Tractor Season

One could argue that every season at our house is tractor season, but September this year has gone beyond normal even for us.  As previously mentioned, we started off the month with a tractor show at Pontiac, IL.  The way the timing of the shows worked out this year, the main show for the Antique Cat Club fell just two weeks after Labor Day.  The show was at Bowling Green, OH this year, and while not too far to drive, I decided it was too far to take the Ten.  The show was combined with the Historical Construction Equipment Association, and was strictly a construction focus.  As such, it was one of the very few shows where you will see Caterpillar out number John Deere by a large margin.  While it was a nice turnout, I wouldn't call it exceptional from a number of tractors standpoint.  What was exceptional, however, was that nearly all the tractors there were used in the play area pulling graders, scrapers, etc.  Of course it wasn't just tractors either, there were plenty of loaders, shovels and trucks to watch move dirt too.  Next year's show will be near Joliet, so it will be close enough to take the boys to.

The weekend turned into a "double feature" for me, as on the way home I stopped by the Peterson farm in Indiana to see their collection.  The Petersons own the 1912 Holt Caterpillar that I have mentioned before, and I had always wanted to see the rest of their collection that rarely gets taken to shows.  They really were not kidding that their family has never thrown anything away.  They had nearly every tractor and implement that had ever been used on their farm.  In addition to the Holt and several other Cat tractors, they have a 1904 Hart Parr, and a 1915 car.  By virtue of being Caterpillar customers for 98 years, they also have an impressive collection of literature and memorabilia that Cat sent out over the years.  They also have some nice Cat tractors in their collection that are more recent additions.  At times, it felt like an episode of American Pickers, as they kept mentioning other barns with something interesting in them.  In all, I spent 5 hours there and I still don't think I saw everything. 

While still not in the same league as the Peterson's, I haven't been able to resist growing our collection a little bit the past few weeks.  One of the main reasons I bought the Wheel Horse was because of it's hitch that could raise and lower implements, thinking that could be fun to use in the garden.  Doing so, of course, requires said implements to raise and lower.  Since the Wheel Horse hitch is a bit unique, I had been keeping my eyes out for implements that would work on it.  I happened across a couple, on the John Deere collector site of all places.  The first one was a cultivator that the seller didn't know what brand it was for.  I recognized the hitch style, and was able to identify it as a Wheel Horse one.  When I went to get it, and talked to him about what it was, he remembered he had a plow with the same style hitch.  I wasn't sure it was Wheel Horse, but the price was good enough I was willing to take a chance.  After getting home, I found out it was a Wheel Horse plow, and an uncommon one to boot. 

There is just one problem with the attachments I have gotten for the Wheel Horse; the Wheel Horse isn't ready to pull them.  The first order of business was replacing some worn out rear axle seals so I could get the oil to stay in the transmission.  From a missing chunk in one of the rear hubs, I suspected the previous owner had tried to replace the seals, but discovered a hub was seized on the axle shaft and gave up.  My suspicions turned out to be true, but after alot of liquid wrench, heat and some persuasion, I got the hub off.  I was able to get the new seals put in, along with a few other small parts, so I should be ready to go. 

The last recent project was refurbishing an old toy box that my Grandpa Louie made for me and my brother.  It served us well through our childhood, but had probably spent the better part of the last decade in my parent's crawl space.  C was looking at wooden toyboxes online one day, and I said I knew where there was one we could have if we wanted.  I think I sanded it all down back in June, but deciding on a color and actually getting around to painting it took considerably longer.  C was looking for something to add some color to the room, and it certainly does that!