Retiring Black Beauty

Yesterday I was finally able to share some amazing news that Allyssia and I have been keeping a secret for a while now and wanted to leave that blog post to just revealing that.  Today I have some bitter sweet news.  After bring my old truck in for an inspection sticker a month ago I came to find out that the old girl needed quite a bit of work for an inspection sticker.  I was pretty hurt by this news but was planning on doing the work to keep old Black Beauty on the road for another year because this truck has been through a lot with me. 

You can't go to far down though my blog without seeing this truck in the background or even being the center of attention.  This truck spent many a day up to Peru at my old woodlot hauling equipment up there and hauling wood back home and has been on so many excursions chasing old tired iron.  We discussed the options of fixing what needed to be fixed or buying a newer truck and I started to get prices to have the repairs done until the transmission started to leak, actually hemorrhage transmission fluid.  It took me multiple quarts to plow the driveway last storm.  With no inspection sticker and leaking ATF we started cracking down on finding a new truck.  After testing and checking out multiple different trucks we settled on one in our price range.

It is a 2005 Ford F-350 with 70,000 miles on it.  It is rust free with good tires and it already has the goose-neck rails in the bed.  We ended up going with the dual rear wheels because it was one of the only low mileage trucks in our price range.  We were also looking to upgrade the cab size to fit a car seat in the coming years so this extended cab fit the bill.  It's not my old faithful black flatbed Ford but I think that it will serve us very well.

As far as old Black Beauty goes I plan on fixing the problems over time.  If I have the time I can fix most everything myself such as the floor pans and cab mounts and when the time comes I can dive into the transmission.  Until next time stay in touch, check back often, and don't forget to leave a comment. 

A Must Read! Rolling into 2019

This year is going to be an amazing year for our family. Not only will we be marking our first year here in our permanent home but we are adding to our family.  Coming this July there will be a little Timberlake here on the farm.  We couldn't be any more excited to add to our family.

Having a baby in the house is going to be a huge change to our normal routing but we both think it will be a change for the better.  Allyssia will have to take most of the summer off from riding but next year she will be right back at it.  That is enough exciting news for tonight so tomorrow I will be back with more excitement concerning the background of our photo today.

The Christmas Gift that Keeps on Giving

Allyssia really out did herself this year for Christmas.  She had the mentality that she should give the best gifts that just keep on giving.  Allyssia spends all year picking out gifts and deciding what to get but this year she outdid herself last minute.  Thinking of my favorite hobbies she got me a model steam engine to play with that I can use IN THE HOUSE!!

This is called a Wilesco candle powered steam engine.  It is just a toy but when I am typing blog posts it is fun to have it running and puttering away in the background.  Other than old engines and rust I also love Snoopy!  I have more Peanuts comic books than I can put on a shelf.  Knowing this Allyssia ordered a Snoopy and Woodstock on a Farmall from the Bradford exchange.  She was thinking it would be just one but a few weeks after Christmas a different one arrived. 

We found out that there are four in the collection and I will be getting all four of them!  The next one looks to be a Super A while these two are a C and a B.

 Lastly to outdo herself She got me a pair of concert tickets to a Dropkick Murphy's concert!  That will be a fun start to the summer! Until next time stay tuned and check back often. 

Just the Hitch Left

Work has been keeping me busy lately and to be quite honest I have barely done a thing except for keep the wood stove burning.  My problem lately has been that my shop takes a while to warm up and by the time I get home from work it would be a waste of oil to try to heat my shop up for the few minutes I would be out there.  This past week we did have one nice day that I made it into the shop with multiple layers on and attempted to finish a project.  As I said before this project has been in the process for around five years and I am finally finding time and a reason to finish it.

This is going to be the Galloway trailer when it is finished.  The trailer is two lawn mower front axles welded to some two inch box tubing.  The rear axle is welded straight while the front steers like a hay trailer.

I went the sturdier and more adjustable route with the steering and used Ball joints on the steering rods rather than just a solid rod like the original lawn mower had.  When I started this project I was able to pick the frame up to move and store it but now with the wet hemlock boarding and the extra hardware it is to be wheeled around only!

Saturday I plan to finish the hitch and mount the Galloway onto the cart.  I would love to stay caught up on my blogs a little bit better but with my work schedule I fall behind.  To make up for this I am going to start posting little sneak peak previews on my Facebook page and doing multiple blog posts over the weekend when I am not working.  So until next time stay tuned and as always check back often for more fun. 

A Slow Start to the New Year

The new year has come and I have had this thing called work keeping me from all of the fun projects.  We have been exceptionally busy with work and the snow/rain combination we continue to get.  So just a quick update for the today.  Tomorrow night after I finish snow removal I am bringing my truck to Merril's garage to have the ball joints done and get a new inspection sticker.  Other than that I have been splitting and hauling in firewood and I have decided that I could not do without my Supersplit. 

Lastly for today I received a manual for one of my antique engines!  I found the manual on one of the engine groups I am part of and bought it as soon as I could.  I will post pictures of the engine as soon as I can.  The engine I have is kind of special where it has a pulley on the side that has a clutch mechanism built into it.  Anyways more on that in a later post.  Until next time stay tuned and leave me a comment!

A New Year

The new year is going to be a time of old projects mixed with new projects.  This year is going to be an exciting mix of tractors, engines, family, and our farm!  In the past year there have many projects come and go and another good many that have come and are still inching along ever so slowly.  Now I do intend to finish all my projects but like the Oliver project I can not promise them all in a timely manner.  Speaking about the Oliver project, the crawler is still coming along ever so slowly.  For the past few weeks I have had the Carburetor soaking in a cleaner.  I bought the cleaner at Motor Supply because of the recommendation of one of the counter guys. 

After leaving the carburetor soaking for almost two weeks I blew it out with the air compressor and re-assembled it.  As the first time using the cleaner I was leery but I will tell you that every time I tear a tractor apart and need to clean the Carburetor it will be taking a nice bath in this can of cleaner.  It left the Carburetor looking clean inside and out.  There was no grime of flakes of rust anywhere.  After using it I can say nothing but good about it. 

The can even comes with a nice little basket that nestles into the bottom to hold any small part.
  Enough about the cleaner in a can and back to the Oliver itself.  After re-assembly and new spark plugs and wires I finally have it so it can be started and will idle.  At this point it still is not at 100% but it is running none the less. 

We are only a short ways away now from pushing snow, the manure pile, and lifting engines with the Oliver!

As we all know I never have a single project going at once.  This is my latest project: a miniature hay wagon to mount the Galloway on.

I started this project when I still lived at my parents and decided that it would be perfect for the Galloway or any other engine.  The two risers will be coming off and it will be planked.  There is still a bit of welding to be done but this should be a quick project.   A quick project like that has to be quickly succeed with the start of a long project!

This is a Model A truck frame set up as a trailer.  My plan for this is to build a deck on it and turn it into a mobile hit and miss powered ice cream maker.  It is hard to imagine looking at the frame but it will be a work in progress.  That will be all for today but until next time stay tuned and leave a comment.