Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Fence Row Old Iron Investigator

I frequently encounter old iron in my ramblings in the countryside; most of it is less interesting than this rusty McCormick Deering tractor.
The history behind old machinery in fencerows is usually a mystery, and much of it was used up and worn out before it was parked to oxidize away. I do enjoy walking around finds like this one, and imagining the history of the farm it worked on.

Around on the backside, you can see that the top cover is off of the differential, so we can surmise that the rear end went out on the old girl. And what's that over on the left?...

The old tractor had a bad seal on this axle. It's a pretty good bet that the grease in the rear end ran low, and bearings went out. The tractor was probably outdated when that happened, so it wasn't worth fixing or trading in on another tractor. If you want a real challenge, send me an e-mail and I will check with the landowner for you to see it it might be for sale.

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