The weather forecast for Saturday called for an 80% chance of rain, with showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. We started early, plowing the new garden plot, then ran the cultivator, and then ran the tiller. The results were amazing. We were done before lunch, and the field looked great. Plowing takes a bit more attention to detail than I expected, but luckily, the tractor wheels are setup so that the right rear wheel is in tight, and the left one is all the way out. This is perfect for plowing. All I have to do is put the right front wheel in the furrow I just made, and it lines up perfectly. After lunch, we cleaned up some of the wood piles we stacked from the previous year, and then tilled around the unplowed area so that there would be less weeds on the deer fence. Then we marked the deer fence corners, and got 3 holes dug with the auger. The third hole proved to be a problem, with the drive shaft shear bolt breaking, and it took some effort to get the auger back out, which took us to the end of the day.
May 5, 2008
March 31, 2008
Starter Down
There is a theory that all electrical and electronic components operate due to the presence of “magic smoke”. When something bad happens, these parts release their magic smoke, and then no longer work. The theory is a little sketchy on the details, but it is fairly accurate.
Wednesday, after acquiring the post hole digger from Tractor Supply, I decided to start the tractor since it had not run for some time. After fussing with the fuel system (I want to know the genius who thought a siphon fed fuel system was reliable), the tractor started right up. There was a slight gear noise sound, which I originally thought was from the hydraulic pump. Then the negative battery terminal started to smoke. I shut down the tractor, and started nosing around. It looks like the gear on the starter motor stayed out after the tractor had started, and the result was the windings in the starter released their magic smoke. There are a large number of people in the area who collect and restore old tractors. Finding the replacement will not be hard, just expensive.
After a little bit of research, it appears that several different starters were used on this tractor. For my specific IH 574, it was the Delco Remy 1109061, with the 11 tooth starter drive. My local tractor expert recommended a nearby tractor shop, and hopefully a new starter will be available for the weekend.
