift parts but it does not have a regular drawbar. Not a
big deal and I will probably fabricate something unless I find one
somewhere cheap.
I guess its biggest problem is that it does not have a job... It can
just sit around and look pretty but that is my job description. ;-)
I have the Farmall Cub for those jobs where such a tractor is
appropriate and the TO-20 and VAC are only a little bigger. All three
are much easier to mount / dismount. I already use the TO-20
constantly and as soon as I get a chance to mount the new back tire I
expect to be using the VAC a lot.
I guess I will just make the Pony pretty and haul it to shows...
I was looking for a very reasonable 9N - 2N or 8N Ford when I ran
across the Pony. I guess I will still keep looking for one
(shhhhhhhh!). I'm selling some of my old farm stuff and some $$$$
might just fall through the cracks eventually.  :-)


-- 
Have you hugged your horses today?

Francis Robinson
aka "farmer"
Central Indiana USA
robinson46176 at gmail.com