I've just spent a fun hour today playing with an alternative TR. Whether it was
a 2 to a
4A doesn't really matter but it was a ground up rebuild that only took a month.
This
version seats just one person and is superbly air-conditioned. It comes
complete with the
original link box, disc harrow, three furrow plough - and no more oil leaks.
The slewing
brake on the left driving wheel now works 'perfick' with just a gentle press
from your
heel - rather than standing on it and jumping up and down. The steering ball
joints are
all new - and with nipples in place, while we've got some chunky rubber on the
back end.
It's pleasing to know the pistons no longer wibble-wobble their way up and down
the
sleeves and the compression is so good on all four pots that the starter motor
almost died
of shock. Now sitting in the barn alongside my cottage in a shimmering shade of
Ferguson
Grey - yes, it's a TE20 born in 1948 and all ready for yet another year of work
on the
farm. Trouble is, all the 100% original Fergie implements now need repainting
to match
their host.
This is a real tractor. None of your modern turbo-diesel, fully glazed,
slip-controlled,
implement quick drop, on-board computers and triple epicyclics hooked into
hydrostatic
transmissions. Even the hessian sack in the steel seat pan had a wash before
being put
back in place and there's a new box of bandaids in the toolbox in case someone
gets a
pitchfork up their **** during haymaking.
This is living - so in haste and back to the dung heap.
Jonmac
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