[AT] Winter is sprung?

[jtchall at nc.rr.com]

We had to beef up a couple pieces of equipment when we were farming full 
time. The chisel plow had to have reinforcement gussets added to the frame 
to repair cracks. The 12 ft cultimulcher basically had to have 1/4" plate 
steel added to the entire frame to repair stress cracks. The Deere offset 
harrows were heavy duty to start with so no additional frame work was 
needed. Same for the plows. However, when they were wore out, it got 
expensive to rebuild. No point in buying new if the frames are solid, 
tillage tools just wear out. Same for the grain drill. Some days you just 
went to the dealer and ordered a truck load of parts. It was a great feeling 
to head to the field with a machine that had had all the "business end" 
rebuilt.

John Hall


-----Original Message----- 
From: Grant Brians
Sent: Saturday, March 19, 2016 6:59 AM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: [AT] Winter is sprung?

Here in California our winter has been an interesting mix of warm, wet,
dry and some cold. We have had spring temperatures since early January
though so I can't say exactly when it started!  I have been off the list
as I am so busy with farming and the seed sales business
(www.gourmetseed.com). We have had flooding in our floodplain fields,
wet conditions where we have had gaps in our sandy soil ranches planting
cycles and even plants that the leaves waterlogged to the extent that
they could not have their leaves harvested.
      But still it is not an actual WET year. The drought is breaking
for some and not others. For the antique equipment front, use is finally
taking its toll on some implements. The 1955 IH Dyrr disc harrow had
part of the hinge break (1" thick steel) after all of these years and
acres. It covers at least 1000 acres worth of passes a year now, maybe
quite a bit more as we grow 2-4 crops a year on the ranch where we now
use it and there are over 120 acres of cropland there.
      Some of the Planet Jr. planters had to have an overhaul again - I
don't know how many times that has happened! Our 1994 - not antique but
it illustrates the point of work results - disc had to have the hitch
mount rebuilt with new steel finally. It is only 10' wide and yet it
covers 200 acres a year, again 2-5 crops per year. And the ripper needed
new points again for the umpteenth time.... Even the least new of the
new John Deere tractors started giving problems because the fuel hoses
have broken down after 8 years. I desperately need to rebuild the weed
flamers now, but don't have time and not doing so costs real money
because of the amount of labor they save.
      Ironically, the Oliver 77's all are working fine....
             Grant Brians - Hollister,California farmer of vegetables,
herbs, edible flowers, nuts and fruits
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