With warmer weather comes the time to prepare for the upcoming season.  It is also a time to clean-up everything that has been neglected or left out of place during the cold winter when feeling your fingers is a problem.  Such has been the situation with my shop.  With a back-log of restorations and a host of equipment repairs to get done this year I have kicked myself into gear.

First on my list is putting my IH 412 plow back into mobile condition so I can get it out of the way.  It is in the process of being rebuilt and refinished.   I broke down the old tail wheel and rim last night and need to get it back together this weekend so that I can get it out of the way for a bit and out back for sandblasting once the ground firms up.

Second project is to disassemble the front end of my Super A.  I bought this little offset a couple of years ago and it has been a nice little tractor for garden plowing and cultivating.  The only major problem is that someone could not get one of the cultivator mounting bolts out and torched it off.   To make matters worse they stripped the one next to it.  Thus the left hand cultivator gang cannot be secured properly.  To repair this requires disassembly of the entire front end of the tractor and some time spent on the mill at work.  While I am at it I will replace the lower seal in the steering box and make sure nothing is broken or worn out.

Finally on the immediate list, once those issues are resolved is the restoration of a John Deere B for my father.  This tractor belonged to my Great Uncle and has been at my place for well over a year awaiting it’s turn in the shop.  It is a clean straight tractor and aside from a few leaks to contend with will be a simple refinish.  I am not much of a John Deere man but I am making this concession…

With any luck I can get some of these lingering projects knocked out and the shop freed up of clutter.  But as I have realized, there is always another project or job awaiting and if you don’t stay on top of being organized it will get away from you in a real hurry…  So take your time and keep it organized as you go.  It will pay off in the end.

J.A.Root