When I was young Dad brought home a 48 8N tractor that was awarded to my grandfather as part of his compensation for arguing on behalf of Ford Motor Co. with Ferguson over the hydraulic lift issue. It went to a farm in the family about 150 miles away but eventually they sold the farm, so Dad brought it home. That 48 8N pulled a double bottom 14" Dearborn at a depth of around 10". Depending upon the soil moisture, we had clay, I pulled that plow in 2rd gear all day long at 1/2 throttle. The owner manual said that would be about 3-1/2 mph, but it didn't seem that fast doing it. When that double 14" Dearborn plow was trimmed very carefully (adjusted under strict supervision by Dad and my 2 Uncles who all grew up in a farming community near Saginaw, Michigan) it would present the most beautiful fold over of the dirt. It turned the dirt exactly upside down and it fit into the space where it was removed from. The field looks very uniform and even, like a field full macaroni elbows all arranged perfectly. But, Dad bought a couple of "tails" that he drilled and mounted on the moldboards that broke up about the top 1 inch of the soil after it was flipped over. Without the tails the soil would have a shine to it. As a kid, I got a lot of ribbing from other guys my age who were running Johnny Popper B's. So sometimes I'd "unofficially" trim my plows back from 14" myself carefully and pull them in 3rd to get a little more speed without revving the engine up. It could be done, I did it, but everything had to be just right. If I went too fast though the dirt would leave the cavity and fly clear out over top the previous furrow. So, that was a learning process for me. Then one day an old hillbilly from Tennessee moved into the place next door to Dad's. He came to Detroit to work in an Automobile factory. He had 6 kids and a canning wife, so he wanted a big garden. He asked if "we" (my brother or me) could fit a garden for him where there had not been one my whole life. (I was about 13) That area had held a couple cows that were "pets" of the old widow who lived there. So, my brother and I took on the job. It was about 5 acres and pretty much square, which was a little larger than Dad had and the neighbors had so it was a bigger job than usual. The cows had it all trampled down so it was pretty flat and no trees, just tall weeds. To get started the guy helped us, to make sure it would work out for us, he knew we weren't experienced much doing a parcel that big. Eventually my brother took off and I was left to finish it. The guy came out and told me not to worry about revving the engine because it was a short stroke and they were meant to run at higher rpms. He basically told me to rev it up more than 1/2 throttle. As I got used to running the throttle higher I moved it even higher. Eventually I was at the full speed stop. Now I was plowing at about 3-1/2mph maybe. Anyway I got the plowing done and went over and got Dad's disc. It was a drag behind disc that you could adjust the angle of the disc axles. Most of the time we'd pull it with just a few degrees of angle to it for the first trip over a plowed field. Then make an adjustment to the angle for a little more throw and go over it again. Once I got started out onto the newly plowed field I went to pull the throttle all the way up to fast and I sort of pulled it up and out of the dashboard and it went beyond the stop. Whoa, that was something I'd never done befor and it revved the engine up even higher. I couldn't pull the disc in 3rd gear or the engine would bog down and I'd have to put it back into 2nd. So I tried it with the throttle above the normal high speed stop to give it a little more to start with, but it would always bog down. Eventually I'd have to down shift to 2nd gear anyway, so being all by my self now (the guy went in to go to bed cuz he worked midnights at Chrysler) I decided to just leave it in 2nd and disc it in 2nd gear with the throttle all the way up and just above the stop.. As I was disking away in 2nd gear with the throttle outside the normal stop at the top of the quadrant, I pulled on the throttle lever by accident and found that once it was beyond the range stop I could continue to pull it farther. Now I was going way beyond governed speed but if I just let go of the throttle it would return to just above the normal stop. It worked sort of like a gas pedal. Once I got over the whole 5 acres the first time in 2nd gear at over full throttle, I shifted into 3rd but left the disc adjustment alone and started driving all over it for the 2nd time. It could handle it easily then, and with the throttle beyond the stop whenever I thought it was going to bog down, I pulled on the throttle to give it more gas early to get up a little more speed. By the time I got his garden fitted I was a pro at abusing Dad's old 8N. I never looked back, but I never told anyone about it either. *(this is the first time I've ever revealed it) Anyway, it made for a really neat trick, and I used all the time after that. It really increased the tractor speed especially when I drove it down to the gas station. I'll bet that tractor went 20 mph, maybe even 25 but it sounded like a missile getting ready to explode. Thanks for jobbing my memory you guys. It was a fun childhood being on the outskirts of Detroit, Michigan doing gardens for all my neighbors. So I enjoyed your video. ben/ michigan
Those wide pads really work well - even when they lose traction in soft ground, they’ll still get you out so long as you don’t dig yourself down too deep before you stop 👍
That's the secret with any tractor. Unfortunately, I've seen a few times when a tractor would start to spin and would sink to the axles before you could hit the clutch. We had a few places on the farm where the ground would stay soft in the winter until the ground froze. I remember one time when a trailer load of wood broke through the frozen layer and Old Emma spun both tires and sank into the ground. I ended up waiting for a hard freeze before we could jack her up enough to get her out. She was so deep that I had to dig the drawbar out first.
This is a beautiful sight to see this old equipment getting work done again. This era is when companies actually cared about making reliable and easy to maintain equipment for the customer. Now they care about padding shareholder pockets.
Liked that he doesn’t put her on a pedestal but instead gets her into her natural environment. Nice touch with the black and white towards the end. Maybe editing a few scratches and/or sepia into the video would add to the vintage look.
I thought I was having a stroke when the video transistioned to B&W! Then when it transition to the next scene, I realized I was holding my breath, and let out a big sigh! ❤
Way too wet to disc, but that D-2 was something. I pulled an eight foot disc in the '70's for my dad with an old D-2 through the orchards. One heavy duty "little" tractor 👍
Toby enjoying 5J1113 full time. Clearly can see the man is very happy. Soft ground is always treacherous, learned that myself that the hard way. I like the video cause it makes me feel im on the machine and kind of what people in the past would have seen when they where in the operators seat.
It’s got to be quite a feeling having a brand new D2 under your butt! You put a lot of blood sweet and tears into the “swamp angel”, lets hope she looks after you as affectionately. Keep doing what you do, we all love it!
That machine sure sounds like she’s runnin well! Squatch hasa ton Of love for that girl! Such an improvement from where squatch and senior found her! You see the contentment on his face he sits in the chair
Man, she sound GREAT! Probably one of the best sounding D2's i've heard in a while yet. And it's not just the tone of the exhaust, but the engine sounds healthy as. Noice!
When I was younger I remember some Farmers using a 10 foot rototiller behind their farm tractor so they can go over the field once instead of several times with the other attachments to get the ground ready for planting. It also seems like it would use a lot more fuel to go over it several times instead of just once.
It is great to see the Swamp Angel earning her keep! She is performing like a champ, I had reservations on her being able to slip the turns in soft ground with those wide tracks, but there are no doubts now.
Came for the swamp angel, stayed for the beautiful farm footage and plowing, narrated by Senior. Very nice video Squatch, just the ticket as we "plow" through the work week here lol.
Just love the sound of old school farm diesels, the low revving torque makes me miss the old farm tractor we had, 1955(ish) Fordson Power Major, bought by my parents in the early 70's, and our only farm tractor til we sold it (regretfully) in 2000, replaced with a new Kubota with FEL and attachments. While the new tractors have all the modern conveniences, they just don't sound right, rev too high....
It was good to see that old girl playing in the dirt. It was also good to see you wearing ear protection. I spent too many days sitting behind a straight pipe on the M that my father had. I haven't been able to hear silence in over 40 years.
What a beautiful sound from Swamp Angel. Basically factory new! Glad you could enjoy the fruits of your labor! I would like to add I was wrong, I was wishing you would of painted her to her original glory, But she definitely wears her work cloths well! Perfect!
Really impressed with how quite and smooth the undercarriage turned out. Also noticed how clean the exhaust was on camera too. All the work must have finally cleaned up some of that slober. Great video Squatch!
Thanks for the video Toby. It sure is nice to see the Swamp Angle putting in some work and it's sounding great. Looking forward to the next video. Cheers
Sounds good, it needed a good workout, I bet it is not blowing oil out of the exhaust now. Always carry a long chain, and do not try and get out, unhitch at first sign of trouble and use your chain. The same goes for modern wheel / four wheel drive tractors too.
Looks like you had fun. When I was farming, pulling my 13 foot RWA disk was my favorite thing to do. I have Cat 41 hydraulic unit and the disk was hydraulic lift. It was a little easier to get through the wet spots by raising the disk and usually pulling through. Thanks for the video.
Pleasure meeting you and Sr! One of my childhood neighbors had a Cat D2 and I never once saw it out of the barn, so it's always cool seeing this one doing work!
I think the angel is handling the disk no problem. 12' disc? I had the same disc 12'&15' john deere. Fixing up the land pulling the disc in the low spot. Like wet water in some. Pulling with my bombardier it was the older one which it's weight was 4500lbs with a blade on the front. Probably a little over 5000 lbs with the blade. And which we had hydraulics to lift the disc. 3/4 psi ground pressure.
Thanks for the video Toby! Glad to see the swamp angel getting a workout and break in the new engine some more. Sounding good as well. Thanks again and can’t wait for the next video
It's fun to see the Swamp Angel work with a load on it. You need to keep that disk. it works perfect with the tractor. I see there is no Hydraulic cylinder on the disc. What did you use to raise and lower it? Great Video!!
There is a Caterpillar D2 and Caterpillar 10 posted on marketplace in Ava Missouri for sale. He posted em yesterday. Edit. I didn't know the 10 was the smallest crawler Caterpillar built.
I could listen to that d3400 under load for hours man. Just singing the song of my people. Hey squatch, if a feller was gonna go to a show with antique caterpillars, when and where is best? Nothing down here in TN seems to have crawlers, so I'm wanting to make a trip this year.
They have what they call "Ratchet Jacks" that you can use in place of a hydraulic cylinder available. I'm sure you may be aware of them, it would be a great addition to your disk to make it easier to move around. Northern Tool and Agri Supply carry them. Happy Disking!!!
Plow day? I didn’t know 😢 thought there wasn’t gonna be one this yr 🤷♂️ 🤦♂️ ( nothing runs like a Deere ) unless you pay the factory / repair blackmail!!! But absolutely nothing sounds like a CAT 🐛 👍 😆😆 ✌️🤙
