Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Restoring the "Pony"

Around here, tractor repairs are frequent. It's not uncommon to have one of the farms' antique Oliver tractors torn half apart and sitting upon blocks in our garage. Knowing how to repair your own tractor is not only handy, but also necessary for the small-time farmer where every dollar counts. Currently our smallest one an Oliver 66 Row Crop is in to be torn down and refurbished.

The 66, or "Pony" as we call it has been in Alan's family for years. His dad bought it new around the 60's and it was the first one he learned to drive on and spent many hours in the field on. When I moved to MN, it was also the first tractor I learned to drive. It wasn't as large or intimidating as the 1650 or 1850.

When we brought the rusty relic into the garage, Al noticed the crank case was frozen in a block of ice. Currently he's going through the engine, putting in new gauges and is sanding and re-painting it. Rather time-consuming but a worth-while cause.

The Pony is the smallest and also the "cutest" tractor we have. It could be put back to work raking hay in the summer instead of using a larger tractor which burns more fuel.  Not to mention Russell has taken a shine to it. He says it's his tractor and is already being selective on who could drive it. He spends time out in the garage with his dad helping here and there.

Our ultimate goal would be to take it to the annual White Pine Threshing and Logging Show where they have an antique tractor parade. I could only imagine how fun it would be for Russell to ride around waving at people sitting next to Alan or myself.

Here is where we are at right now. You can see our little supervisor in the seat. Still much work to do.

Here's our goal. I will post a picture of the final product once it's finished.

Alan says he enjoys working on the 66 because there's no hurry to quick get it done so he can go haul hay. It's something he can do in his spare time and I think it means a lot to Russell as well. I help out here and there when I get a chance. It's nice to have a family project and heirloom.

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