Monday, June 29, 2009

Brian's Project: A Tractor Post

"So... since you're always looking for interesting pictures for your blog, you should come outside and bring your camera" says my husband when I arrived home last night.

"Is everything alright!?" I said, a little worried.

I went out to see what he was talking about. Turns out his project for the day involved tearing apart our main tractor, a JD 4010. We put a lot of money in to this tractor last year and had joked that it was not allowed to break down ever again. The only thing left to break was the hydraulic pump and it really needed to be replaced awhile ago. It died out in the hay field the other day so Brian hauled it home. He had to take off the entire front axle to get the pump out. The pump itself costs $1200 so any money we can save on labor is great. I'm so glad Brian can do stuff like this!

Here is the tractor where it sits until the pump is replaced. That red thing in the picture is The Bone Creeper. Brian asked for the creeper as a Christmas present last year and he uses it a lot.


Here is the front axle!


What kind of projects are going on at your house?

7 comments:

Farmer's Daughter said...

My brothers will like that post! They'd be embarrassed I told you but they like your blog, too. Wish more girls like you were around here, haha.

There's always something going on around here. My brother Jon is redoing a house he bought, just ripped off part of it and they're rebuilding it now. Tractors are constantly breaking! Ed's focused on clamming and all the boat issues that go along with it. That's pretty much it right now... Oh, Jon's also restoring a Dodge Charger.

Anonymous said...

My husband would like this!!! That's awesome that Brian can fix it himself. We're always trying to fix things up around here. It's mostly just little stuff right now because we don't have much to spend on extras just now. When we sell the motorcycle (wahhh!) We hope to replace our windows. They're OLD. =)
Oh, my brakes need to be replaced soon. Steve will do that. ha! Not like it's exciting or cool like a tractor!!!

Anonymous said...

Your hubby and my hubby would get along great, I think!! Don't you just swoon over a man who fix his own equipment?! lol :)

Everydaywoman said...

OK, once again Abbie beat me to it! Her brothers and Brian would SO get along great together! They're always working on equipment and deciding what piece that need to buy next (new or old to work on!)

I've never seen a creeper in the shape of a bone (how cool!), but here's the mother in me: I know that Brian will make sure the tractor is well blocked before he gets under it!

I guess it might be a day or so before he can take you "on a ride on his big green tractor!"

It's true that our "boys" enjoy your blog, too, especially when it's about tractors! If Brian might be interested in the 1955 Ford Workmaster that they restored, please visit: http://everydaywomanusa.wordpress.com/2008/10/07/true-green/

The only thing is, it's red, not green, but I'm calling it "green" because they restored it to working condition!

Captain's Wife - Jennifer said...

My hubby is working on a 1932 (or is it 1938?) anyway, a 1930-something JD B. His grandpa bought it originally, his dad restored it during his college days, and now hubby has inherited it and is tinkering here and there to restore it so we can "put it in parades and take it to tractor pulls." :) LOL Great job Brian! Gotta love a handy man! :)

Abutton said...

Fortunately, none of our projects are quite as exciting as yours is! We're putting up a lot of hay (while the sun shines! :), gardening, and trying to keep cool. :)

Jena said...

FD - Oh buddy, your brother has a Dodge, that's great! We're totally Dodge people around here. Well Brian kind of likes older Fords but I've been able to look past that and love him anyway. Nice to know I have some guy fans too. Lol. ;)

Julie - Yeah, the money thing is a catch 22 for us, we only have the money to spend on the tractor because we farm but we have to spend money on the tractor because we farm. Oooh, new windows sound very nice. Ours' are about 10 years old and work fine but we really need new exterior doors. The ones we have let the wind blow right it.

Farm Mom - Lol, yes, there is something about the smell of diesel fuel on a guy that gets my heart pumping! Actually, I think my husband has a grudge against your husband every since I showed him the post where he built you a feather plucker and asked for one myself. Haha :)

Ruth - If they'll get along so well then maybe I should let Brian come with me when I visit you all someday. ;)
Ugg, I know what you mean about the tractor being blocked up. He does so many things that I tell him NOT to do when he's home alone. Typical guy, never listens.
I'll show him that Ford sometime, it sounds pretty cool.

Jennifer - Watch out, pretty soon he'll want you to drive that thing in the parades or at least snap pictures of it all cleaned up. Then he'll want another one and then a third. Brian always tells me they will make good "raking tractors" which basically means they can pull a hay rake but are pretty much useless otherwise. Oh, BTW, you should post some pics of your tractor sometime, I'm sure Brian would love to see!

Abutton - Yes, fortunately. I keep saying I wonder what it would feel like to just do "basic maintenance" on things instead of constantly overhauling our house and every major piece of equipment we own. Good luck with the hay, I hope the sun keeps shining on you!!