A couple of months ago I posted (here) about being in the market for a new-to-me tractor. Well let me assure you it’s been an experience, with a capital ‘E’.
The last time I drove a tractor I was 16 and working in a lumber yard. (I won’t say exactly how long ago that was; suffice it to say it can be measured in decades, many decades.) In the meantime tractor technology has progressed somewhat, although not nearly as much as one would think/hope. But the bigger difference to me is that back then I couldn’t care less about maintenance, features, benefits, pros and cons, etc.; I just drove it when I was told to. Now if I wanted to get the right tractor for me, at a budget I could afford, I actually had to learn something about the inner workings, PTOs, shuttle shifts, loaded tires, 3-point hitches, snowblowers, bucket loaders, and on, and on, and on. It’s been a great education! I mean who wouldn’t like to spend countless hours talking about things mechanical with people who live and breath this stuff?
Still lots to learn though, and even more once my new-to-me tractor arrives in a few weeks. Yup, committed to it today. The dealer is putting a few mods on for me (I love it when the answer is, “No problem. We’ll just weld a couple of lugs on there and replace the hydraulics with… blah, blah, blah”. You get the idea.) so it will take a while to get it prepped for delivery.
Anyway, it’s an early 70s vintage David Brown 1212, 4 cylinder diesel, 65HP, and comes with a cab, loader, and 7 1/2’ snowblower. I almost can’t wait until it snows, just to try it out. RELAX - I’M KIDDING!
It’s similar to the one in the photo. While it looks its age, it has been well maintained and is ‘known’ to the dealer, so I’m pretty confident on the mechanical side of things. Cosmetics I don’t care about so much. And the dealer is one of those guys who will stand there and talk for hours answering the dumbest of questions, so I know I’ll be well treated.
Now I can occupy my time while I wait for our road to be finished studying the owners manual.