Olivetroad

The mennonites that were working on my Uncle's little D4 dozer wrote and said it was ready to be picked up. So we loaded up this morning to go get it. Before we could leave, he first had to spend some time transfering wisdom to two of my boys. I did not interrupt: Off we go: We got sidetracked and had to make a little stop and pick up a tractor that has been for sale and the guy kept dropping his price. I have been watching and just could not pass it up today - the blushing bride will just think it is Uncle's? Get loaded up with no problem - they did an out of frame rebuild on the engine, all new injectors, head, valves, the whole nine yards. Replaced some undercarriage rollers, resealed hydraulic pump, replaced hoses and lines, new starter motor, new glow plugs and wiring, the list went on and one. Guess what it cost? .............. $3100.00. I about fell over. I thought it would be twice that. They charged $25.00 an hour for shop time. Haven't seen that rate in a long time! While we were there, we saw a combine on steel tracks/wheels: The guy had been disc chiseling wheat stubble with this: It is a D5 Caterpillar bulldozer with a John Deere 8.1 diesel engine installed in it, and a cab from a White four wheel drive tractor. I asked him what the air compressor on the side of the engine was for and he said: "I just wanted to try an air ride cab and seat": We got back to his farm to unload the dozer and I had to go hit the house for a little bizness that I did not want to do outside. When I come back outside, he has unloaded the Cat and has gotten his TD9 International track loader out of the barn and is in the process of loading a 22 foot truck bed onto the trailer to give me for hauling his Cat home. My dad and him always had a game where they never paid each other cash for help, but they would give each other cool stuff. Since my dad died, I have been honored to get to play: He also gave me this cool little John Deere hit and miss engine and made me promise to make a family project with my boys in getting it to run: I did not have the heart to tell him that his job of binding down the bed on the trailer would not be DOT approved: I get home, and find my middle son decided to take the concrete blocks for the new pit silo and play legos with them: Ahhhh - a shower, put on flop around the house clothes, a hot meal, now I get to relax with the new addition:

FOUL! I SPY DUCT TAPE! Cheater, cheater, toe-mater eater! ROB! We need him modulated for falsifying gardening photos! Our toe-maters are not that far along - I have tried to train the doggy-woggies to go pee-pee and drop the deuce next to the plants to help fertilize them, but you can't train a bassett hound to do anything except eat, run wild after rabbits and wag their tails. The black lab will sit and shake, but honestly what good does that do anyone?

Uhh - I don't actually SEE the stem where it attached to the toe-mater. Are you sure you are being truthfull about the origin of said fruit? The combines are running around here hot and heavy getting the wheat out. We used to start in the wheat field the very end of June. Then on the 4th of July we would all take a day off and then finish after the holiday. So we are a month early? You also wanted your corn "Knee High by the 4th of July" but if we don't get some rain soon, there won't be any corn. Wash your hands before you start making the hot sauce please because I want a bottle of it and also photos of you farting around making it.

Was it that trooper from the movie "Wild Hogs" that was pulling on your belt?

I am leaning more and more that direction the older I get. I don't think I will ever buy another new vehicle. I bought a new Dodge pickup in '04 and the wife a new van in '06 and while nice, I should have let someone else take the first depreciation hit. Funny how fast the new wears off and you once again are every week cleaning out the crayons, kids toys, and junk. I refuse to pay ever again that kind of money or have such a high long term loan for something that's clock is just ticking until it quits. I have no statistics to back it up, but with the cost of cars today, they have to represent a lot higher percentage of a yearly income than they used to.

You are a good person!

I read yesterday where your main man Barry went to "church" at Rev. Wright's joint for 20 years. And we are supposed to believe that he did not drink the Kool Aid while he was there?

Why are we happy to see someone with that toy crash it?

My Navy electrical engineer grandfather (mothers side) was running radar on a ship in the channel. He was never able to describe to me without breaking down what it was like seeing the landing craft coming back full of blood, bodies, and wounded GI's. We all owe a debt that can never be paid to those dead men. My relatives used to spell and pronounce our last name differently, but it got Americanized when the Nazi's came to power. Some cousins think it cool now to change it back - I don't think so. Those friggin Germans and Japs got what they deserved for fucking with us and killing our boys, and that includes the atomic bomb.

I thank God every day for somehow helping me sell things. I like to think that I am a farmer, but my accountant says to stick to equipment sales. My dad could never buy or sell anything to his advantage, I have no idea why. He used to say that when he had me, I fell into a septic tank and came out smelling like a rose with a new born calf under each arm!

Ha! That concrete mixer sold so fast that the blushing bride told me at lunch: "so when are you going to buy those other four mixer trucks?"

April 10th was my birthday, so I have been the one helping you hold it together this long? Fix it now, fix it now, fix it now! I try and stay on top of the small items like yours that I can fix or afford to have someone else fix, because the truck is not making you any money with no motor in it, which is what you will have if you burn a wormhole groove in your head and block.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130709327626&viewitem=&sspagename=ADME%3AB%3ASS%3AUS%3A1123

Nice little single axle in Va: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110894422607&viewitem=&sspagename=ADME%3AB%3ASS%3AUS%3A1123 If you buy it, you have to agree to paint the door.

You were warned! Remember this? http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/index.php?/topic/25410-trucking-news-cvsa-roadcheck-scheduled-for-june-5-7/page__fromsearch__1

First off - Greetings! What kind of business are you starting? The first thing I would do is have a mechanic that knows what he is doing check out the truck - it sounds like the other guy did that and guess what? He did not buy it! It would be worth the expense to pay someone to check it out - a lot cheaper than what a lemon will cost you..........

I just saw this thread - Beautiful truck! How is it working out?

I thought we were dealing with "horse apples". I should have known.............

I left out the part about the single driver being a little ol' lady that only drove it to church and back on Sunday, and only used the mixer to work the lard into her biscuit dough.............. I sold it this morning! Sometimes it is not bad being awakened at 4:30 with a crying baby.

Great find! Thanks for the photos

That midget must be the same one I have around here. He is getting older - I first met him in the 70's when my grandfather said he lived under the dash of the grain trucks. His job was to help start the truck and if he did not do what you wanted in a timely manner, you pulled out the CHOKE button, and that made him gag and then shape up.

More like some sort of sick cousin relationship?

That's funny!

I bet that has a chrysler industrial engine in it. Wasn't the 21 the one with the round grain tank that they got the war department to let them build 500 of during the war as long as they went to custom harvesters? If that one is from the war years, it would be neat to see. As always TAKE PHOTOS! The most popular small Massey around here was the 35. I saw one of them running a few years ago under the hands of a 90 year old farmer that bought it new.

Great story! Did you ever meet Finley Hays, the editor of Log Trucker and Loggers World? I still get those magazines and love to see the west coast logging trucks/equipment. His editorials were great. We do some small logging on the farms we own here in Missouri, a big load for us is 4000 board feet and, with fields all around the woods, a long skid is 600 feet. Nothing like out west!