[AT] Bill Brueck

Sat Nov 22 16:40:50 PST 2025

Ma’am, I’m likewise very sorry to hear of Bill’s passing.  I knew him only via this email list, but for years he was one of the folks who readily chimed in with helpful advice on any number of farming or old-tractor issues.   Just a year or so ago he helped me with some electrical-system questions.

Re your “shed full of tractors,” I expect your auctioneer is well familiar with farm equipment values and will do their best to get good returns from the auction.   If you have any questions about any items that we on this Antique Tractor list might be able to help with, please ask.

All the best,

Dean Vinson

Saint Paris, Ohio

From: AT <at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com> On Behalf Of Dean VP
Sent: Saturday, November 22, 2025 12:41 PM
To: Antique Tractor Email Discussion Group <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Subject: Re: [AT] Tractor stuff

I am so sorry to hear this. Bill and I had a long relationship and Bill did an extraordinary favor for me when I was restoring a 1935 JD B in AZ.  Over the last few months I have been trying to contact him without success to again thank him and see if there was anything I could do to return the favor.  Now I understand why I was having trouble getting a response. Bill was an extraordinary man.  Many years ago I had the wild idea to create an on-line John Deere Master Parts List (MPI) so that us John Deere Collectors could look up old part numbers and find out on which tractor or equipment they were used. The MPI book was huge like 3" thick and printed on very porous and poor quality paper. My attempts at scanning the pages into searchable PDF files were unsuccessful. The scanning errors were just too high. Bill and I discussed my issues very often and exchanged ideas for quite some time w/o a good solution. Then Bill came up with a brilliant compromise solution. Rather than try to scan the pages so that an individual part number could be found he came up with a way to search for the part number and find the page it was on. Then the user could scan the page visually to find the target part number. This technique got around the scanning error issue. It works very well and is still being offered at:  http://www.b2parts.com/partsindex/index.cfm

It would be beneficial for that service to be continued indefinitely.  Are the web site owners going to continue that service? If so are we able to offer financial compensation to keep it going or if it is going to be discontinued is there a way it can be transferred to a new owner? 

Please keep us informed concerning the auction and please provide links to the auction so we can inform bidders throughout the midwest and even wider exposure.

Dean Van Peursem

Snohomish, WA

On Saturday, November 22, 2025 at 09:12:15 AM PST, Bill Brueck <bill at apluscomputer.com <mailto:bill at apluscomputer.com> > wrote: 

This is Bill's wife Linda. Bill died on October 11th of what we think was a heart attack.  An online auction will start Nov. 30th from Graves Auction in Mazeppa, MN. 

Bill was the love of my life and I miss him terribly. As his daughter-in-law said "Bill left us with lots of love and a shed full of tractors."

On Nov 20, 2025 10:03 PM, Dean Vinson <dean at vinsonfarm.net <mailto:dean at vinsonfarm.net> > wrote:

I haven’t done much wrenching on my tractors in a while, which is generally good news:  They’re running well and I can just enjoy doing stuff with them, and save my DIY time for the long list of projects needed around the house or woods.

The exception is my Ford 3600, which overheated the other day after I’d been mowing for only 10 or 15 minutes.  That was disappointing since I’d had it in the shop just last summer for the same thing.  Back then I’d poked around a bit and noticed a couple other little things that needed attention and figured “Okay, this is gonna exceed my time and patience budgets so I’ll have the shop handle it.”   The shop cleaned a bunch of gunk out of the radiator but didn’t otherwise find anything wrong.  This time I skipped the poking around part and went straight to picking up my phone.   I’m wondering if it’s a thermostat issue but will see what the shop says when they call.

The Farmall Super M has mostly sat in the barn this year.   Last winter I put an alternator on it and everything works fine, but it’s mostly a backup tractor now.

The 3020 is my go-to tractor these days.   I’ve used it with a sprayer and with a brushhog but by far the most common task is just pulling a trailer carrying whatever tools or materials I’m working with on a given day.   For years I used the Super M in that role, but once I got past 60 years old I noticed the seat had somehow gotten higher, farther back, and with less around me to grab onto if I hit rough ground than had been the case when I was younger.   The 3020 by comparison feels like I’m nestled into a safe little cockpit.   (Yeah, the 3600 is likewise safe and is plenty powerful for anything I really need, but it’s fun and handy to have more than one tractor).

Some months ago I replaced the original Marvel-Schebler carb on the 3020 with a new Zenith from Roberts Carburetor Repair.  Tractor now starts like it’s new and runs like a top.  I’m hopeful that’ll continue when the weather turns cold, since there were some bitter days last winter when I needed the tractor and rear blade to clear the driveway and getting it started was a serious pain.   Once snow starts being forecast and I put the rear blade on the 3020, the Super M will go back to being the primary tractor for whatever trailer-hauling chore comes up.

For now the green tractor is still the one that gets fired up the most, such as in this photo from a couple days ago.  

Dean Vinson

Saint Paris, Ohio

_______________________________________________
AT mailing list
AT at lists.antique-tractor.com <mailto:AT at lists.antique-tractor.com> 
http://lists.antique-tractor.com/listinfo.cgi/at-antique-tractor.com

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.antique-tractor.com/pipermail/at-antique-tractor.com/attachments/20251122/b30d3cc7/attachment.htm>