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Put in 30 acres of lucerne and 80 acres of oats

Dad put 4 hours on the 756 and the 311 plow today. Reconfigured that one corner to fit the neighbor's larger equipment. Also fixed some washouts and along fencelines. Tonight, I serviced the 1486 and hooked up the disk. Pumped up the tires, grease and welded a broken scraper. Dad plans to disk tomorrow.

Worked some ground, and drilled a couple acres of oats today during the "apoc-eclipse". Before: Forgot to turn the lights on for this one: During "totality": The old H did a good job with the drill, but toward the end the trip mechanism started acting up on the #10 drill. My current view: Looks like the springs are shot. Hopefully the hardware store will have what I need, otherwise I'll have to order them. Mac

Got the wheel center changed on the 400. Had to quit before reinstalling the wheel. Will pick back up there in the morning. Few pics from today.

Pair of axles from a Peterbilt that needed some attention.

Back to field work, for a day anyways. Calling for rain/snow mix today. Stretched the legs on the W-6. Pulled this little CC cultivator in 4th gear. Wish I had a spring tooth drag on this but it’s mounted to the bigger duckfoot cult. Which is too big to load on the trailer so I had to work with what I had. The ground would pile up in front of the bar of the spike tooth drag I brought over there so I took it off. Plenty of sand in this field. This piece was 8 acres and I disked another 10 adjacent to it with the 400. It was hay ground I broke up last fall so no field cult or I’ll have root balls everywhere. Finished right at dark last night, I need to repair the lights on the 400.

Pulled pto on 1066. Shaft for 540 broke. Just ran unit to @gonzo 1066 since he has press and needs project to keep from getting in to mischief. 40s and rain here. Maybe end of week can do something. Didnt even want to service stuff on the shop apron with the rain and wind. 1066 is in shop till 540 is installed....

During the big eclipse I went and grabbed this cultivator over at another farm and got it to the shop to prep for spring. 28’ 4800.

Planted 15 acres of oats today before it rains tonight.

Stuff.... Took day off for spring Break. TopGolf, higjly recommend, like bowling but with golf. Kids love it. The Museum of Flight next to Boeing Field Seattle. Wellllllllll worth the $20bucks to get in. 4 hr minimum needed. The wood building is the original Boeing factory from the 1920s. Belt shaft and all. Someone in the 70s had the presense to think they should save it before building a new plant. Moved it and it sat for many years before the Museum got funding and built. Its beautiful restored sitting next to the modern parts. The wood work on the wings displayed would make you tear up. Then end of spring break Youth Fair. 14yo got 1st in fit and show with this little stinker of calf. But the judge said she was too small but she knew exactly what she was doing when they traded calves. The youngest 10yo got 1st with type and her dec calf she picked herself.

Got the 1456 pretty much ready. New bushings in lower 3pt arms, reflectors on fenders, added a mirror, and redid the filler panel in the cab so there is more room to get in, being we are only using one group 31 battery now

Got the first 16.9 on the 400 today, hadn't ever mounted a double bevel rim before. Wasn't too bad, think I got the runout down to less than 1/4". Decided to head to work early to pick up some onions and potato seed. Other tire will have to wait until tomorrow.

Been digging in. Had the girl running on propane before I started to tear into it. Been working with my son. He's 14 and this will be his first project tractor. Working through the basics. New plugs, wires, and some minor electrical to run it. Verified that i had oil pressure to the rockers. Gauge line was broken. Need to pull oil pan to inspect bottom end but everything looks amazing so far. Pulled the radiator to flush and check for leaks. Removed fenders and platform and many parts to get prepped for paint. Next is to rebuild water pump and pressure wash clean. Will prob run and check for more leaks. Will have to pull clutch cover to inspect it. Hand clutch. Feels like it's engaging properly. We will see. Every bolt has come out with little fight. Gotta love that so far.

Chisel plowing where we spread manure and where my cousin ran her cows this winter.

Snow is almost all melted off the fields here now. Really melted alot in the past week. Went from daytime highs below freezing to melting overnight. Figured Sunday was a good day to "wash" the sleds and put them away. Never did get out for one last good ride, so this had to do lol

Get ready for neighbors inquiring about hired work now your mobile😁

I decided to move it to another farm to test out the track adjuster repair. I didn’t have a way to move it previously, but found an old lowboy for $1,800. I didn’t think I could go wrong for that price, so I brought it home. It looks a lot bigger on that trailer than it does on the ground.

Here is a simple wooden tray to make for my little Farmall Diesel tractor. The notch ensures that the tray does not come out and the rest is held under the rear deck. I found the hole bar that I had misplaced a few years ago.

Took the 400 for it's maiden voyage! Drove it out o f the shed, we had pushed it in there with the 6080. Seems to run pretty good, T/A works good, in limited testing. Left brake works good, right one, not so much. Made it up to Farmall Tom's and got a wheel center to replace the broken one. Really would like to change that out today but this weather may put a stop to that! The 450 moved to the back of the shed where the 185 was sitting. Hope it doesn't wind up staying there too long. The uncle was up helping me move all this stuff around Saturday. After we got the 400 landed back in the building, he got to fooling around with the lights, I think they all work now. I mentioned the broken flasher on the 756, he said go get it. WE got the new one installed and all the lights seem to work on it too now. Since it's going on The WHO tractor ride that's got to be a good thing. Didn't get any pictures, maybe today? Stupid wind!

My three tractors. Whoever owns a hay mower dates from the 1950s and runs on gasoline. It has been restored. It's been in a shed for 12 years and it hasn't worked. It was full of dust.

Stepson on the 826 rolling after planting.

Wife on the 4366 and field cultivator. Notice her PPE.

That’s what I thought, @hardtail. You can’t buy anything for that.

Mike, it looked like there was a coyote falling into ACME Canyon. Right? Gary😁

Speaking from experience? 😁

Cason and Cinch out checking heavies with dad

Scattered some money on the ground. SHOULD have used the 706, but it has some kind of fuel issue and I didn't have time to mess with it. THIS was not near enough tractor for the job. Had to be careful but we got done. FIL was spreading with his 5610, got the speed transmission locked up in 2 gears...So that goes to show you what happens when you send a blue tractor to do a RED tractor's job!.

I always enjoy your reports. Wish I had the money to play with tractors but life keeps getting in the way.

With all the electronics in today's tractors, cab removal is a pretty easy way to allow a lot of access for repair....especially transmission/drive train components. With the Steigers, you have 4 steering hoses with snap fittings, 3 hoses to the brake valve, 2 heater hoses, recover the freon and unhook 2 AC hoses, and then unhook a series of electrical connectors at the back of the cab and then you are just about ready for cab removal. No transmission linkages, no hydraulic remote valve linkages, no throttle linkage, etc. We used to laugh at Deere guys because it seemed like they were always pulling cabs on their older tractors for transmission work. Anymore, we pull more cabs off the chassis rather than work under them. Titan sent those out to their bigger dealers back in 2011-12, when we had to OH the transmissions on the first 550/600 tractors due to an assembly error at the Japanese plant where they are built. It's built by a fabrication place up in Fargo...Sanders Mfg. is the name on it. Yes, it just lifts on the door frames/headliner area. You remove the bolt closest to the picture, flip up the end strap irons that the bolt goes through, then bring it in through the RH door, then flip the irons down and install the bolt when it gets all the way over to the LH side of the cab, and then you are ready for the hoist. Works pretty slick. I'll share some more pictures of stuff going on here lately. Lots of 36 row planters getting worked on lately...sold 4 new ones and 3 used ones. As you can see, when you put new opener/closer discs on a 36 row, you end with quite a pile of used parts. Also, just to show you we are not all the land of big farm equipment, we have a new 8RN 2120 planter on the lot as well. Also, we had a 4440 silver edition SP sprayer in the shop as well.

Here's the pic I forgot to attach to my post above...

Don’t remember if these were posted before.

My granddaughter's husband, the roughneck sent me these pics this morning. A few days ago they were moving the rig and a thunderboomer rolled in and sprouted a couple of tornadoes. l asked him what they did and he said "Nuthin. Ain't no place to hide from them so just as well keep workin' and just hope it don't come over where you are." Sure nuff, nuthin happened and they got the derrick laid down and it didn't even rain on them. This pic shows how they move the derrick. Forward facing truck pulls it by the A-legs and base legs on a bolster. Rearward facing truck drives in reverse with the crown on another bolster.

Me planting rice with the 886. Sorry, no water. It's dry enough to plant it with a drill this year.

A lot of little things yesterday and today. The lightbar toolbox for the H finally came after the post office held it hostage for 3 weeks, and I got it put on: Also found a little drawbar extension on ebay for the Cub and put it on also: Today I put a new footboard on the #10 drill, that way little brother has a place to stand tomorrow while we're drilling oats. Mac

Should be easy enough to check with a tail pipe sniffer O2 sensor just like you would on gas motor. Ideal A/F for propane is 15.7:1 I have a couple of friends who run propane powered SBC rock crawler Jeeps they dialed in the set up this way They welded a bung in the exhaust and screw a sensor in and can check during operation under a good load at WOT AEM makes a 2 5/8 gage that will go in a pod

Fired up Dad's old GMC grain truck after winter slumber and pulled out the water tanker. Gonna fill it up. I pay for 2,000 gallons a month minimum. So, gonna get some of the pre emergence spraying done. Will likely have COOP handle post emergence. Seed corn is delivered today. Spring is coming!

On ww2 and ww1 aircraft. I got some janky pics yesterday. Little spring break trip. https://www.museumofflight.org/visit/parking-and-directions Some poor pics of some amazing machines on so many levels. Wellllll worth the $20 entrance fee. 3 hours and we missed the B52 outside in the Vietnam memorial area. The little prop plane is Italian. 1st aircraft used in a military situation in 1913 iirc. They looked where the greek (?) were and then went back and threw grenades at them.

Great job Eric!! Hopefully they learned a lot and can continue to do the contest in the future!! Also that you can continue to coach them!! They are our future!!

I didn’t do a thing with my red tractors today. For the past 2 months myself and a couple of friends have been working with the local FFA chapter helping them practice for the section Ag Mechanics contest. Our chapter hasn’t done it in several years. I finally got them talked into it this year. The contest was at a nearby community college and consist of carpentry, welding, electrical, surveying, and power mechanics. As coaches we didn’t know what we were doing, I had been in the contest 35 years ago. The kids were very raw but they were willing and they managed to get 3rd place. Time well spent!

Construction had to cease for clean up. Family gathering here Saturday. Finished this bunch of cabinet except for the drawers. Back at it again soon. 16 cabinets to go. 7 are built, 9 more to make then start hanging.

Trying to get things rearranged for corm planting time. Sadly, this means the 450 is going to have to move to the back of the shed. Got it down off the jack-stand, drained the gas out of it, and just generally got it ready for the move. Stread the gas around among four others. Decided to do the 'washer repair' on that tail wheel, that went pretty well. Pulled the other wheel/tire/spindle out of the 982. Will dismount the tire this afternoon, clean up the rim sometime when the wind isn't howling!

Stayed in the shop today, nasty weather, took a JD drawbar and put a pulling eye on it. Its going on a 966. Needed the off set.

Gary, that B-17 picture is almost beyond belief. The wartime development and production of aircrafts just blows my mind. We couldn't do that again if we had to!

I sure don't know anything, so I'll post some photos, mostly from Facebook. This was yesterday in our yard. He wasn't hiding eggs either. He was looking for God's Resurrected Lamb, I'll bet. I took this photo on my desk. Us Oldsters may understand it, but likely not many youngsters. In my early years at the Glengarry one-room school, this is how we wrote penmanship before ball point pens. That lever on the side of the pen squashed a rubber bulb inside. When you released the lever, the bulb sucked in ink from the ink bottle. Nephew Randy's neighbor in Helena asked him if he wanted this before he threw them away when cleaning out his garage. Randy grabbed them for his uncle! Taps and dies. But that antique tool box is in great shape too. Some old vehicle or tractor should have this tool box. I may have already posted this photo. But someone just posted it on Facebook this morning. So I grabbed it again. It sure reminds me of my childhood when in Lewistown. A woman operating a boring mill during WWI A boneyard of B-17 Flying Fortress Bombers arranged for scrapping after WWII. They might lower the National Debt with them if they still existed. They don't sell cheap anymore. A local millionaire's P-51 Mustang WWII fighter plane just sold to another millionaire for $6,000,000, and he flew it away. A woman and a man assemble an R28 Double Wasp F42 Corsair engine at the Vought Factory in Stratford, Connecticut, 1943. Inspectors inspecting Buick-built Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp Radials. They were used in the B-24 Liberator bombers, the C-47, Catalina, Wildcat, TBD Devastator, and more airplanes during WWII. Jackie Moggridge, a WWII transport pilot. She was the youngest at 15 when she got her license. She logged over 1,500 hours and was proficient in 38 different military aircraft. Henry Leland poses with one of his 1905 Cadillac fully enclosed "Osceola" coupes. A ca 1904 Model C Ford being driven by a lady at the train depot. Purportedly the first wrecker built in America. It was built by Ernest HOLMES of Chatanooga, Tennessee. He called this a "Cadillac Truck." Charles Dragstedt's first car, a 1913 Cadillac, at his home in Butte, Montana. Caterpillars Equipment building runways in the Pacific Islands during WWII. Two women and a man with their Cook Car, or maybe portable bunk house. A farm family is eating in their cabin in hard times. But I'll bet that rifle is loaded! A horse team is pulling a hay loader. Notice the two girls watching the men. Four McCormick-Deering Combine Harvesters pulled by McCormick-Deering tractors. A homemade tractor on the Stollsteimer Farm in 1920. A Case cross motor tractor with extended controls is pulling a small grader blading snow. Likely a Fordson power unit with crawler tracks has a small road grader mounted on it. Father of the "motor grader?" The Johnny Popper guys on Facebook went bonkers over this unusual John Deere tractor. Is it a General Purpose? The flywheel looks non typical. A McCormick Deering WK(?)-40 pulling a plow. I don't know whether it was a Kerosene model or a plain gasoline model. A 25 hp Minneapolis engine through a bridge in Roger's state of Minnesota. The Minneapolis steam engine and threshing machine were new, and being delivered. The engineer was killed in 1905 IH near Bemidji, A special built "offside" Farmall M doing some kind of row crop harvesting I can't identify. Here is a Farmall H that looks "ridden hard and put away (left out?) wet. But it just appears someone borrowed the radiator? the rest of it appears to be there. Maybe a WWII steel wheel, no starting system and battery? Another row crop IH Farmall Cub tractor seeding. A Case combine pulled by a Case tractor. Barefoot children picking cotton in Texas farm in 1913. Gary 😉😮😁

Happy Easter to you all. (all ya'all) and especially Resurrection Sunday! Gary😔

On too reality. Been looking hard at just selling out. Been super bad winter coop is dinging us 1.50cwt extra for former bad management decisions to keep company solvent. 30k a month just for us. 40/hd is good figure we all use. Friend milks 3300 and its well N of 120k /month. Coast is nust expensive and county is thinking we need a 20/hr min wage like seattle.😡 I DONT have that. Also looked a different dairy inland. If guy would deal(you know make a price and commit to selling) it would be cheaper to operate and little more cows and land. End of road guy..... i think alot of you will get that. Like he is living in another world. I dont want to quit but...might be last time for the high $ with state working at taking our water rights away. And there is 2000 ac i bet in 10 miles of 75yo+ guys with no heirs thinking of selling. So i maybe should be 1st A few pics. The maybe place Ffa pigs Kids new biz, doing okay so far Dont buy Enogen corn for silage...little cobs dont digest and plug lines! Odd looking T400 heifer raiser has. Only 1 ive ever seen with round headlights