Thoughts on "Farm Engineering"

[CircleRat]

Also known as 'farmer ingenuity' - I've always found it fascinating. Like when you buy an older tractor or piece of equipment and while looking it over, you find incredibly ingenious repairs or modifications that leave you amazed. It's like a window into the inner workings of some old farmer's mind.

Much of this is born from necessity of course, when money was really tight and any way to make things work without spending a buck was important. Many of our treasured grandfather farmers were brought up in the great depression and know the value of 'outside the box' thinking.

Unfortunately, using our heads instead of our wallets seems to be less common these days. Many times here on this very forum I read questions asked about how to fix or modify something, and the answers are often "well, just go out and buy this expensive tool, problem solved". Don't get me wrong, tools are great and I have many... but some of us just can't afford to throw money at every problem that comes along. I often wonder if some of these 'helpful' folks are just trying to give the impression that they are so well-off that spending a few hundred bucks a pop is no issue for them at all. Well, being frugal (and smart) is certainly nothing to be ashamed of in my book.

I live in Hillbilly country... and I use that term with the utmost respect. These people are not the ridiculous stereotypes you often hear ignorant jokes about. While they are not always fortunate enough to benefit from higher education, most have been making do with their wits very well for many generations. I have a neighbor who had to drop out of school to work on the farm, years ago. He still doesn't read very well, but he's the smartest guy I ever met when it comes to solving problems and making ingenious contraptions out of junk. He can probably build a rocketship out of old water tanks and scrap plumbing. He once built a rope-making machine out of a bunch of old pulleys and cranks... it ran around his yard from tree to tree, you fed in several spools of twine and out would come the strongest, nicest-looking rope you ever saw.

So I thought maybe ya'll might have some examples of 'farm engineering' you've found on some old tractor or implement, or know of a backwoods genius making incredible contraptions you'd care to tell us about. Love to hear it! :thumbsup:

 

[Jstpssng]

Any old farm tractor was made simple, so that the farmer could work on it. I was amazed at the amount of info the manual for my old 8N has, as well as how it was designed for simplicity and ease of repairs.

 

[MoKelly]

From my experience, a lot depends on the persepctive of the person. There is a guy I know who will spend hours and hours and hours trying to repair an old weedeater. Scrounging tubes, old spark plugs, cloth for air filters, old trimmer line to reuse, etc. The original weedeater new cost $69.00. Its an obsession and he will spend as much time as needed trying to get the darn thing working ... if only for a few minutes. Meanwhile, the grass keeps growing, the weeds get out-of-control and his family never sees him unless they come to the barn.

Then, the next week comes and, well, its the same old story. No matter what, he won't spend teh money to get a decent, reliable trimmer.

However, when it comes to welding equipment, he will spend whatever it takes to have the latest, greatest and best stuff imaginable.

MoKelly

 

[dave1949]

My FIL grew up during the Great Depression on a small farm. Fixing and making do were necessities, and that stuck with him his whole life. Not an obsession, but if he could cobble something together to improve or fix something, he got a kick out of it. It was like a small victory. I still have an old ax that was his, or his father's maybe. The head is cracked clear through but someone put three rivets in it to make it usable again.

The amount of plastic and generally more complex equipment these days makes it a little different as to what a person can fix or modify. Plus most stuff is sure not made to last a lifetime anymore.

 

[mikehaugen]

Unfortunately, using our heads instead of our wallets seems to be less common these days. Many times here on this very forum I read questions asked about how to fix or modify something, and the answers are often "well, just go out and buy this expensive tool, problem solved"...

I often wonder if some of these 'helpful' folks are just trying to give the impression that they are so well-off that spending a few hundred bucks a pop is no issue for them at all.

Plus most stuff is sure not made to last a lifetime anymore.

I think these are the reasons that we have all of this throw - away crap. Nobody wants to be bothered thinking or is interested in learning how things work, they would rather go buy new. I personally have always been fascinated with how things work, I can't look at something without wondering. It amazes me the number of people that are satisfied with their own ignorance. "I don't know how to fix this so I'll call someone." If I don't know how to fix something I figure it out one way or another, sometimes it's as easy as just taking a good look at it, other times it requires some level of research.

Part of it may be a status thing as well. "Look at me, I just bought a new [fill in the blank]" eventually people's finances can't support this practice so they look for cheaper "new" stuff, and now that is almost all you see. I strongly believe this is the downfall of our economy and why we have so much stuff imported, people don't want to spend money on quality... they would rather buy something 4 or 5 times than pay twice as much and buy it once. I don't buy a lot of things, but when I do I buy "good" stuff. If I can't afford it, I find it used. I would rather pay the same price for used "good" stuff than new garbage.

I believe this is also why our country is failing. For such a young country to get to the top so fast took enginuity, something people just don't seem to put any effort into anymore. We were spoiled by our own success and now it's slipping away from us.

Sorry for the rant...

 

[TomSeller]

I like old equipment.. I had a friend over and he saw my "new" 30 year old craigslist $25 rototiller and was amazed. He thought it belonged in an antique store. All it needed was carb work.

For a daily driver I not long ago moved from a '83 to a '93 and now a '96. Some day I will have a vehicle without a tape drive. I have my wife in a 2014 but I drive the old stuff.

 

[CircleRat]

I still have an old ax that was his, or his father's maybe. The head is cracked clear through but someone put three rivets in it to make it usable again.

Reminds me of an axe I have that's nearly 200 years old. The handle has been replaced a dozen times and it's had at least 3 new heads... but it still works great! :laughing:

 

[kc5dlo]

A friend of mine bought an old Massey diesel tractor from my next door neighbor. It was in need of a rebuild and under one of the crank bearings was part of a personal check dated 1969. I was told that was common to do back in the day to use as a shim. kinda like opening a time capsule.

 

[jaotguy]

or they used .001 thru .005 brass shim stock to tighten up bearings , rather than change them .... or used an old leather belt to polish the journals ...

it worked (or at least got them back up and running )

many farms didn't have the luxury of just running down to the local store / dealer and picking up the needed item ... some parts were only ordered "as needed" ... or didn't have the money to buy the tool for that special job ...

remember, just a few years ago , getting credit was a big thing ... and people usually saved up the better part for a down payment ....

a lot was self sufficiency ... buy the best you can afford , take care of it , build what you can , borrow/ trade with a neighbor ... or do without.

the old car was turned into a farm vehicle / wagon / power supply .... scrounged for parts then finally sold for scrap. ... looks didn't come into play until much later ....

sorta like the original 4X4 trucks ... beaten to death and banged up , later the yuppies go hold of the idea and now ride up and down in town and freak if they get any dirt on them ....

 

[BHD]

the culture has changed

not that long ago when you went to the parts store you bought a kit, to repair things, fuel pump, you took apart the pump, a series of screws and replaced the diframe and some valves. now you can not even buy a kit hardly, most of the time is it a "rebuilt" or "new will fit". same thing with master cylinders, and most other things, you would put a new bendix in a starter and bearing, not replace the starter,

one would grind the valves, not replace, one would recondition, pistons, and other internal engine parts, now it is take it to a machine shop and buy a kit with all new, or just by a short block and drip in,

at one time it took fewer tools, you did not need a million wrenches for every conceivable idoidicot stupidity manufactures can come up for difficulty,

my dad would have the vales ground on his tractor ever other year, a MM U, my dad was not a much for mechincal, but he would take off the heads and take to town to have the valves ground put new gaskets on and tighten them down and adjust them, he had a set of open box end wrenches and a 1/2 set of sockets and a feeler gauge, and he had a set of ignition wrenches (small wrenches for fractional size nuts and screws),(still have his tool box),

now try that with most anything made of recent vintage,

first you will need special tools or sockets, few things are even reparable, and the information is next to nill even if you have the proper manuals.

to day is a throw away society not one that is decated to repair and longevity.

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just compare a new popular science, and one that is pre 70's, it is not even the same magazine, the old was about the new, but also how to DIY, and how to repair and build and create,

shop class are nearly a thing of the past in most high schools,

you can go to grandmas house and there still using the those fans from the 30's and 40"s you go to Wal-Mart and buy a new one ever other year, and that is if you take them apart and oil or lubricate the bearings once or twice, other wise you replace it yearly,

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kids and dads/ grand fathers, do not work together any more, kids are not given a chance to learn things, (beside school studies),

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and for some reason out time is what we think is limited, we can buy that for XX, and it would take me XXXXHr, to fix it,

power tool companies basically made the same drill or saw for years when they first were made, look up the model numbers on dewalt or any other companies list of drills, (basically the same drill- say a 1/2 battery powered unit). you will find 4 or more pages of single spaced numbers of the same type of drill for Dewalt, last time I looked, no wonder you can not hardly get parts, there only made for a month at a time and then changed, for some unknown reason,

even when buying parts, if one can find them so many times a few small items will cost more than replacing the item in question,

the way the manufactures build and do things, it go against nearly every thing a DIY or one that repairs things is made of,