A close up so you can see who you're dealing with: Gramps and I
Getting the "new" tire fitted onto the AW was a profound accomplishment. It meant the AW was pretty much ready to be driven out of the woods whenever we wanted to do that. Or it could be used to do some chores if anything needs to be done around the Cabin. More importantly for me, it meant I finally had the means to get my John Deere B pulled from the neighbor's property to ours. That was a fun experience...
Grampa Morrie found the 36" tire we needed at the bottom of a pile of rejects at an auction. Nobody bid on them, and Morrie got the whole lot for $5. I figured I would have to pay close to a hundred dollars for a tire and tube, but ended up paying only $30.
After horsing the wheel in place, we let the tractor down. And to my relief, the tire stayed round.
After mounting the tire, we made ready to start her up. I had to cut a new oil pump gasket that I had ripped last year. Gramps poured in some gas, and I topped off the oil. Dad added water to the radiator.
Two cranks and she pop-popped. A couple more and she was running. Gramps hadn't even broken a sweat!
I'm testing out the right brake before the maiden voyage.
Moving for the first time since the summer before ice cracked the block.
The next project on this tractor is the brakes. One works, the other doesn't. Being the safe driver Gramps is, he elected to let ME drive first - ya know, to see whether or not I ended up careening out of control down the hill and into the lake. Thankfully that didn't happen (I didn't go near the hill). Instead, I just drove forward and backward in the limited space that is our front yard, content to listen to the pop-pop trademark of the 2-cylinder mill.
Forward and back, backward and forward - this is FUN!
I've always said that when working in the garage, one should have a hit 'n miss engine running instead of listening to the radio. They are so soothing. Well, the 2-cylinder engine is just as soothing. Gramps throttled back to see how slow we could get her to run. She'd pop-pop then wind down almost to the point of quitting, then the governor would kick in and pop-pop, she'd speed back up. Music to the ears!
Gramps used to own a later model JD A with a high compression head, and I never could get that thing to idle down like this one can.
Gramps had to take his tractor for a spin, too.
Gramps decided once it was safe (seeing as how I didn't end up in the lake) that he wanted to take a spin on his tractor. That evening, we didn't go very far, but we sure did flatten all the grass in the front yard!
Partner's in crime!
The AW and B together. After we had pulled the B up to our place. My favorite picture of the bunch.
