New Old Equipment
The past few weeks I’ve been picking up some equipment to help me in expanding my gardening into small farming. The difference? Gardening is for personal use and farming is for profit. Not to say that a garden isn’t profitable, but one can’t make a living on just a garden even if one can live off a garden…
So first off I came across a man who had a lawn tractor. It was given to me for free, with the words of “it needs a little TLC, just clean out the carburetor and put in a fresh battery and it should start right up. There was a mouse nest in the carburetor and when I saw it start to smoke I shut it right down.” Ok, no big deal. It had been sitting only since spring, so I load it up and bring it home to work on.
When I pulled the carburetor I found the nest, started cleaning it and found that the nest had been sucked into the overhead cam. That was some suction… No wonder it started to smoke. What wasn’t told to me was that after it had started to smoke it was driven the length of two football fields to where it was to be parked. Also I found out that “since spring” was spring 06. Amazing how time flies. After finding out that, I worked on the piston. Before I go any farther I’d better make sure the engine isn’t froze solid. I got it freed and as soon as I did, out the bottom shaft came oil. A shot each time the piston went around on the shaft.
Off to the small engine repair shop. I’ve got a blown seal in the PTO, some thing that is actually growing in microscopic groves in the over head cam, and possible scoring in the cylinder, worn barrings in the cam shaft, etc…. How much to get the engine rebuilt? Quote $1000!!! I don’t think so! How much for a new 17hp Briggs and Straton? $700…. Well that was a little better. What about a used one? None in stock, I needed to look around. I checked online, in junkyards, in scrap yards, asked friends and family. And had trouble finding anything bigger than a 5hp. And nothing that I could afford.
About a week later I found a working pull at another shop and bought it for $175 plus tax. The new one though was a much bigger engine. But the shaft was the right size and the mounting bolt holes lined up with the tractor, so all turned out good. Until, there is always a but in these cases, I tried hooking up the lines, gas, throttle, choke, safety wires etc. Everything was too darn short.
I had a gas line left over from another project that turned out to be perfect length, but I still needed to buy a throttle and choke cables. the throttle cable was easy $5 at the local small engine repair shop. Although I lost a screw to hold the throttle in place on the tractor and I need to cut the cable down. The choke cable I’m going to have to order as no one had one in stock. The safety wires I’m going to have to make if I want them, I’m not sure if the engine will start with out them though. The last thing I’m going to need is a muffler. Especially if I want to take the machine out to make money with. Twin exhaust versus the old single, I just can’t reuse the old muffler. Thats another $105.
Now I’d have had all this done by now except that while I was working on the lawn tractor, I had bought some small farm equipment. and I mean small.
Iseki TS1610: A cute little tractor that I found for $1400.00 and when I say little I mean little! It fits in the back of a full size Chevy 1/2ton truck. Its too small for what I really want to do but on the other hand it will be a very helpful and versital tractor. Especially I suspect at cultivating and harvest of vegetables. Not to mention that it is the perfect size to take onto someones lawn for landscaping. I just need to find a front end loader, and a tiller for the the 3pt hitch. It has a strong 2cyl diesel of 16hp and this time I did some testing of it before I purchased it. I didn’t want to end up with another like the lawn tractor.
Just a few days before I bought the tractor and the day after I bought the motor I purchased these. Looks like a pile of junk on a flatbed right. Well what if I spread them out for you because looks can be deceiving.
From left to right: a set of disk, a special plow (I believe it was for potatoes, or at least that is what I’m going to use it for.), a cultivator (about half there), a set of three drags, a single set of drags. because of the handles I can tell that everything is pre-1949 to 1958 and the drags I believe were horse drawn equipment. The newest piece is the plows. Unfortunately everything needs a little repair. But what should I expect for 60+ year old equipment at $250 for the whole load?
I am happy though because everything is in usable condition, even if its not in a good repair condition, and its all more or less minor repairs, it just takes some money…. the money I just spent to have the stuff in the first place.
So this is my new set of projects. To have this equipment ready for spring. Now I jsut need the land and seed!
This is the end of my rambling for today,
BTW: if anyone knows what the make and model of the pull behind equipment is, please let me know. I have some parts numbers if they will help in cross referencing amd a photo of a simble that is mostly rusted and worn off.. I thought at first that they could be old John Deere, except the for the cultivators. But then being green could also be Oliver or it could be that the stuff was repainted at one time. But I want to know so that I can get parts when it become necsary.
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