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Dan Bear Kelley
03-14-2008 10:10:16
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This is the story of how I got my Farmall M. My wife and I were building a steel building in which to store our older cars. It was 50'x75' and my wife was not sure we could actually pull off the project. The day arrived when our building was delivered. I had a forklift rented and waiting, but I had never driven a forklift before in my life. (Hey, I'm a computer geek!) I think the man who owned the truck thought it was best if he ran it, and I can't say I blame him. My building was the top one of three loaded on the truck, but with the expertise of the truck driver, it was soon off-loaded and sitting on sleepers--a stack of sheet steel, boxes of bits and quite a number of long heavy pieces of steel. The forklift was too expensive to keep renting, so I decided I needed a front loader. My wife (God bless her!) was even more skeptical about the project. Even so, I started prowling through "Ranchland News," the local rural paper. Right away I spotted an ad for a Farmall model M with front loader for $2000. I had no idea what a Farmall M was, but it was a front loader and it could be fit into the budget for the building. The first words out of my wife's mouth were "Do we really need something that big?" I nodded, drooling. This poor machine was painted a hideous green that had a blue tinge to it. The loader had been welded several times. Still, the front tires were new. The engine fired right up and it smoked a little. The back tires were weather-checked, but in my mind I had already bought the tractor. What sealed the deal was that the guy would deliver it. Sold! He almost dropped the front wheels off the back of the trailer by almost missing the ramp. One tire was on the ramp, the other was in mid-air, and the whole thing came off that trailer so fast! I have since learned that mine is a 1951 M with a Farmhand F-11B loader on it. The hydraulics leak a bit. I replaced the small cylinders on the bucket, and still have internal leaks on either the main cylinders or in the valves. The bucket is unique in that I can pull a couple pins and convert the bucket to a dozer blade. We named the Farmall "Mondor" from a quote from Star Trek: the Next Generation. "We are the Pakleds. Our ship is 'The Mondor.' We look for things; things that make us go." I was proved right (by sheer luck). The whole time we built the building, our Farmall proved dead-bang reliable. I used it to move steel all over the place. I used it to move that stack of sheet steel, running chains from the bucket through 3" galvanized steel pipe. The sheet steel rested on the pipes and did not bend into a curled shape. :-) That was an adventure. I sweated the whole time the stack was in the air. I kept it only a foot or so off the ground, and I kept feeling the back of the tractor lift just a little. The stack swung alarmingly, and I set it back on the ground frequently to stop it. Remember, I had never driven such a thing in my life! But I was able to get the stack in the right places without mishap. I had planned to use this front loader to backfill the foundation trenches, but quite franly, I got scared. Had I known what I know now, I would have been OK with the backfilling. I would have simply removed the bucket part and dozed the trenches full. I also discovered what part-time hydraulics are all about. It is VERY interesting to put the clutch in to stop forward movement, and suddenly lose the ability to do anything with the bucket. I also discovered that to go forward in 1st, pull the stick back. To go back, push the stick forward. I also discovered that my wife is a better heavy equipment operator than I am. She's an Iowa farm girl, so I should have expected that. Much to my delight, I discovered just how absorbing this hobby of tractors can be. I plan on installing full time hydraulics with a Super M pump. I need to replace the valves with a set that has an extra sheeve, so I can install a 3-point hitch. Yeah, I could use the lift-all pump, but that isn't my vision. A Char-lynn power steering unit is on the list, as a request of my wife, so she can enjoy the tractor more--though she does very well now at manhandling the wheel. I plan to install a pair of '56 or '06 flattops on Mondor. I have a bunch of electrical work to do. The sheet metal all needs work. The ugly bluish green will be replaced with International (highway) yellow, just to be different. In all, I plan to pour far more money into this tractor than it is worth, but that isn't the point is it. I also found a subject about which my future father-in-law and I can chat at great lengths about. When they come to visit Colorado from Iowa, we sit in the garage, looking at the M and talking tractors. Finally, I want to thank all those on this board who have made this hobby so pleasant. Farmall, Oliver, JD, or Case... It just doesn't matter to the folk here. We're all part of a unique hobby. THANK YOU! for allowing this computer geek to babble!
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