Posted by JRSutton on May 09, 2014 at 07:14:02 from (71.174.108.245):
Probably the longest post in YT history but...
I need to thank Jim (aka JimInMA here) for his very generous donation of spare parts for our 4H John Deere B restoration project.
Jim, I know you weren't looking for any kind of recognition like this, and that's not why you donated the parts, but I still have to say it.
First a brief history of the project: I'm a leader in our town 4H club, among other things I run "the tractor club".
An old farmer down the road caught wind of our restoration projects and contacted me about his 43 B.
His father bought the tractor new in 43. It stayed their primary work horse on the farm well after his father passed away, up until he himself stopped farming in the 80's.
The tractor meant so much to his dad that he made him promise never to sell it. So when he decided to stop farming, the tractor sat, slowly decaying in one of his fields which grew over into woods. It broke this man's heart to see the tractor rot away, but his own health was declining, and there was nothing he could do.
When he heard about us, he got the idea that he could donate it to our club, and still technically be holding to his word with his father - he didn't SELL it. He felt his father wouldn't mind him sneaking through a loophole like that since the tractor would be fully restored and find new life teaching children about tractors and farming. He knew his dad would be as proud as he would be.
This man has liver cancer, and we all know he doesn't have much time.
Our club is small, so fundraising efforts don't net us very much, so I usually fund these projects out of my own pocket. I don't consider it generosity because I get so much satisfaction in return.
But I'm also not a rich man. I can make this happen, but I usually have to spread costs out over time to soften the blow.
But in this case, I'm trying as hard as I can to get this tractor done in time to let this man see the good he did for these kids by giving us the tractor. I want one of the kids to drive it right up his driveway and park it so he can not only see it fully restored to its former glory, but see the pride in the faces of those that did it.
If there wasn't this local history behind this tractor (in our parts, local family owned tractors are a rarity)- I would have considered it scrap. It really was just too far gone.
Some of you may have seen some of my posts about it. The deeper we dig, the more we have to dig. EVERYTHING needs fixing or replacing. It needs so many expensive components that it's really not a good restoration candidate at all.
But we're committed.
Before Jim even heard this full story, he had contacted me letting me know he'd like to donate some parts to our project.
I'll never say no to such an offer, but I also never expected the level of generosity that revealed itself when we got to Jim's house to see what had for parts.
I won't give a full accounting - but let's just say ALL of our engine woes have been eliminated with an NOS block and pistons, and rings, a good carburetor. And a whole lot more.
In one fell swoop Jim crossed off almost ALL of our major hurdles. With parts better than we could have dreamed of finding in our usual ebay/scrapyard hunting.
Others here have donated parts in the past, and I certainly don't mean to praise any one individual more than any other. But this particular donation was so generous and filled such a desperate, timely need that, again, I just felt I had to point it out here.
We still have a lot of hurdles ahead of us, but thanks to Jim we now have some REAL hope of hitting our goal.
Thank all of you as a whole - those that have donated parts, and those that have shared tips and advice - your generosity is always appreciated more than you can know.
We all know kids these days are losing touch with so many of the basic skills we all took for granted growing up.
We can't save them all, but your generosity and help directly reverses that trend for a least a few of them!
Thank you all. I'll keep you updated with pictures as we progress.
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