Recent content by Marveltone

My dad and I were walking through the woods behind his house, where some old farm equipment has been sitting for several decades. I was talking about doing some ditching in a field and wondering on the best way to go about it. Dad said there was an old single bottom breaking plow that we should...

Our house was built by my wife's grandfather a little over 100 years ago and has been in her family the whole time. Naturally, there are old things tucked away all over the place. The biggest old appliance we still have is the old wood cook stove. It currently resides in the guest cottage...

I know it seems like an odd time to be canning venison, but we were busy right after deer season, so we had everything deboned, bagged, and frozen until we could devote the time for a proper canning job. While we were getting set up, it occurred to me we're using a somewhat unique piece if...

Feel good story of the week. Ex-NFL great leaves his career behind to take up farming for the needy. This man has a heart of gold. Why a star football player traded NFL career for a tractor - CBS News Bonus: If you look closely, you'll see an EA video playing on his computer! Joe

More progress! Now that we have the bearings, we can start assembling. The races are installed with a bearing installer and the gaskets are cut and punched. Next, we install the input and reverse gears (lower shaft). All bolts are torqued and safety wired. More later.

The old Hoffmann R325L V3 bearing is on the left. Not much left, to say the least. The new replacement FAG NU305E.M1.C3 is on the right. We'll carefully clean the galling from the shaft on the machine lathe before reassembly. Hopefully we'll resume operations this weekend. Sent from my...

Lacking a proper bearing puller, we used a Dremel with a cut-off wheel to remove the old bearing races. I was then able to cross reference the numbers stamped on the races, as well as measurements with a caliper to order a new replacement bearing. I actually found one on Amazon! Now, we...

We quickly discovered it wouldn't budge. Someone had previously worked on the transmission and put it back together using blue RTV silicone instead of a gasket. The piece sits so deep we can't get a hold of it, so we decided to build a puller. We also discovered via the manual that the PTO...

With haying all done and the loaner tractor returned, it's time to tear into the Fordson and replace the failed lower shaft bearing. I have never split a tractor before and neither has my dad, but not knowing what we're doing has never stopped us before. We gathered all our screw house jacks...

Aaarrrrgh! I've been borrowing a tractor from my uncle to finish haying (long story) while I gather parts and equipment to fix mine. He lent me his Allis Chalmers D14, which had a quick hitch attached to it. The hitch was causing issues with my haying equipment, so I removed it and set it on...

Evening mowing. Sent from my XT907 using TractorByNet

They're R1. Pretty beefy too! R3 are next to useless in high-traction applications. They'd never lock up good enough to pull a 12' disc through less than ideal conditions. Add any moisture at all and they turn into slicks. Correct to a point. Front to rear weight distribution can vary to...

Okay, here's the deal... My Fordson Major Diesel is my main (biggest) tractor for ground engaging work, such as plowing, discing, planting, etc... and as such, it's ballasted accordingly with fluid (calcium) and cast weights in the rear wheels. My plow, disc, and cultivator are all tow-behind...

Things are a bit quiet up on the hill. My wife's (Bonnie) foster brother, Elmer Dahl passed away on July 6th at the too young age of 60. This has hit my wife hard, as she was an only child, and Elmer was the only brother she had. There was a bit of an age gap (14 years) but the two of them...

The time has come to start pulling stuff off our 1946 McCormick W4, in an effort to get it back into running condition. We know the clutch needs to come out, seeing as it's stuck. We pulled off the hood, nose cone, gas tank, and various connecting rods to get at the top cover. We took great...