The $500 David Brown 990 tractor and back blade has earned its keep already, grading and reshaping a shared 4 mile rutted and bumpy access road, it would have cost thousands to pay a contractor to do the job.
I think that old David Brown cried for joy that you bought it and gave it some love. Hard to believe that the previous owner would just let it go to pot like that when all it took is some much needed maintenance. Good work!!!
Very believable. I was helping do some electrical work on a tractor at a farm once. In the distance was a decent full cab tractor redlining for hours running a PTO pump. A job that could have easily been done with a cheap used pump. The tractor mechanic we were working with had previously discussed this with the owner, but they refused to spend the money. Got to love short sited economics.
Damn thats the hardest working $500 bucks ive ever seen, Auckland should have left you in charge of the Motorways, would have had them all done by now, and at much less of a cost!
Good set-up on that back blade plenty adjustment , been a long-time since ive seen anyone that was able to reverse back blade . Lot of operators just cant do it , even some of the half decent ones got lost trying it . You have skills for sure in engineering mechanical and operational . Your a joy to watch . One of the old school men . Theres not many of us left thats for sure . Keep up the excellent work marty .
Wow..works great.Sweet grader ! It will be interesting to see how the runoff handles the next heavy downpour !I wonder how long that spade has laid there ?
It’s like the way you feel after a haircut you’ve needed for too long. Great work on the tractor and the road and thanks for sharing it with us. Cheers.
Your videos are excellent, I never thought I would become so mesmerized watching rusty old farm equipment being brought back to life, you have valuable skills, both in machinery & in editing, I feel like buying an old tractor. Keep up the good work brother. (Western Australia).
These videos are great & what an amazing life they have, hard graft & tinkering to keep these 'old girls' running without going silly on restoration , i love old machinery, simple no computers & fixable with basic tools , marty does it all outside with no shiny fancy expensive tools & defo is an inspiration for us ' normal guys' he has a quality of life which i aspire to , many thanks marty & your lovely family from here in britain
They are ok, but a guy quickly realizes on the fly adjustments are needed to do a proper job. Especially with the blade hanging off the back. Everything the front end of the tractor does has a negative effect on the blade. Very time consuming to get the desired results. Results that usually means driving backwards for the majority of the time.
Thanks Marty , I haven't been grading my drive too well in the past , watching your video is an education in tractor practice , I'm off to have another proper go as soon as I can .
That was the most satisfying thing to watch in bed, at midnight with an ice cold beer.... makes me feel more of a man as I’m living in a small apartment in lockdown with no garage in Melbourne. I love all these vids great fixing and problem solving you do. Is it possible to pan around sometimes and show the natural Bush and views it looks amazing there! The native birds sound great to😎👍
I thought my driveway, at almost a mile, was a pain and you have to post your great job! That grader blade was worth the money and they tossed in the tractor for grins. Really enjoy your videos Marty!
I do love those easy fixes like you had on the back blade and lift arms. I could do those all day long and not get tired of it. I am glad to see that the old girl isn't smoking once warmed up, at least from what I could see in the video.
Where I live it would have taken 5 guys with a grader, two pickups, a dump truck to get the same thing done in 5 days. Plus their government salary and benefits.
Tremendous difference on your driveway, looking very good. I love how you take old discarded equipment and bring it back to life and are able to use it to improve your property. Great job by the camera operator as well, some very nice footage.
Wow; the before/after shot really put things into perspective. I knew you were making some changes, but that told the whole story, especially regarding what an effective machine DB is, or whether there were any doubts to its future usefulness-great buy. God bless.
thanks Marty, really entertaining. If I could suggest one small thing, when you changed all the filters, gaskets etc it is an idea to write the date on the filters as a reminder...
Great video Marty. I have a 1966 DB 880. I was losing bull gear oil through the axle seal. I found that the top cover bolt is drilled through the center and across the head for ventilation. The oil was heating up and with the bolts vent holes stopped up the oil was being pushed out through the axle seals. Removed the top bolts and took a wire cleaned them up and have never lost a drop since.
Thanks for the update, I'm kinda amazed you find something like that tractor, pay nothing really for it, spend a bit of time on it then go work it and be ahead in a few hours owning it. If I'd of bought that, i'd of spent $3000 buying it. used it 4 hours spent a week fixing everybody elses hidden bodges and still not be ahead. Then probably be so mad with it I'd of pushed it over that bank by now L.O.L. Happy new year to you from Canada, I hope you don't end up with a fire mess like the guys in AU have now. Take care
Hi Marty! The repairs and finishing up the maintenance make a huge difference. The old boy did a great job, didn't he. Looks a lot better and slowly but surely you're widening the road a little and adding more stability to the slops. Nice job...
I was wondering where my shovel went lol, Looks like your exhaust clears up when the tractor gets up to temp. That's a good sign. Probably get even better when you cycle the remnants of the old diesel out. Tank or two of fresh and that's done.
Fantastic! So satisfying to see the maintenance bring the tractor back to good working order and then do a practical job! So many channels leave out that last part. Well done, sir!
You would make loads of $$$$$$$$$$ Money 💰 around here in Western / NW Montana. Off the wealthy young married couples. Because these husbands cannot work on / Fix, anything! Except maybe, a computer!! Lol 😆. No there are not thousands of them. Thank the Lord. Our winters at 5000 to 7000 feet up, can get to be to much, Snow for city folks. Like you, We live up a long dirt road. Snow packed now. Until about, Oh, about the last week of April / 2nd week of May. We average 150 to 175 inches. Each winter 🥶 ❄️
That tractor was made 4 miles from my house in a place called Meltham, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. Case tractors then bought them and closed the factory in the 80’s. They shipped them in bits to be assembled in the country they were exported to.
If you use check chains on the draft links, you can move the blade more to the right, left, depending on the direction, just enough to clear the tire, this allows you to have the moldboard further into the ditch than without, also cast the material more to the edge. All I used for years was a angle blade, logging, I could stack logs,pushing them up the pile, handy making water ways, terraces, I even had a ramp and pushed manure up into the spreader. I had a hyd cylinder on the top link, this gave me much more lift height. I got soiled when I got a JD 970 with a loader, backhoe, just wondered how I lived without it, but couldn't afford it, so made do, and got it done, how it is on the farm. :)
You should offer yourself to NZTA* as a consultant - they seem unable to build any roading on time and within budget that does not need major maintenance within 12 months of opening. * - NZ Transport Agency
Good to see the ol' "Dee Bee" doing some sterling work and thanks for showing the before and after clips, the rains can come down in buckets. Is the grader attachment home made?
MARTY is typical of thousands of farmers who improvise by " rolling up their selves'' so to speak and getting on with the job at hand together with their ingenuity they are the unsung heroes of this nation
Great job another one saved. My 990 has chanes on the arms there's a hole mid point on each arm so the chance fits if you turn them round to the small ball.
With the cost of replacement equipment . It is difficult to imagine even the simplest maintaince is not completed Equipment that is needed to make a living with
Night and day difference in the road. Also the David Brown seems to have settled in nicely. Sounds healthy, and looks like it's running super clean for a diesel tractor of its vintage.
Great video! The camera work is superb! Your narration is just right! Making a dirt road is an art. I like that back blade. You may consider a couple of water bars on the steeper sections. They help channel the flow to the ditch before it can erode it's own path. Thanks for making the videos!
Great job on the driveway Marty. My son has a Case 995(similar) that he uses to cut and rake hay with. Still going strong and it does smoke a bit. Won't start though in our Canadian winter tho, but he has a John Deere to do that.
www.amazon.com/Complete-Tractor-1203-3344-Thermostart-Others-893501M91/dp/B00ET8W2FK A sure-fire way to get the DB/Case to start in the depths of winter ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-NeDvCVS38hk.html Nothing complicated; a reservoir, a tube for fuel, a momentary-on push-button switch and some automotive wire....
@@davesutherland7599 Yes, of course for the public at large, BUT well before 007, AM won multiple races and became a famous brand for it's sports cars.
Marty I have to say your the only RU-vid channel that I never double tap on the screen to jump 10 sec. I watched all of that really good to watch and interesting. Very well made. Thanks. Nick UK
Excellent job with the blade supports and adjustments. David Brown is being good after you shared some long awaited love and attention. I am impressed watching how you scrape the road into submission and created a top class road. Future maintenance will be easier and the road is now safer. Thank you for your excellent videos.
Ty Marty, love to watch your channel. I appreciate your knowledge and repair works. Is there any machinery you can not fix? Greetings from Poland (to Mrs and kids also). J.
I don’t know if they make a blade like that anymore, nobody could afore it. The blade was worth more than you paid. Proves proper maintenance will keep equipment running good for years.
Damn, a 4 mile driveway!?!? You need a lunchbox and a survival kit just to go check your mailbox! 😱😊 - and for $500 that David Brown was a real bargain!
I remember when you bought it from those people and they really needed a cleaning around that place.. It was like they were dirt poor and didn't know what they have around them as there were other projects there as well. I will never understand why people won't at least try to learn how to help themselves You did a professional job on the drive there. Still way more to do but I think next is sunlight so topping or felling a lot of brush will dry that road up too. You need to invent some cutter teeth for the blade to break the surface tension. That little tractor has got to have a lot of cast steel in those transmissions and boxes so slow as you go and not crack a case on it. If you spot a drop of oil, get under and inspect it for cracks then some nickel silver rod and pray... go over that with some stainless for strength. Don't over do the stainless as it is hard to cut back out, I'm sure that you know
1. In Canada blade alone 1000 CD min; 2. 4 v good tires same; 3. Working with that lash-up as much fun as playing with my Dinky Toys and Corgis when nine years old!
This is a very enjoyable video. I guess about the only thing almost as enjoyable as putting new life into an old tractor is watching somebody else do it. I paid $1100 for my 990 about 15 years ago, but I really didn't need to do anything to it. The old farmer who owned it died, and it sat in his barn for 3 years. He obviously took good care of it. You have more than $500 worth of tires on your tractor so you basically got the tractor for free. But if I had been you, I'd have removed the fuel tank and thoroughly cleaned it out inside while you had the hood off. I would be surprised if you told me you still have not had to do that. David Browns are hard to kill. The only aggravating thing about them is their hydraulic fluid control switches for the 3 point lift. You can get on www.yesterdaystractors.com and buy the manuals you need for this tractor, or any other tractor. Thanks so much for your TLC for this venerable old workhorse.
Very nice, sweet running old tractor. If it were mine I'd try and find an Aston Martin crest to either stick on or paint on where the camera will pick it up, just to annoy any Aston Martin folks who may find their way onto this channel. I mean Aston Martin did begat from David Brown tractors back in the day, that's where Astons's "DB" model prefixes come from.
Great video. My step father owns land in Illinois that has over 10 miles of trails on it. We use a John Deere 4600 with a 72 inch belly mower and a box blade to maintain trails. It's cool to see people doing this on the other side of the world. Stay safe out there.
