Early Fordson engine swap. Steam tractor treshing.

[subby]

Years ago on the families Ranch or farm my father had a Fordson tractor, all steel wheels and cast iron construction. Had a steering system with 1/2" chain. The engine was 1932 Ford V-8, single carb. I remember it as solid steel and when my dad scrapped it he used 20# sledge. It had not been used in years and sat parked. When they threshed wheat a contractor would set up a steam tractor and belt drive to a wooden threshing machine that was half the size of a rail car. The wheat stalks were fed into the back and the wheat was retained in the bottom of the machine. The whole operation was a sight to be seen and heard. The steam tractor itself was a work of art, mobile and demanding to move and steer, huge flywheel, puffing away with a lot of toque! Grand mother fed the workers.

Subby:thumbsup:

 

[woody]

that's a neat looking old tractor I seen one on an auction site just yesterday

 

[denchen]

I can remember threshing on the farms with the steam engines and threshing drum. My job with the dogs was to catch the rats and I was messenger. In England the steam engines were replaced with Field Marshal tractors, a single cylinder diesel engine, but eventually the combines took over.

 

[subby]

True they were large, but extremely durable and cheap to operate and could be fired with scrap. In Michigan from whence I come, we an engine museum of antiques containing some of the first Diesel and gas engines. They also include steam engines of various sizes, including a few tractors. All are in running condition and one or twice a year the members put on a demonstration of many engines, this includes a steam driven sawmill. as Michigan has a history of lumber in the past. My grandparents farm was on Indian (Chippewa) land purchased from them at the end of the 19th century. There was an Indian village about 8 miles away. The farm was strictly a subsistence operation and they were lucky to net $500.00 a year, no electricity or running water, winter temps steady at below zero. Often snowed in foe weeks at a time. The fire lane road was not plowed and you had to have a stone boat or sleigh of some sorts to navigate. Th

Subbieis compared to our welfare system of today!