This is a 3 year old video that was never edited. Its still a pertinent video about the life and death of tractors and sometimes of the guys working on them. Fortunately neither met their demise during the recording of this video.
This tractor was given to me by a friend around 1980. His father in law had recently bought some very remote property and had been keeping this tractor and a bush hog under a tree, using them to trim the area preparing to start food plots on weekend visits. After a few months seeing visible proof there had been hunters in the area, he immediately posted no trespassing signs all throughout the several hundred acres. All this time the tractor sat under the tree unmolested....after the signs were installed the first visit back found the tractor vandalized and missing parts. The back tires were slashed with an axe, the steering wheel was beat down around the dash, the gauges were smashed, the sheet metal was bent and twisted off with force to give access to the radiator that too was missing. The oil fill cap was missing the water had gotten in the lower end of the engine. The grill was gone, and part of the three point system was missing and the seat was axed. The front tires were flat but ok and remarkably still on the tractor today, 40+ years later.
So after the insurance company took care of the situation, the old 800 was nothing but a hunk of junk just sitting there deteriorating more. I was working on my buddy's walk-in beer cooler at the liquor store he owned and offered the tractor to me for the hauling, as his father in law had no use for it any longer. Wasting no time, my Much Older Brother and myself picked up my friend, went to the location, winched it on the trailer and brought it home.
My Much Older Brother offered to go through it and get it going for me as I was in the middle of finishing the new home build, settling in to a new job and kinda keeping busy with the new addition to the family...our firstborn. Long story short he worked very close to a Ford tractor new and used parts shop and picked up little by little everything needed...new pistons, rings, gaskets etc. for the engine, a used radiator, some used parts for the three point and all new dash components along with an alternator and wiring. All totaled it cost roughly $500 to get it back together and running smooth. The metal was so bent and twisted during the destruction of the tractor it took me many years to get the time to beat them into the semblance of Ford parts. I'm still missing the grill and the hood emblem. But no matter...one day I'll find another donor 800 and replace ALL the sheet metal at one time.
So, obviously this is only part one and as stated above recorded three years + - years ago, so part two will be following soon. #ford, #tractor, #delco
1 окт 2024
