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There’s one on sale down somewhere in PA right now. Oddly enough, we just drove home, all the way thru that state and Maryland on Monday. We were visiting the in-laws, who live down near VA beach. We stopped for a couple days at the halfway point at a hotel in Gettysburg, on our way down...

My biggest problem with the cheap pile driver was the crappy job on welds. They left all the “bird crap” in place on the welds. I didn’t have any work gloves up at my father in laws place a few falls ago. He asked me to drive in “consumer grade” t-posts all the way across the end of the...

No problem, it has been a fun little tractor. I just added up its total cost to me so far, and it adds up to $ 1560.17, which includes $ 150 for the most recent repair / tune-up / throw out bearing lube. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get turnips planted with it at home next weekend. I’ve got...

I got the pipe idea from a guy on here who welded a steel pipe onto the bottom of the blade. That would surely be a longer lasting solution to the “gravel in the grass” problem, but it would ruin the Cub plow as a “leaf rake”. Another nice thing about the plastic schd 80 pvc pipe, is that it...

Our daughter, 10 years ago and yesterday at Eisenhower National historic site in Gettysburg PA.

Assuming I get it, I doubt I’ll ever use any pto implement on it. If I need to, I’ll try making up some limiter chains, and definitely get an overrunning coupler. It looks like they can still be had for $ 75, which is about what I paid for the one for my 8n about 30 years ago. Like I...

Very much so. It has both original top link adjustable side brackets with it, that can be used to hold the position for a mower or bushhog, and it also has the original pto cover on it. I also like the blue paint, comfortable newer Ford seat, and low reverse gear that the 9n’s had. That will...

My first tractor was a 1951 Ford 8n that I bought from the widow of the original owner, with 1200 hours on it, around 1990. It served me ok and I put almost that same number of hours on it over the last 35 years. There were a few jobs, that I liked it better for, than any of my newer tractors...

The first time that I heard it, was in the movie Rio Lobo (my favorite John Wayne movie). An old rancher (who was played by Jack Elam) uttered that phrase.

Two things I did to make the carryall a lot handier on my dad’s little JD 770: 1) bolt a short loop of chain to a pt 4x4 across the back. I use that to attach a chain to, for dragging out logs to be cut up for firewood. 2) bolt a 200 lb steel plate onto the front grill guard for ballast. That...

I’ll be a suck egg mule.

The corns growing so fast that you can see it grow.

Plant buckwheat by the Fourth of July, harvest in October, drunk or sober.

The slit pvc under the blade works wonders with the gravel. It cleans all the snow off the driveway, but leaves all the stones, even when the ground is not frozen (as it rarely does anymore, even up here near the Canadian border). I go thru a few of those pipes each winter. They are easy to...

I’ll be needing a bigger canopy on mine, because most of my summer tractor operation is in the late afternoon, or early mornings, when the sun is lower in the sky. That sure is a nice paint job.

Old tractors are more fun than new ones, but only when they are running. I’ve got a little modification in mind for that Cub, that should make it a lot more fun on bright sunny summer days, like we are having right now. I want to take the fold down rollbar off of my dad’s new Husqvarna Z-454...

Several things make it fun to plow snow with. First, it starts real good in the cold, even though it still has the original 6 volt system. Second, the offset “cultivation” gives me a very good view of the snow plow on front. I prefer the front plow, over the rear blade that I use on my larger...

I’m kind of in the same boat. Hopefully, when I retire from my day job, in about 4-1/2 years, I’ll have a lot more time to tinker with old tractors. For now, having one “non-green” antique tractor around, is all that I can handle. My first tractor was a 1951 Ford 8n that I bought from the...

That’s about what our local Husqvarna dealer told me. I’ve had decent luck with older Kohler engines in my Wheel Horse and John Deere Lawn tractors, but not so much with the newer one in my dad’s Husqvarna MZ-454, “residential series” zero turn. Our dealer thought we’d be significantly...

I’m pretty sure the new name with the mixed up letters applies to the gas motors now too, so that the could concentrate on plumbing supplies with the “Kohler” name.

No trouble getting the Cub home on my drive home from work today. It running real good again and ready for cultipacking turnips at the end of the month.

You sure those are not Rhelkos ? Check your spelling, may have mixed up some letters.

My mechanic called yesterday to say that he had completed the repair on the Cub. As I had suspected, new points and condenser were what it took to get it to start and run good again. He also lubed up the throw out bearing. I figured he was about ready to call me after I noted it was moved...

I’m in upstate NY on a farm that’s as flat as a pancake so trikes work well here. Generally, my experience with non-green antique tractor brands has been poor, so I’d probably pass on that one, especially with a wide front. Lack of power steering is also no problem with a trike. My...

Is at a standard C with a tricycle front end ? Those are really nice for 2-row cultivating, because they turn on a dime and let you work your way across the field with no turn around space at the ends. They are also very nice in the woods for dragging out logs. That’s the only thing I really...

Speaking of outboards, I’m looking forward to some boat racing over this beautiful long holiday weekend. I just got my old, early 50’s Mercury K-5 tuned up. I can’t wait to see if that’s faster than my father in laws brand new Mercury/Tohatsu 5 hp 4-stroke. There’s a 10 hp limit on the lake...

Maybe a used one, but even a million dollars wouldn’t get you a new one, since they produced the last one about 5 years ago. Bombardier still supports the parts though, so maybe you could fully assemble one, with all new parts, for slightly less than that.

The dead Cub had been sitting in my truck since last Thursday. Today, I finally delivered it to my Farmall mechanic’s shop. Unloading it was much easier than loading it was. First, I removed the back straps. Next, I backed the truck into a roadside ditch (while the transmission was in 1st...

More so out of necessity than safety. When I started winching it up without them, the ramps which were supported by the trucks bumper, started lifting up. Clearly that was a no go. They worked very well to hold them down, but after I had it about halfway up there was enough down force, from...

Yeah the Cub is significantly shorter and lighter, even with loaded rear tires. I’m guessing that the design was based on fitting in the bed of a standard full sized pickup truck bed. My 2000 Chevy Silverado handles it no problem. I like it better on the 2wd one I have now, compared to my...

The scariest part was watching the truck bed panels, that supported those inner lower chain attach links, bow out a little with each pull of the puller handle. I did it slowly, watching for a break off, in case I had to “jump” the chain. That puller worked amazingly well though. Much easier...

I finally got around to loading the dead Cub onto my truck after work yesterday. It sure is much easier loading a live Cub than a dead one. Now I’m ready to haul it off to my buddy’s shop. He’s the best Farmall guy in the county. The loading took longer than it should have after my first...

Was that the blue one ? My dad had one of those.

I recently traded a 6.5 ft Howse 3-point disk for this Tufline 7 ft back blade. It worked good for cutting some ditches in my corn field today.

Im in the same situation with my Farmall Cub. It quit on me, with a yet undiagnosed “no spark”issue, while I was plowing snow in February. Fortunately, the front snowplow was raised at the time, and I just pushed it into the barn with my John Deere loader tractor. That was the second of my...

The residential model MZ-454 had a Kohler engine, the new commercial z-454 has the Kawasaki. I am interested to find out if the clutch was bad or not though. Hopefully, I’ll find out before fall. The dealer told me that parts and labor clutch replacement was about $ 500. The upgrade to the...

I was lucky that time. When the blades stopped turning, I pulled it into my dad’s barn, thinking I’d need his backup mower (wheelhouse gear drive 48” cut lawn tractor). When I noted the missing spring on the Husqvarna zero turn deck, I walked back to where it bogged down and it was laying right...

I only had time to cut one 1/2 face cord carryall load of dead ash over at my parents Saturday. Two of them had fallen across their yard, from the neighbors. I gave them a couple weeks to do something about it, but I’ve got sick of mowing around them so they had to go. Now, I’ve got about 2...

That looks just like the one my dad had for about (5) years. My parents lawn is about 4 acres, and very flat. It worked very good until last season, when it wouldn’t start. It turned out that a plug under the switch had worked loose. Getting it going involved taking out the (4) screws that...

The Cub up and quit on me, the last time that I plowed with it in February. Fortunately, I had the plow up at the time. I was able to push it back into the barn with my John Deere loader tractor. The failure was just like someone turned off the switch, resulting in loss of spark. It looked...

I took what might be my last ride on my 1951 8n, just anout 2 weeks ago. Maybe the buddy I sold it to (for $300 less than I paid for it, when I bought it from the widow of the original owner back in 1988 or so), will let me drive it again someday after he gets it running properly. It was the...

I sort of agree also. I can cut an acre of land around my house and barn, in one hour with a 38” cut, hydrostatic lawn tractor. I’ve got no use for a push mower, but one hour is the limit for the time it takes to cut my own lawn. I’ve also got very little use for a gear lawn tractor but I do...

It really is fun mowing with the new Husqvarna z-454 that I bought for my parents place this spring. We are on vacation up in the mountains with the in-laws this weekend but I can’t wait to stop and cut my parents lawn on our drive home Monday. It would be tougher waiting, were the...

You could put a spinner on the steering wheel and drink a beverage while you are mowing with your other hand. Definitely a lot easier than with the two handle steering models.

God gave the human body an amazing ability to heal itself, but I’d need time, parts and tools to fix that Kawasaki engine or any other mechanical component on that ZTR that I broke by going too fast over the rough stuff.

I just picked up a new Husqvarna z-454 for my parent’s 4 acre lawn. It’s got a Kawasaki 23 hp engine. I’ve cut it with it three times so far and it’s worked well, knocking it out in about 2 hours and averaging about 2.5 gallons of gas per cut. It does not have the suspension seat on it but...

My dad, who turned 86 this year, was having a tough time getting on and off of his zero turn mower. He had a Husqvarna MZ-454, that was about 5 years old. It’s started giving him some mechanical trouble this year, and the mower wouldn’t engage. The dealer is right across the road, and said it...

I used to do that, back before the EAB pre-killed or partially killed so many for me. I think it’s been more than 15 years, since I killed a healthy tree for firewood. I do celebrate the occasional cherry, oak, hickory, or hard maple that the wind brings down, because I’ve gotten pretty sick...

The 3-point hitch was the worst thing to ever happen to a disk. Pull type ones work much better. I agree that it’s worth scrap iron price, however you likely could get at least double that if you cut off the extra back gang neatly, to make it look like it was supposed to be that way. Double...

I wired up the ceiling fan / light fixture, that I salvaged from our house office/spare bedroom, in my splitter shed today. It took me almost exactly the half hour that I thought it would, and I didn’t need to purchase any parts. The tractor canopy worked perfect, to hold up the fixture, while...

Quite a few easily accessible ash came down in my parents woods recently. I need about 3 more cords to top off my 8 cord capacity woodshed. It shouldn’t be a problem getting that done in the next 3 or so months. Dropping the dead ones with a chainsaw is very dangerous because they are so...

It’s going to be a tight squeeze. Might have to remove a few bucket fulls of gravel from the floor in the splitter shed. That might get me a free driveway extension around back. I’ve been wanting to extend it around to the side porch so that I can park my truck camper out there for the summer...

I changed my plan a little for my splitter shed ceiling fan. I couldn’t see an easy way to hang it just inside the swinging doors on the east side, so I think I’ll just swap it out with the single bulb fixture that’s currently in the center. That will be about a half hour job, with no new...

I’m a long way north of you, just below the Canadian border in upstate NY, but raccoons are a big problem here. In our state, landowners or lessees are allowed to trap and kill “damaging” raccoons in unlimited number, year round, without a permit or license of any kind, but the carcasses are...

I got another “rainy day” project lined up. My wife wanted a new light fixture for our spare bedroom/office. I put that up but the old ceiling fan light still worked good. I’m hoping it will do ok on a 15 amp circuit, out in my splitter shed. I’m going to mount it directly above where I keep...

Dad’s little JD 770 worked well for hauling out the wood from an ash that fell in their woods recently. I can load about all the wood that will fit on the carryall now, without doing wheelies, since I mounted the ballast plate on the grill guard. I can get about 1/2 face cord per haul now...

Poison ivy seems to thrive on EAB affected ash. I’ve had pretty good luck avoiding any serious rash by washing with warm water and tossing my clothing in the wash immediately after any suspected exposure. The oil from it needs soak into your skin to cause problems. Those problems can be...

Safer and a lot less nagging:

Our house is pretty well insulated, and it only takes an average of 2 cords, to heat it thru the winter. My woodshed holds 8, so it’s easy to stay at least (3) years ahead. We also have outside campfires, and those up our usage a bit. Much of what we burn there is lawn or construction waste...

You are reminding me of the 3 nightmare winters, when I stored my firewood outside on pallets, under tarps. I su would not burn firewood, if I ever had to do that again. I never tried the t-posts, but I would alternate directions of the firewood on the ends of the stacks, to keep them...

I get the ground worked up pretty good with a disk and drag. Here in upstate NY, I start my clover plots/wheat plots after September 1, on ground where I had corn the year prior. To plant that “mix”, I broadcast wheat first, with a hand cranked broadcast spreader. Then I cultipack, which...

As long as it can be turned on and off easily by hand, there’s no big deal concerning the exterior canning. My dad’s Husqvarna 54” zero turn mower with Kohler 23 hp gas engine did have that issue though. Fortunately, I was able to get the old one off with big channel lock pliers.

I didn’t notice any difference in the oil filter, that I used on my 4120 this year, compared to last year. They were identical, bought from the same dealer (4 miles away) and bought and changed almost exactly one year apart. One of my favorite things about that tractor, is how easy it is to do...

That depends on how you do at minimizing input costs. I can still produce venison for $ 1 per pound, which is cheaper than we could produce beef 40 years ago, when an exploding deer population helped with the decision to rid our farm of the last of the beef cattle. That’s not even accounting...

My three favorite implements are my 7 ft cultipackers (have (1) on each property that were cut down from old 8 footers that had a few busted wheels), and my John Deere 246 2-row corn planter with fertilizer hoppers. A “real” cultipacker is hard to beat, for getting little seeds like clover and...

I use a bucket for a seat also. About 90% of the firewood I’ve burned, the last 15 or so years, has been ash. I split anything that’s about 22” diameter and larger with the splitter vertical, while seated on an upside down 5 gallon bucket. I always have my tractor bucket next to me, to load...

My dad wants my younger brother the inherit that old model M one day. It’s got good paint on it, but is pretty worn down, from lots of operating hours. There was quite a bit of play in the steering, the last time I ran it. I like the unique sound of its 2 cylinder gas engine, but not quite...

I don’t see why not. My dad used it for his garden over there quite a few years and he backed it into that spot, under its own power, about 10 years ago. Nobody has tried to start it since then, the last year he had a garden. A little fresh gas and a new 6 volt battery, and my guess is, that...

In my opinion, a Deere is worth at least that much more than a Kubota, however I have zero experience with Kubota. 20 years ago, when I bought my new Deere CUT (model 4120), it slightly outspec’d a comparable Kubota (model GL4330) in most categories and the best price I could find was a couple...

I’ve had sides on them before, but they get in the way far more often than they help with anything. A 2x4 ran along each side seems to work the best for me. That keeps the big rounds from rolling off and lets the carryall hold plenty for the tractors to lift. I bolted a little chain loop on...

The new ballast plate on the front of my dad’s JD 770 worked good today. No more wheelies with a good load of firewood on the 3 point carryall:

I finished up the last 1/2 face cord that was in my splitter shed today, and stacked that in the front end of my woodshed. If it’s dry enough in my parents woods tomorrow, I’ll fetch another pickup truck load home, and stack it up in the splitter shed. When I finished that, I bolted the...

I got pretty lucky, with my 8 cord capacity, 6’ x 25’ woodshed. We use an average of 2 cords per winter, to heat our well insulated 2000 sq ft house, way up north by the Canadian border, so that’s (4) years worth. I really don’t need that much storage now, burning mostly ash, but I expect to...

2005, 4120 with American made JD Powertech engine.

Just a wee little 770. Runs like a watch though and only has 2000 easy hours on it. A little cramped on the operators platform for me though, but way better than any atv for firewood work.

The front weight attachment on dad’s little CUT went very well today. I thought the bolts that I grabbed were 3/8”, but they turned out to be 7/16”. He had 2” lg ones, over there in his shop, so I saved the longer ones that I had grabbed from my stock at home. 2” was just long enough for...

I can understand why you need to maximize the efficiency from your splitter, processing 10 cords of firewood each year. That’s about 5 times what I do. I don’t worry too much about efficiency while splitting, because we get lots of rainy days here, half way between Lakes Erie and Ontario...

I reached a big milestone today, finally filling up the far end of my 24 face cord capacity woodshed. That’s (4) years supply at my normal burn rate. Now it’s time to start over again on the near end. This was an unusually cold winter here on the Canadian border in the north western corner...

You might be surprised to find out that the orange premium you will pay is as big or bigger than the green one. Its been about 20 years since I needed a new compact tractor (something to be said for the dependability of the green ones), but back then a John Deere, with an American-made engine...

I was pretty impressed with the strength of my 22 ton, 5 hp Honda, Northern splitter in the retraction mode. The welds on the backing plate were kind of shoddy and cracked after about 10 years. The splits across them eventually widened to about 1/8”. I tried heating the broken area up with...

A relatively new product is out now, that works very well for this repair, at a cost of less than $ 20. I poured a bottle of K-Seal into the radiator of my 2005 4120, that started leaking from the timing cover joint at about 1200 engine hours, and it cured the problem. I have changed the...

Stacking firewood outside was definitely my least favorite part of the whole operation also. Having a decent woodshed makes a world of difference. Keeping firewood outside was torture, stacking, trying to square up the ends of the piles, and unloading dealing with tarps or tin covers in the...

I miss the days when I burned more oak, but the chains do stay sharp a little longer cutting up the softer stuff. For the last 15 or so years, most of what I’ve been burning has been ash. They were about half of the trees in my own woods, and about 1/4 over at my parents. EAB has killed them...

I enjoy splitting wood, with my 20 year old 22 ton 2-stage horizontal /vertical northern hydraulic splitter, powered by a 5 or 6 hp Honda engine. I find it a very relaxing way to pass the time on rainy days, which we get plenty of up here on the Canadian border, about half way between lakes...

Yeah, it’s handy having a couple extra feet of clearance on each side of the tractor bucket. That makes it a lot easier cleaning up all the broken branches from the yard in the spring. Lots of wind last winter and lots of branches out there in the yard now waiting for cleanup. We will be...

The firebox on our woodstove in the house will take up to 19” pieces, straight across. I usually aim for 16-18” when I am bucking. I never measure or mark and occasionally, I’ll cut one a little too long. When I split those, I make them into smaller pieces that can be placed diagonally in...

The weather keeps fooling me. Typical March up on the Canadian border in North Western NY. Cold nights as far out as the long range forecast goes, so I had to haul up yet another bucket of seasoned firewood from the woodshed. I can get a half face cord in the bucket if I stack it or 1/4 face...

Definitely not Ford or Farmall, I’ve got one broken down of each in my barn right now.

I was thankful my brother in law was over at my parents place, to help me cut up a big ash that fell across their lawn recently. I had underestimated its size and only had my 14” saw with me. Two of us made short work of it and it made a pretty good truck load. Now it’s all stacked up in my...

John Deere

My still 6 volt Ford 8n has been down and out since last summer, also with an undiagnosed “no spark” issue. I’m going to push that into a corner of my barn, maybe for 5 or so years, when I retire from my day job. No real need for it now, and it’s plenty hard for me to keep one of those...

Sure makes me appreciate John Deere’s and diesel engines. I don’t care much for the electrical bs.

I towed the dead Cub up the the front of the barn today, to get it ready for transport to our local Farmall specialist. I’ve got to strip off the rear chains, snowplow, and drawbar weight. I’m going to run that drawbar weight on the front of my dad’s 2wd JD 770 this summer. Hopefully, that...

I like the top. I might get one (probably white) for my Farmall Cub which is currently not running due to a mysterious “no spark” issue. My primary use of this tractor is for snowplowing during light snowfalls, but I also use it for some open field work in the summer - mostly pulling a 7 ft...

No luck with it today. Now I have about 3 hours into it plus the $34 NAPA coil, so I’ve reached my limit on time and parts for the “do it myself” attempt. I’m going to give my Farnall mechanic buddy a call and see if he’ll let me borrow his trailer and if he has time to work on it. If you so...

If it does look like the condenser is the issue after this diagnostic test, do you think a spare condenser from my Ford 8n would work on the Farmall cub ? Both tractors are similar vintage positive ground 6 volt with 4 cylinder engines. I’m hoping that’s the case, because I have several of...

This sure has been an old fashioned winter, here in the north west corner, of NY state. Not sure what happened to global warming ? For the first time, since my Farmall Cub quit running in January, it’s warm enough on a weekend to work on my broken down “off-brand”tractors out in my unheated...

They are tough. I got one with a 5 ft Bush-hog behind my old Ford 2000 diesel tractor one time. It nearly stalled the engine. Much worse than the time I got a big snapping turtle. That thing sliced pretty easy compared to the woodchuck.

There was an old hand dug well just off the corner of one of the old timber framed barns that my great great grandfather had built in the late 1800’s. It had a concrete cover on it that had to have been added later, probably in the 1920’s or so. I pumped water from it on crops a few times, but...

Yes, he and his brother sailed over here from Germany and he homesteaded our upstate NY farm, around the year 1825. There is still a town in Germany with our family name. Someday, after I retire, I may get over there and check it out. Not sure if any of my relatives are still around over there.

Interesting stuff there. Have you been to the Stonewall Jackson shrine in Guinea Station VA ? It’s cool to see the bed that he laid on when he passed, and the clock up on the mantle, that was there and still marks the time that he made it to the hereafter. That old house does look like a...

Back when all I had were two wheel drive tractors without front loaders, I used a pair of log tongues on a three point lift boom, for skidding logs. I rarely had to get off the seat to hook them up or take them off. I could only drag one log at a time that way though. Since I’ve had a 4wd...

We were all pretty sad when our old farmhouse burned around 1980. It was probably for the best though, as far as the heat energy consumption goes. It had likely been built around 1860. My great great great great grandfather homesteaded our farm in the 1830’s and lived in a log cabin for a few...

A poorly timed tractor breakdown caused me to miss the extended “frozen ground” window to drag up some firewood logs this winter. I had my splitter shed all cleared and ready go, but I had to push my Farnall Cub in there, when it quit running mid-winter. Fortunately, the snowplow was raised...

I think I know why the US has not adopted the metric system. It’s a strategic thing. Multiplying and dividing by 12 or 16 helps our young folks develop their minds, vs just using multiples of 10 for everything. Generally, the side with the best developed minds, on average, will prevail in a...

I think what that comes down to is that some people are just naturally wired to care for domestic animals and that others (myself included) are not. I know my grandfather always missed his horses, after he brought the first tractor on our farm in 1950. He also loved raising beef cattle, hogs...

So long as you get that top one in the right spot, the others don’t matter much, come judgement day. How’s that for judgy ?

Some good stuff there, but looks to be upside down on the prioritization, compared to what has worked for my family. Our kids are the 8th generation, who have lived on our farm. It was first homesteaded by my great great great great grandfather. He was born in Europe, in the year 1790...

I keep my Farmall and my Ford in my pole barn whenever I’m not using them. Both are broken down now and awaiting repairs. Hopefully, I’ll have time to get to that before spring. The best thing about owning those brands is the appreciation they give me for John Deere, plus it’s a great...

The biggest problem with a tractor operated splitter is the loss of your tractor bucket for hauling away the splits. It’s so handy to leave it parked next to the splitter to fill as you go. The little Honda engine on my 22 ton vertical/horizontal 22 ton 2-stage pump Northern splitter hasn’t...

This is easier and safer.

When I lived at home with my parents, I made all their firewood and I split it all by hand. No problem doing that in my teens and twenties. I’m thankful that my wife talked me into getting a splitter when I wax in my 30’s. I just turned 60 and my shoulders are still as good as they ever were...

I’m not sure my 12 volt test light will work at 6 volts but I do have a cheap hand held multi-meter that I can probably use for diagnosing. Thanks for the tips, I’ll refer to that list when I get back at it. I’ve got two out of three of the tractors that I use for snow clearing working very...

No and that might be a problem if the bolts were not torqued, but should not be with them all tight. There’s not much clearance to the bolts on the holes in the rims, maybe 1/32” total. It’s way better now than it was, without the tire chains rubbing on the fenders or hooking the implement on...

It took me a while, but I finally got the wheel spacers on dad’s JD 770 today. The lug bolt size was 16 mm x 2 mm. The shortest ones they had at the store I checked were 70 mm lg. I paid about $ 40 for 12 of those. I used std 3/4” hex nuts as spacers, which are about 5/8” thick. That was...

Yes positive ground. That’s not the issue. The tractor was running good and stopped suddenly, as if someone had turned off a switch. It probably would not have started and ran if the coil polarity was wrong. I did have it running with the leads reversed on a new 6 volt battery for a couple...

I’m not 100 % certain that I am. The original from my Ford 8n might still be good. I’ve still got it in my parts cabinet, along with the two new NAPA Chinese ones. It was just one of many parts that we changed out the last time it had acted up. It didn’t run right again that time, until I...

“Less than” is not always the ticket. This will be the third one on my 1951 Ford 8n. I’ve heard that the NAPA ones are supposed to last the longest. The last one that I got for it was from TSC. I see that the new ones from NAPA are made in China. There seems to be quite a variation in...

I did on my Ford, but not yet on the Farmall. I will before I try one on that. Worse case, I got another spare $ 34 NAPA, made in China, coil for the Ford. If the coil is the problem, but I can’t make that big China-made NAPA one fit the Farmall, then that will be the case anyhow.

Mine cranks over real good but clearly there is no spark. No magneto ignition either (it has a coil connected to a distributer cap). When it quit, it was just like somebody turned off a switch. The coil looks like it would be about the easiest thing to check as my first “parts swap”. My old...

I bought one for my 8n last fall, at a NAPA way out in the country. They probably sell more for tractors than they do for cars at that store. The guy at the counter didn’t even look at the computer to find it. I went to the closest one back home today, and they only carried one 6 volt coil...

Would a 1951 Ford 8n and a 1956 Farmall Cub both use the same part number NAPA coil ?

I finished splitting all of the chucked up ash rounds that were stacked in my splitter shed today, a bit over a face cord. It seemed very dry, having been standing dead a year or two. It would have been enough to fill up the woodshed, but I moved about half of it to our house porch, to be...

I haven’t seen a winter like this in north western NY since the early 1980’s. Our ground froze in late December and the temperature has hardly got above freezing since then. Fortunately, we are well north of the Lake Erie snow belt, so snow accumulation hasn’t been too much. I’m actually...

I tried to do this today but ran into a couple of complications. I brought along my 1/2” drive impact wrench and a set of impact sockets (I wasn’t sure what size the bolts were). I also brought along (6) 3/4” nuts which were the biggest I had in stock in my shop, figuring I could use them as...

Wow, it sounds like VA is as crazy as NY, when it comes to state inspections. I always put a fiberglass cap on my pickup in the winter so that I can still use the bed. My cap had a brake light on the top of the back window. The truck wouldn’t pass inspection without that brake light wired up...

If you decide to try it, please make a video. It would probably get tons of hits on YouTube.

We had another 4-5” snow last week. I finished up our stone driveway, by the barn, then did the blacktop driveway by the house garage. The PVC pipe edge broke off of the plow blade, just as I started on that. I think it had gotten me thru 4-5 plowings of our two driveways and my aunts next...

I like that idea. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind but I’ll run it by him before I do it. It will be easy because the tires are not loaded and only one side rubs.

I took care of my parents driveway, where they are 17 miles farther from the Lake Erie and only had about 4”, with the back blade and dad’s 2wd JD 770 on Sunday. The hardest part was putting the chains on the rear turf tires. One side always rubs the inner fender a bit. My old Farmall Cub is...

She ran like a champ today, up until the time that I ran out of gas 1/2 mile away at my aunt’s driveway. I had poured 4 gallons of ethanol free stuff into it, prior to my first plowing, and this was my 4th or 5th this winter. Fortunately, my daughter was home, and I had already cleared our...

I’ll be driving thru that to get to our in-laws ne of Watertown in a few weeks. Hopefully, it’s all cleaned up by then. I gave my father in law my old 3/4 ton Silverado to use as plow truck a few years ago. He just uses that for backup now, with a big v-plow on his open station 50 ish hp...

I use 1” schedule 80 PVC on the plow on my Farmall Cub. I just finished plowing a 4” snowfall with it today in fact. I plow our big gravel driveway around the barn, our small blacktop driveway by the house, and my aunts big blacktop driveway next door, by her house and barn. I’ve done (4) 6”...

Since finishing my woodshed, I really enjoy stocking our little side porch, which holds about 1/2 face cord. That lasts us about a week, during the coldest weather that we get, up here near the Canadian border. I put an old floor lamp out in the woodshed, and the porch has a nice led light...

I had the exact same starter issue on my 2005 JD 4120. I had replaced the oem Bosch starter, just out of warranty, with an aftermarket “Powrstrike” . The original had corrosion on the solenoid power stud. The tractor started cranking slower about 12 years after I replaced the starter...

What a glorious Christmas Eve it was today. I woke up to a fresh 4” blanket of snow, that had Farmall Cub written all over it. It fired right up and made short work out of clearing our driveways. That was maybe the most fun I’ve had in the snow, since I sold my last snowmobile, over 10 years ago.

I had a crank handle for my last one but I gave it to the friend who I sold it to. I can’t remember if I ever tried it. That one had been converted to 12 volts and really cranked fast with the electric starter. The one I got now is all original and still 6 volt and I prefer to keep it that...

I cleared our (2) driveways and my aunts next door after another 6” snowfall yesterday with the Cub. It looks like one of our neighbors to the east’s kids must have got a pickup with a plow on it, so I haven’t had to do that driveway yet this year. My Cub didn’t fire up at first yesterday, but...

I’m looking forward to a little break from deer hunting, before Christmas, to work on firewood in my spare time. NY state closes deer hunting season for a week then, before muzzleloader season reopens, on December 26. I’ve got about 1-1/2 face cord of EAB killed ash accumulated in my...

I think I’d be a little leery of the Korean machines (Kioti & TYM), since there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of stability over there right now, with the recent “Marshal law” crisis and Chinese aggression. I’ve had pretty good service from the JD 4120, that I bought new in 2005. If you could...

I cleared another 6” from our driveways with the Cub tonight. Once again, it cranked over and fired up real good, so it definitely seems like there is no “slow draw” on the battery, as I feared. I hadn’t cleared the neighbor to my east yesterday, but it looked like somebody else did. I did...

We had about 6” of fluffy snow in the driveway when I got home from work today. The old Cub fired right up and made short work of it. I plowed our driveways but not the neighbors on both sides. I’ll get them tomorrow, maybe with my bigger tractor, because we’re supposed to get about double...

I think 16-18” is the standard for NY sales. Not sure though as I’ve never bought or sold any. The last 5 or 6 years that I lived at home with my parents, I made all their firewood and they had a larger stove that would take 20 inchers. Our stove now only takes 18, so I keep them under that...

True, not many people in NY have a clue what a real cord is. To us a face cord is a cord.

I’ve never paid for firewood, but in my area (western NY), it’s sold by the face cord. Cherry fetches top buck and sells for double what ash does. It’s worth it, in my opinion. Biggest advantage for me is less frequent ash cleaning required (that must be how ash got its name). Cherry also...

I was deer hunting in a tree stand about 10 ft up a big poplar in a hedgerow on Friday and there was a dead ash leaning against it. I tried rocking it down from up there but it was too tangled on the upper branches. I was watching for widowmakers the whole time I was rocking it. I went back...

Storing firewood outside is absolutely horrible, where I am in upstate Western NY. We usually get lots of fall and spring rain, and frequent winter lake effect snow. I went about (3) years without inside storage, and that taught me that it’s not worth burning firewood, if I got to store it...

We are supposed to get snow on Wed so I’ll find out then. If it starts ok, I’ll likely be ok as is. If not, I take the disconnect off the field car and put it on the positive ground side where the bad one was.

That’s an impressive operation WD and it looks to be very efficient. I guess it needs to be with the shear volume of firewood that you go thru. Here, up near the Canadian border about half way between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario in WNY, we only use an average of (6) face cords per season to...

If you’re worried about the timing cover leak issue, just budget in an extra $ 16 for a bottle of K-seal. I poured one into my 2005 4120 this spring, after it started to leak, and it fixed it up good as new and likely better than a $ 4000 job at a dealer. To spend all kinds of money and time...

It’s looking like the wind would need to shift pretty good for us to get much snow at home until about next mid week. I probably won’t be able to play on the Cub any more until then. As I was putting on the chains earlier, I noticed that I had forgotten about one little project I meant to do...

We had planned on going up to my in-laws, for the tail end of the Holiday weekend, but my mother in law just called and said they are supposed to be getting 3-5 ft of lake effect snow from Lake Ontario. No unneccesary travel is advised, now thru Monday. Since I got a little spare time now, and...

Personally, I consider the US, Mexico and Canada as part of North America and I would prefer to see the tariffs levied only on Countries on other continents.

Not sure about the tarrifs, but I have been sleeping much better since Election Day, because my fear of going up in a mushroom cloud or of my next tractor needing to be battery powered is much lessened.

The tariffs may add some fixed costs to tractors, but that cost will most likely be far less than the decrease resulting from the restoration of American energy independence. We should be seeing the price of oil drop back below $ 40 per barrel by June, 2025 after the pipelines thru Canada are...

Too bad you can’t get ethanol free gas. That’s all I’ve run in my seldom used engines and I’ve had no carb issues with any of them (around a dozen total). I did sieze up a little boat motor running a 16:1 gas oil mix this fall, but I think that was because the water pump wasn’t working. I’ve...

Regarding the broken pt pine board, I didn’t have any trouble with it, until I loaded a bunch of extra stuff into the front of the boat, greatly increasing the tongue load. I’m thinking that the shear strength of the white oak should be much greater (2X or more) than the pine, so I doubt it...

The Cub did real good on leaf duty, after I removed the pvc “stone guard” from the bottom of the blade. It just rolled over the leafs with that on. After I finished pushing the leaves, I put the pvc back on to get it ready for snow. There is none of that in our forecast yet, but it’s nice...

How do you like my glass doored portable power tool cabinet converted from a garbage picked dining room china cabinet ? It’s even has a light in it that works. It is great to be able to see that everything is in its place.

The bolt patterns were different on the plate and the drawbar plus the wood spacer brought the ball height up where I needed it for my boat and log splitter. There’s a place for pressure treated pine and a place for white oak and this was the latter. I finished up the new white oak adapter...

It has a rack on the front, and I have a 200 lb steel plate that I ought to be able to bolt onto that. I think that will be plenty to make steering better with the bushhog and carry quite a bit more wood with the carryall. The brakes do work pretty good in it (one side better than the other)...

I need to add a ballast plate to the front of my dad’s little JD 750 next year. The little bastard has plenty of power but steering is pretty dicey with his 5 ft bush hog on back and I’ve got to make quite a few runs to the woods with the carryall to get a truck load of firewood.

Tractors are handy for hunting and so are field cars:

My 2005 JD 4120 does most of the work at our place. Grandpas old John Deere M has not run in about 10 years but likely would if anyone tried it. It’s sitting in my parents barn, about 20 miles away, with both rear tires looking pretty flat. My own first tractor was a 1951 Ford 8n, that I...

The offset design was developed (by IH) for cultivating, so that the operator could look directly at the plants without hunching over. That made it easier to get real close to small plants and they were very popular with gardeners and truck farmers. I actually hated using them for...

I had to remove the pvc pipe from the plow blade cutting edge to make it work better on the leaves. It kept rolling over them with it on but worked great with it off. The leaves are all down and in two big piles now, so I got to hammer that pvc pipe back on to get the Cub ready for the snow...

I work full time in climate controlled factory and really enjoy my outside time after work and on weekends on my tractors. You couldn’t pay me enough to own a cabbed tractor. I do like my home-made canvas over wood tractor canopy when it’s sunny or raining though. It’s big, deep, and light...

I am way up north about 30 miles from the Canadian border. Clearing snow in the winter is one of the primary tasks for my diesel tractor (JD 4120 that I bought new in 2005). A block heater was the only option I added to it at purchase. I wouldn’t dream of starting a diesel engine on any...

I’ve had good luck pulling out vehicles that were significantly heavier than my tractor, using 1/2” wire rope and a snatch block pulley. I hook one end of the rope to a tree (or other fixed object) near my tractor and hook snatch block/pulley to the front of the stuck vehicle. Run the other end...

Wow, that’s a big old house and that’s a lot of wood to heat it. There used to be a big old farmhouse on our place, built by my great great grandfather in the late 1800’s. It was lost to a fire from grandpas wood stove in 1980. He put in the wood stove to cut the heating expense, but it cost...

Well at least he will get a Yanmar engine if he goes with a small enough Deere.

Unless you get a John Deere, you will always be left with regrets, and a feeling of wanting or “what might have been”. That said, I have owned several other brands, and still have a couple (a Ford and an IH). The best thing those other brands have and still give me, is more appreciation for...

This is my cheap backup lawnmower that I use in the late fall after I remove the deck from my good one (It works much better on the sweeper with the mower deck removed). You can see one of the big maples in the back, still holding most of its leaves but almost ready to drop them. I can’t wait...

Now that the leaking oil filter and backwards wired battery are repaired, the Cub is ready for leaf and light snow duty. I put the snowplow back on it this afternoon. I use that to push the leaves into a pile after I dump a bunch of sweeper loads in the rough area behind our lawn. I leave the...

Yes, it’s showing charge just like it should be. I was measuring positive 7 volts while running with my meter and 6 when it was not running after I swapped the terminals back the right way. Like I said above, it does not seem like any harm was done.

I have not used the Cub much since spring (really just on my Cultipacker for planting turnips wheat and clover) a few times. I had taken a new 6 volt battery out of my “down and out” Ford 8n, before that usage. Since then, I’d noticed the amp gauge reading on the discharge side regularly when...

I bought a few padlocks from nearby garage sale a few years ago that were pretty cheap (maybe 50 cents each or so). I liked this brass one for locking my boat trailer onto the ball hitch on my pickup, and also for locking up the cap when I had valuables in it. A few weeks ago, I got back from...

It’s getting close to the time of year when I start shuffling everything around to fit into the barn. It’s going to be trickier than normal this winter, because one of my old tractors quit running in the late spring (fortunately after I had finished all of my plowing with it), and I have not...

Add on. With my latest addition, I can fit our pickup, truck camper, (2) SUV’s, car, van, boat, bush hog, and (4) tractors in our barn during the winter. My main snowplow tractor goes out on the porch but at least has a roof over it.

They do make sense for full time farmers or maybe for folks stuck living down south below the Mason Dixon line. Whenever I see one on a CUT up in the northern US, all I can think of is “a fool and his money are soon parted”.

The cabs are great for the folks who just don’t enjoy their time in the great outdoors. To them I say, why the heck don’t you get an office or factory job ?

Sometimes repairs go better than expected. I had been meaning to repair a cracked weld on my 22 ton splitter but a particularly stubborn knotty cherry broke it bad before I got the chance. I tried hammering the backstop back into position with a sledge but no dice there. I wrapped a small...

For folks who don’t enjoy their time outside in the elements, a cab is a good option. You couldn’t pay me to own one though. My full time job is in a climate controlled factory. I really enjoy my outside time on the tractors after work and on weekends. I do have a big canopy on one of my...

That’s exactly the acreage that I have and I’m very thankful to have bought a John Deere (2005 model 4120) as my primary tractor. I also have one each of the other two classic American “big three” (a 1951 8n Ford and a 1957 IH Cub). What I like best about owning those is the appreciation that...

It certainly could not be much easier of a repair. Just remove the radiator cap when the engine is cool, pour in the bottle of K-seal, put the cap back on, and you’re good to go. I just used the cheap, regular sized bottle. They make a larger one for bigger radiators, but why bother with that...

It would be well worth the $ 16 to try a bottle of K-seal before tearing the tractor apart to install a gasket. That stuff is made for that type of leak and did a great job on my 4120. Still no leaks or excessive temperature and I’ve been using that tractor a lot since making that cheap, easy...

Switch from white to pork fried. Significantly more btu/cu cm.

The Cub got a couple hours on it tonight, cultipacking a few acres of wheat and clover that I had just sown. The oil leak repair held up good. The lights worked well also. Good thing because I needed them to finish up 1/2 hour past sunset.

I put one in on the other side of the country (upstate NY) about 30 years ago with my 1951 Ford 8n and 3 point pond scoop. I paid $1200 for the tractor (from the widow of the original owner), and $175 for the scoop. The pond was 32’ x 22’ x 6 ft deep. It took me about 50 hours to dig with...

Will do, thanks for the advice. I’ll probably be changing the oil and filter next spring, if I use it a fair amount this winter. It’s got one fresh quart of 15W-50 Shell Rotella in it now, that I added to whatever my mechanic put in it, 50 or so operating hours ago. Before I took it apart and...

My main job with the Cub in the summer is cultipacking, but I also use it to pull my boat around and move it back into the barn after I’ve been out fishing. After my last time out “pet shopping”, I used it to transport the pets (4 largemouth bass) to my pond. There’s a tricky culvert crossing...

Yes, twice , that’s not it.

Weak and intermittent spark. I’m thinking it might be in the wiring harness or coil. I’ll buy a NAPA coil, to replace the cheap aftermarket one on it now, and if that don’t work, I’ll swap out the harness. No time for that until winter though.

If they won’t give you cash back, maybe they would let you put it towards an implement.

The 18” drop from the step was what was aggravating my bad knee. Now that I cut that down to a standard 9”, no trouble at all. It don’t matter what leg I start or finish with since I did that, but I was trying to make sure that last step down was with my good side, prior to adding that step.

I first injured it in a bad snowmobile accident 34 years ago. Tore a tendon or something. Dr said it probably wouldn’t bother me much unless I played professional basketball. It’s acted up a few times thru the years but this last stretch has been the worst. It started in mid May, when my...

I suppose I could replace the (2) 3/8” grade 5 attachment bolts with 1/4” and fender washers. That way they would shear off before the factory step would get damaged. Seeing as how the step is lined right up with the tires on that side, I don’t think that will be a big concern. Also, this...

I thought it looked kind of low too, but no issues in the mud or ditches last night. Good idea on the weld breads. That’s my main snowplowing tractor so those will come in handy this winter for sure. If my knee heals up my then, I might take it off for the winter. It really is amazing how...