That was why the crankshaft wasn’t destroyed, why the bearings weren’t completely corroded. Someone had prepared this engine for long-term storage, but why? And why seal it so carefully, then leave the rest of the tractor to rot. Dale filed the question away and kept working. There were more pressing concerns like boring the cylinders without a proper machine shop. He solved that problem the way he solved all his problems with ingenuity and stubbornness. He built a boring bar from scrap steel and an old electric motor.
He fabricated his own pistons from oversized blanks he mail ordered from a supplier in Ohio. He spent three months grinding and fitting and adjusting until everything was perfect. By the spring of 1970, he had a rebuilt engine. It took him another 6 months to rebuild the transmission, another year to restore the hydraulics and electrical system. By 1972, 3 years after he’d bought it, the tractor was finally ready for its first test. Dale remembers that morning like it was yesterday.
He’d checked everything twice. Oil, coolant, fuel, battery. He’d primed the carburetor, set the choke, adjusted the timing. He climbed into the seat, the original seat, cracked and weathered, but still solid, and reached for the starter. His hand was shaking. Three years of work, 3 years of being laughed at, 3 years of his neighbors saying it couldn’t be done. He pushed the starter button. The engine turned over once, twice, coughed, sputtered, and then it roared to life. Dale sat there, tears streaming down his face as the old farm all m rumbled beneath him for the first time in 20 years.
The sound was rough at first, but it smoothed out as the oil circulated and the parts found their rhythm. He drove it out of the barn into the spring sunshine and sat there in the yard, letting the engine run, listening to the sound of his own stubbornness made manifest. He didn’t know it yet, but Vernon Krebs was driving by on the county road. The dealer saw the farm all running, saw Dale sitting on it with tears on his face, and didn’t stop.
Didn’t say a word, just drove on a little faster than necessary. Let me tell you about the next 13 years because that’s where the real story happens. From 1972 to 1985, Dale Perkins farmed his 80 acres with that 1948 Farm AllM. He didn’t buy a new tractor. He didn’t take out loans. He just worked and saved and kept that old farm all running. It wasn’t easy. The tractor was 37 years old by 1985. Ancient by farming standards.
