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Vote Now For Featured Tractor Of The Month For September 2012

11K views 85 replies 25 participants last post by  NUTNDUN 
#1 ·
Vote Now for Featured Tractor of the Month for September 2012
John Deere 60 - JakeKuhn209.66%
Bolens 1050 - fonz3482157.25%
Pennsylvania Panzer 1107 - 1978murray62.90%
Magna Trac 500001 - NyRedNeck5426.09%
Blue Money Pit - larrybl125.80%
Economy Jim Dandy - Roland2210.63%
Craftsman Caterpillar - wvbuzzmaster83.86%
Wheel Horse 855 "Drags-Tor" - WH10567033.82%
 
#2 · (Edited by Moderator)
Voting for GTtalk Featured Tractor of the Month for the month of September 2012 has now officially started and will end the last day of August. This month is an open month so anything goes.

The winner will be featured on the GTtalk Home Page for the entire month of September and in our Featured Tractor Section for infinity. Our featured tractor winners are also printed in the Lawn & Garden Tractor Magazine so if you are not a subscriber you are missing out.

We have 8 nominations this month, I have put them in the order the poll is so hopefully it makes it a little easier.
  • John Deere 60 - JakeKuhn
  • Bolens 1050 - fonz3482
  • Pennsylvania Panzer 1107 - 1978murray
  • Magna Trac 500001 - NyRedNeck
  • Blue Money Pit - larrybl
  • Economy Jim Dandy - Roland
  • Craftsman Caterpillar - wvbuzzmaster
  • Wheel Horse 855 "Drags-Tor" - WH1056
Before voting please be sure to check out all the entries in the posts below.
 
#3 · (Edited by Moderator)
I would like to nominate my 1967 John Deere 60 lawn tractor. This was the first John Deere to ever make it in my collection,I always liked the round fenders and the 60 was a nice little tractor. I had thought I would always just leave it original,but then the motor started giving me fits and I could never get the governer to work right on it. Then one day the engine blew up on me.

After that we pulled the motor apart to see what we needed to fix it. Well after we decided that we would need to rebuild the entire motor the tractor just sat outside for a couple of months with a tarp on it. Finally, a couple of months later I decided to rebuild the entire tractor since I already had to do the engine.

I started out by getting pictures of the tractor and then we tore it apart to get sandblasted. I spent a couple of weeks getting the tractor blasted when I got home from school. Once I had it all blasted it finally got primed and sanded,I would say I have about 75 hrs into sanding it,10-15 of them just into the hood. Once I finally got it all ready if made its way to the paint booth.

I took a couple of months putting it together,doing it very slowly making everything was put together correct on it. The motor is 100% rebuilt now and it starts and runs fantastic! This is one really neat tractor and it somehow manages to get along with my wheel horses. Everything on it is 100% original to how it came from the factory except for the tires and seat. Well I hope you enjoyed reading the story of my John Deere 60. All of the pictures are of it finished restored and then the last one is when it was original ~Jake
 

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#4 ·
Hello everyone, I'd like to nominate my bolens 1050. As a kid I started mowing grass at the age of 3 at some family property on a old Bolens 1000 my grand father built out of a pile of parts. When I turned 12yrs old I started taking care of some lawns, snowblowing, and landscaping on my street. I decided after I saved up some money from working that I wanted to find me a nice bolens to do all my work. So I searched and searched the local swap sheet and found a 1050 with attachments in need of repairs for $350. I begged my dad to go look at it because it was hours away from home. He finally gave in and we jumped in the tiny chevy spectrum with our 4x8 trailer and went to look. It seemed like we drove forever, all through country back roads, up and down hills til we finally made it to the sellers house. The tractor was in rough shape but came with a blower, deck, cab, and a parts machine 800. My dad looked it over and was unsure about buying it because of its condition. He offered $250 for everything. The seller agreed and my dad and I split the cost of buying it. We then had to figure out how the heck we were gonna get all the stuff home on 1 tiny trailer, with 1 tiny car pulling it. We managed to tie down the 2 tractors on the trailer, then we tossed the cab and blower in the little hatch back car and started our long journey home. We did eventually make it, after hours of driving in 2nd and 3rd gear. My dad and I then took both machines and made 1 good running 1050. I used the machine for 8 yrs to mow, snowblow, and landscape until I got a big boy job as a mechanic at a dealership and had to give up my yard working career. Then the 1050 got put to work for another 5yrs mowing fields, grass, and hauling a dump cart up at my parents property until they finally built a new home on the land. The 1050 was then set outside under a tarp for 3yrs because my Dad got a new tractor to mow and maintain his land. At age 27 I finally bought myself a place and became tractor crazy. I inheritid my grandfathers 1050 after he passed, and then went after the poor 1050 to save it from the elements, My dad allowed me to take it home, and I began to do some repairs on it. I tore it down, repainted it, replaced the rear tires, loaded the rear tires, added wheel wieghts, and put it to work! The motor has never been rebuilt and it still runs well! The machine has been unstopable(knock on wood) for 18yrs and has treated my family very well, needing only normal maintenence. It currently takes care of my rototilling, and pulling a homemade cart around to do yard work. I plan to someday rebuild the motor, and freshen it all up again, and eventually leave it to one of my children.
 

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#5 ·
I would like to nominate my 1968 pennsylvania panzer 1107.

This tractor was given to me 2 years ago in nonrunning condition. There was no paint on it, but i saw the dimond in the rough. After fooling around with it for couple hours I got it running and driving. It has the original tires, engine, fenders, and much more. But sadly the sheet metal was too bad. Thanks to cookiemonster I got an new hood, grill, and seat.

This tractor has been to 2 shows so far. The first time i took it to a show it won 2nd place in ugliest tractor. This past year I got first place and a nice trophie. This tractor is used to mow the grass every week and does a wonderful job. It also pulls my siblings around the yard. So enjoy the pictures

links to the tractor at show:
http://www.faafea.co...otoid=161022115

http://www.faafea.co...otoid=161022113
 

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#6 · (Edited by Moderator)
I would like to nominate my 9HP Magna Trac Tractor. This is a Model 500001. There does not seem to be too many of these tractors around. I believe mine to be between 1964 - 1966.

I picked this tractor up along with a Lambert Model 666. The road trip was to be a long one but I figured I would enjoy the long drive and take things nice and slow. I was not sure both tractors were going to fit on my trailer so the entire ride up I had to think about which one I would be forced to leave behind. This was a 4 hour road trip one way.
After 2 hours into the trip my trailer spun a bearing. I pulled off the highway and was able to find a service station to have the bearings replaced and figured it would be smart to replace the other side as well. Back on the road we go. After loading both tractors on the trailer without an inch to spare and pushing the weight limits of the trailer we headed for home. An hour into the trip heading home I smoked another bearing. This time I was not able to travel any further with the trailer connected. It was late and dark and I was as tired as the trailer. I had no choice but to abandon the trailer and find a hotel for the night.

The next morning I headed back to the trailer hoping it would still be there loaded with the tractors. It was. At this point I had to rent a Uhaul trailer and reload everything and start my journey home again. We finally did make it home. The tractors were both covered in grease and grime and I had no clue whether they ran or not but they did spin freely. I was so disgusted from the nightmare road trip I did not even care about the tractors anymore. It was about 2 weeks later that I got to clean up the tractors and evaluate what I had. The Magna Trac was the first one I started to tinker with. I got her running and she ran very well with no smoke or noise and plenty of compression. She cleaned up really well and underneath all that grease started to look fantastic. Even after the trip from hell this tractor started to make me smile. I use it mostly to pull a cart around loaded with either wood, rocks, or brush etc. I hope you guys like the Magna Trac as much as I do now.
 

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#7 · (Edited by Moderator)
I really need another project so I can post the full restore here. For now the one I would like to nominate is the Blue Money Pit a.k.a. BMP.

As it was, I just completed the restore on Hulk II (Craftsman II) and my Grandson was showing a lot of interest in using tools, and overall "pap where does that go and what does that do". While at work a co worker mentioned that he was cleaning out a neighbors barn and found a riding mower that he was going to take to the scrap yard, but remembered that I was restoring another mower and asked if I wanted it. Well I said yes, but depended on the price and condition. I couldn't afford a lot (Funds used on Hulk II) and I didn't want something that was missing major parts like a deck or engine.

The next day he brought some cell phone pictures (wow)! Um.... what are you asking for it? He figured it would bring $60.00 in scrap. I offered $60.00 and he said OK, and agreed to load it on his trailer and let me take it home.
9 months and $2,400.00 (and a worn out Grandson) later. BMP was done. I did 3 test mows on 2.5 acres to iron out the bugs, then used BMP twice to do full 2.5 acre mows, and a recent Pull off with Hulk II.
BMP was the latest restore project, and the most extensive to me. New to me hydraulics, and Hydro transmission. Lots of time spent with my Grandson.

Presenting the 1983 Ford LGT 145 09JC3311
 

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#8 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hey yall, I would like to nominate my newly rebuilt 1960 Economy Jim Dandy, with a Briggs and Stratton 19FB engine (1948-1962) complete with an oil bath breather filter.
This little pulling tractor was given to me by an Army buddy when we got back from duty during OEF, she was once a snow plow. And one of myself at the "County fair" thanks.

http://gardentractor...nomy-jim-dandy/ Just in case the image didn't come out, visit My Garage please.

Wheel Tire Vehicle Automotive tire Tread

Tire Wheel Automotive tire Vehicle Plant

Tire Wheel Land vehicle Vehicle Sky
 

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#9 ·
I nominate the Caterpillar, and will just list all the upgrades.

Meet the Caterpillar… or rather a highly upgraded 1988 Craftsman GT18. It had a rough life before me as it was retired from mowing to drag logs up a hill, successfully I heard from the PO. The PO before him had done the Caterpillar repaint with decals, and that is what caught my eye on ebay, that and the 18 HP horizontal shaft Briggs & Stratton opposed twin engine, I bought it and drove the three hours for it, each way.

Once home I assessed the bare basic machine, it was dismal, but it did have two things going for it… starting with it ran good, and the hi/low transaxle worked well, once I freed up the range pin. So I began to use it as a go to machine and kept asking why I still had it. So I decided abuse it more and more to make the transaxle fail so I could have the engine for another project. After a year or two of it still working after dragging around steel I-beams 16 foot long and a 1000 pound trailer, I decided it needed some more features.

So I added a sleeve hitch, which was manual… I wasn't going to have any of that from the start, so off to Harbor Freight I went to buy, a 2000 pound electric winch. I had seen a few people make this modification, but they all did it wrong, they mounted the winch way to low. I decided to put my winch, on a pedestal, literally. I mounted it to a 4 inch channel iron to stick it up to about the middle of the back of the seat. The winch creates effortless sleeve hitch operation, however, I had to finally address the issue of the battery not charging.

Could have just fixed the under the flywheel alternator, but, this is a work horse, I wanted off the shelf parts. So I mounted a 37 amp Delco-Remy alternator and wired it in. Instead of screwing with the old wiring, which had been highly hacked, I ripped it all out, and installed new, larger gauge wiring all around. Another thing I didn't leave to chance was switches and gauges. All the old switches and gauges were replaced by automotive grade components. The ignition switch is for a commercial grade truck, the starter solenoid a pickup truck, and the ammeter was replaced by a voltage gauge. It works great, even with a few relays in the system to not fry the magneto… again LOL.

I finally got it to the next level recently, with the new tires. The front tires are 16x6.5-8 snow hog pattern snowblower tires mounted on the original front rims, giving superb steering capability. But the rears needed to be aggressive, so I turned to the ATV tire market. I found a brand new pair of 26x10.5-12 Titan brand Mud Monster tires, and mounted them on Cub Cadet brand 12x8.5 wide rear rims. I forwent filling the tires with fluid for now in favor of 100 pounds of cast iron wheel weights on each wheel (weights are mounted inside and out).

I followed the tires with a custom built front winch bumper. If I get a chance to I will bolt the winch on and update this before voting begins. There are more plans in the Caterpillars future because this year… I plan to break the transaxle.


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#37 ·
I'd like to nominate my custom 1965 Wheel Horse 855 "Drags-Tor"...
They are all really nice tractors (as usual it seems) this time around and some great back stories. But damn, WH1056, your Wheel Horse "Drags-Tor" is HOT!!! I absolutely love it!! That's my dream to build a cool little tractor like that. How did you fab up the wheelie bars on it like that too? Just an awesome job on that tractor all the way around, I gotta give you a lot of credit on that!
 
#15 ·
Got my vote in! These are all great looking tractors! Good luck to everybody!
 
#19 ·
Got my vote in,but it took some thinking.They are all good entries.
 
#20 ·
44 votes already! Off to a good start!
 
#26 ·
Hey,we have 72 votes this morning.


Maybe we will might make it to 100 .
 
#28 ·
It will probably be closed on September first. I don't know when exactly George closes it, I don't even think he has a specific date to close it. He might though! George also normally puts up a banner on the top op the page to get people to vote, he hasn't put it up yet this time.
 
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