[AT] Pouring rain

[Dean VP]

I would have preferred to be wrong. This too will pass.
Dean VP 

    On Saturday, February 21, 2026 at 02:51:44 PM MST, Dean Vinson <dean at vinsonfarm.net> wrote:  
 
 
> When it rains, it pours!

> Dean VP

  

Dean, dadgummit, you were right on the money.   While I’ve been tinkering with the Ford 3600, I’d also had the local Deere dealer come get my 3020 because it’d developed a hydraulic fluid leak from the power steering motor and presented me with a little puddle on the barn floor the last time I needed to plow snow off the driveway.   Once the weather forecast suggested there wouldn’t likely be any more big snows I figured it was a good time to be without the tractor for a while so I had them come pick it up.   And although it runs great and sounds good, it burns through motor oil pretty quickly and the compression is uniformly mediocre across all four cylinders, so as long as it’s in the shop I asked them to take a look at that too.   They only picked it up a few days ago so I haven’t yet heard anything and doubt it’s made its way into a service bay yet.

  

So the Super M is back on primary trailer-hauling duty, and yesterday I used it quite a bit while cleaning up after a tree I’d had to remove from near my house.   Today I went back out to repeat the process with another tree, climbed up on the same Super M that had been purring like a kitten yesterday, and pulled the starter rod… only to hear one brief sputter followed by an extremely discouraging clanging racket without so much as another pop from the engine.  I thought it had thrown a rod or something.   Dealing with yet another potentially expensive problem was not high on my list at that moment, so amid a string of curses I unhooked the trailer and moved it over to the 3600 and went to work cutting down and removing another tree.   

  

Physical labor is good for the soul and by the time I finished I felt better, so I went back and took another look at the Super M.    It occurred to me it might just be the starter rather than the engine itself, so I went to get some wrenches.   Pretty sure the pinion isn’t supposed to look like this.  :)

  



Anyway, when it rains it pours… but at least this looks like an inexpensive fix.  

  

Dean Vinson

Saint Paris, Ohio

  

  
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