The 'other woman'

[John DeBree]

I confess; we're not an all-IH household. Although I'm semi-actively looking for an early Farmall, I turned to Ford to get the actual work done. I have a '65 Ford 3000 gasser. Attachments include a loader, mower, rear blade, 2 bottom plow, disc harrow, a wood chipper, and a spreader. I mostly got it to maintain our 450' of gravel driveway, but I've been busy trying to make an old messy pine woods into a field. After having it cleared of stumps, I've been plowing, discing, liming, liming, and liming. I'm planting a succession of crops to try to put something back into our poor red dirt. Fun project! Seat time is seat time. I use the wood chipper every fall, too. With 8 acres of woods, there's always stuff to be turned into chips. The wood chipper is more fun than it should be.

I don't mow with a CC, either. We have about an acre of weedy lawn, spread out over several acres. Lots of obstacles, up and down hill, just plain work. I bought a Husky zero-turn, and mowing day is fun now! Turns out a ZT is useless for pulling implements, so I recently got one of my old CC 'O's running to pull the small lawn spreader. I'm also using it to pull a 4' drag harrow around my project field to smooth it up a bit, and bury the seed I spread.

 

[john.knutson]

My brother-in-law just won a Farmall M on auction last week. The shipper never showed up though, so it's still sitting about 100 miles from his house. He joked about just driving it home, that would be quite the story..

Those Ford tractors do look pretty slick! I remember seeing a YouTuber that I follow (Andrew Camarata) working on his, my wife said "that looks like the perfect size tractor for us". I've been keeping a casual eye out for one ever since, but for my day-to-day the Cub 107 is a pretty good size!

I also got away from mowing with my Cub, I got a pretty good deal on a used Hustler. I did enjoy mowing with the Cub, but find it less frustrating on the ZT due to how many trees/obstacles I have to navigate. This also lets me keep the mower deck off my Cub so I can dedicate it to proper tractor work with my sleeve hitch implements.

 

[tlavalette]

Drive it home. Thats not that unusual. When I farmed and custom farmed it wasn't unheard of to drive 30 miles. Or just find a car trailer behind a pickup. I brought an IH 93 combine about 80 miles home with a Nissan NV2500 and 20' ft trailer. Ran 70-75 right along with traffic.

 

[knolte]

The old Ford 3000 series is a solid tractor. Probably way over used and abused but they were reliable and handy. We had one back on the farm many decades ago. As much of a fan of the CC tractors that I am, I also sneak around with a few other brands here. My CC is my main tractor but there are a couple of JD 420s and two old Fords that get a little attention on occasion. You are absolutely right, seat time is seat time. I truly enjoy the opportunity to get out and mow the yard or do other chores around the farm. Tractors make it much more enjoyable.

 

[John DeBree]

Yeah, my old 3000 is pretty tired, but it keeps pluggin' along. Some winter I'll probably go through it, as I'm sure it needs rings at a minimum. I spent a king's ransom on new tires and rims, so it's a keeper, that's for sure. I need to rig up an electric fuel pump for it. The mechanical one failed, so right now, it's gravity feed. Works well, as long as you keep the tank at least half full. There is NO quality fuel pump available, not even from Ford. They're all made overseas, and reports are that they only last a few months. It's a bear to get at, too.

 

[knolte]

Yeah, my old 3000 is pretty tired, but it keeps pluggin' along. Some winter I'll probably go through it, as I'm sure it needs rings at a minimum. I spent a king's ransom on new tires and rims, so it's a keeper, that's for sure. I need to rig up an electric fuel pump for it. The mechanical one failed, so right now, it's gravity feed. Works well, as long as you keep the tank at least half full. There is NO quality fuel pump available, not even from Ford. They're all made overseas, and reports are that they only last a few months. It's a bear to get at, too.

Keep trying to find one. That is an issue with dealing with an old tractor. Parts are long since out of stock with no replacements coming in. The electric pump will serve you well. Keep the old iron going. They weren't perfect but when they were made they served us well for many years.

 

[John DeBree]

You can find fuel pumps, but they're made overseas, even if you go to a Ford/NH dealer. They don't sell a diaphragm kit, either. It will be easier to go electric anyway, as I don't have to take anything apart.