Grampa's Old Smokey

I have some very fond memories of watching Grampa haul wood with his 1950's Case tractor with the hand painted "OLD SMOKEY" across the front.  As time went on I was able to drive Old Smokey in the woods on occasion and haul wood with it.

I have had a bit of an obsession with this tractor since I was allowed to haul wood with it and have been slowly working for Grampa to pay for the tractor.  This past summer I scraped and painted Grampa's house as the final payment on the tractor.  Since then I have been waiting to have a place to store it and the time to get it running and moved - I finally have the space and time!

Like most tractors that I like Old Smokey was not running and had to be towed from the spot where it has rested in the pole barn for the last few years.  Luckily Grampa could tow Old Smokey down to the house easily where we could inflate all of the tires and try to get it running.

On the trip down I tried to jump start Old smokey and it did want to start but something is wrong in the Carberator and would not let it start without flooding right out.

Once we were down at the house I removed the carburetor and then once it was off we found the specialty wrench that Grampa had made for it.  I cleaned the carburetor out and put it back on with fresh gas but did not get it running.  By that point the battery was pretty run down and it wouldn't crank the engine over fast enough to start it. 

At that point we were committed to it going home with me so we towed it backwards and then rolled it forward towards the trailer. Now this is a fairly heavy tractor so it is no easy feat to get it on a tall deck over trailer when it is not running. 

We were able to easily push it on to about this point but there are not any good points to push from on the back.  From there we hooked a chain fall on the front of the trailer and Grampa used the tractor bucket to roll the tires forward. 

After scaring Allyssia as I rode it off from the trailer - it is home.  I did convince Allyssia to go sit on Old Smokey and she decided that she really likes the old tractor, so when I get the sickle bar mower I may have to fight for seat time!

As of now I have the carburetor off and soaking in Sea Foam so that anything that is stuck in there will loosen up and we can be running home free. Grampa went ahead and pulled the sickle bar out of the woods and off the stone wall for me.  When he got done with it he removed the cutter bar and kept it under cover and everything on it still moves freely. Be prepared for a video when I have Old Smokey running and you have to stay tuned for my next gold hauling adventure.  As always check back often and let me know how I am doing.