What machine was the most difficult for you to get rid of?

Question of the day; what was the machine that was the most emotionally difficult for you to get rid of? For me is was my old 105 Deere combine. For 19 years I repaired, updated, modified, and even cussed at that old girl but she faithfully ran through 500 acres of corn and beans each year for all of those 19 years. When I retired her she took up space in the shed for another ten years before I finally had the guts to say good-bye. About the only thing that wasn't worn out was the engine, so I kept it and cut the rest up into pieces that were just small enough for my loader to lift onto the trailer and she went to the scrap yard. When the crane grabbed that old dinosaur 635 corn head I had a lump in my throat and silently said "good by my friend". It was kind of bittersweet because I never did like that head. Her heart, the engine, a gasser, is still sitting in the shed ready to fire up and go at any moment. So, what's your story? Jim

Wayyyyyyy back in the seventies when I was a farmer and used tractor and equipment dealer I bought a brand new Steam Cleaner for like $2,400 NOW THAT WAS BIG MONEY FOR ME THEN. Soooo years n years go by and it got used less and less and then one year I let it freeze up and busted the coils in the heat exchanger and I intended to fix it but it sat for more n more years but I couldnt bear the thought of sending it to an auction knowing it wouldnt bring diddly squat. Finally a few years back I hauled it down to Dinkys Auction n didnt even go to see it sell, I think it brought like $50 MADE ME SAD but I got over it lol

John T

About 20 years ago I sold the Farmall Regular bought new by my uncle in 1927 and his "big tractor" F-30, both of which he farmed with until he passed away in 1986. Tough decisions.

Dean

When I sold the farm in 2007 I had to split everything with my brother and Sister and wanted to keep the CaseIH 7110, but didn't have the money to buy them out. But they gave me the two trucks for doing all the work, and I still have them. My oh girl had a nice rear end on her. Within two years I lost both my Brother and Sister, but miss them more than the 7110.

My '37 F-20 HAN (narrow tread) that I restored from
a basket case.I had put many options(electric
start;pto extention;foot brakes;overdrive;hi
altitude pistons...) on it.It even broke my ribs
once.Sadly,finances one year dictated that it should
go....

What's that hooked to? Never seen a 20 do anything with the pto except a mower

I'm impulsive. So it's never hard at the time. But
there is tons of stuff, from cows to real estate,
that I wish sometimes I would have kept.

Not my tractor, but my Dad's 1935 WC Allis. I learned to drive on it cultivating corn. It was miserable for cultivating , but it was all we had. Steering was loose as a goose and I have no idea how many fence posts I snagged with the crank hanging out in front as I tried to wait to the last minute before turning to the next row. Plowing at night (with no lights) was always fun. The exhaust would glow red. Used it for chopping corn and on good years we had to put a second tractor in front to pull as it took everything the WC had to keep the chopper turning. Dad finely purchased a G john Deere with a Schwartz wide front and parked the WC in the woods. He sold it two years later. The buyer agreed on a price only if it would start right where it was parked. Dad said no problem, poured some gas in and had it running in 3 cranks. We are all surprised. Wish I knew where it ended up.

1951 Farmall H which I spent way too much money on in 1999. I gave Ken Updike his nickname of Bermuda Ken from all the parts he sold me. I was cash strapped in 2000 so it had to go.
1951 Farmall H

You never can tell what Steve might be hitched to, but with bales in back ground and windrow I'm guessing some kind of IH balers. Ha Ha

NH 282 baler.Worked good.Only trouble 1st gear was to fast for the baler heavy hay.PLENTY of power...

Very funny Delmar,very funny......

being a motor buff, hated to get rid/sell some of the old cars i have years ago, still have a couple, along with my tractors, i enjoy them all, but if some one wants them more than me, show me the green, that you really want...

Nothin! According to my wife thats a problem! Still driving my first new car with 300,000 miles on it along with every other el chepo piece of iron I bought over the years! LOL!!

I had a 105 once. I always said I made two mistakes with that combine. The first was when I bought it and the second was when it got on fire, I put the fire out.

To this day, I wish I'd let the SOB burn and collected the insurance.

Sorry to express an opposing viewpoint, but as a college prof of mine once said, "Differences of opinion are what makes horse races".

My 856 Farmall.

I sold it along with the rest of my equipment when I quit farming and confined myself to an acreage.

Then when the IRS got done recapturing depreciation on it, I could have kept the tractor for about what I had to repay the IRS in depreciation I'd claimed.

An IH 504 diesel, but not because I was particulary attached to it- just that I had done a bunch of work on it.

Bought it for $2,500 (with loader) about 15 years ago. Used it quite a bit, it was a pretty dependable old horse. Then was using it to push up burn piles, and ran a stob through the grill and radiator. Took a year, and $650, to fix the radiator. Then lots of sheet metal massaging, replacing cage nuts, straightening radiator support structure, etc.

Finally got it all back together, and was going to give it to my daughter and hubby for their little horse farm. But after looking at it critically, it wouldn't start reliably, and had so much blowby it created its own dust-storm wherever it went. And bottom radiator hose was leaking- would have had to take it all apart again to fix. Probably just not suitable for my semi-mechanical daughter and her non-mechanical husband. So off it went to the auction. Not sorry to see it go, but sorry I had done so much work on it, for the money I got (2,000). Probably would have done as well to take off the loader and sell it, then scrapped the tractor.

Goose, I felt that way about t his old girl for the first five years. At that time I was ready to haul it to the salvage yard. It had been neglected terribly and to make it worse I was very negligent about what to look for when I bought it. I like to do restoration work but not on a machine that only has a few weeks to bring home the bacon, and then to do the restoration while the machine needs to be used. During the winter of season six I put her in the shop and went through everything, removing old shoddy repair jobs and doing it right. For the rest of it's productive life, it would break down once, maybe twice during the season, with caressing and replacing worn parts during the off-season. Like JD stated in a previous post, all parts were replaced with new even if they looked like they might last a little longer . That heavy boat-anchor corn head was another story.

It's funny how we can get so emotionally attached to cold, heartless iron that will maim or kill you in the blink of an eye if you make a mistake. Jim

A MM 445 that was my neighbors when i was growing up. Loader and backhoe onh the old mule. The old guy did all the septic systems in the valley with it. He was in his 90"s when he passed. I bought a couple of years later. Took the hoe off it. It was so heavy that it would wheely. left the loader on and put power steering on her. (didn"t need it with the hoe hanging off the back end) used for years that way. 3 years ago she detonated the engine. Threw a rod, broke the cam in three places, ventilated the block. Was dripping oily fire at the end. I took my hat off and apologised to the old mule for working her too hard. Following year after I had gleaned tires and wheels and loader off her I hauled her to the scrapper. I videod as the shovel picked her carcass off my trailer and dumped her in the pile.

I get teary every time I watch that damn video.

1993 Lull 644 rough terrain forklift.I had it for 10 years and it was
never late for work or had a major breakdown.When the buyer was
to have it picked up I almost called him and sent his money back
.Would have been the wrong thing to do though.A deal is a deal.It
sat at my house for the most part of 5 years as the house framing
market prices went back to a 1987 level.Sure was handy to have
around when parting out tractors etc.

Vito

Not a tractor, but I sold my '52 Norton motorcycle when I got married. Wife is a nurse and saw too many guys after bike accidents, so it had to go. Still wish I had it back, even though I had to work on it all week to ride it on Sundays. When I sold my old Woods Brothers corn picker, I realized I had raised my last crop of corn. Kind of sad, but as long as I have my Allis 60 combine I can still raise soybeans and wheat.

our Massey Ferguson 2805 that burnt when the barn burnt loved that beast it was my baby with just over 10,000 hrs.but she ran and looked like new

My '51 Chevy 2 door! My first car, paid $2 for the duplicate title, otherwise it was a gift! Was not concerned about restoring it, just to make it useable! Overhauled the 235 and powerglide tranny, but the engine was too tight-the six volt could not turn it over when hot-could not jump it either! Traded Dad for a '71 Pinto, he converted it to 12 volt. Now it cranked better AND you could jump it, if needed! Then, when we all moved to Omaha, he decided to sell it, found out it was worth NOTHING as we had messed with it too much! Maybe I should have kept it!

My first truck. 1953 Chevy ton and a half.
I bought it for $225 with a cracked block.
Fixed it all up and ran the tar out of it.
Had a lot of fun starting it in the winter, some of you will remember them.
Left toe on the clutch, left heel on the brake.
Right toe pressing the starter button, right heel pumping the gas.

Ive driven a 2003 Chev Siverado 1500HD Crew cab
4WD with 6.0 liter engine for the last 6 years.
This truck was with me every step of the way while
I built my businesses. This thing has hauled way
bigger loads than it ever should have, and I have
driven it all over hell. Its got 185,000 miles on
it now. Still looks and runs great. Last
November I had the opportunity to buy a 2007
Silverado straight half ton crew cab with a 4.6
liter V8 for $10,000. It books at $14,000 so I
jumped on it as I don't pull the loads I used too.
I kept the 2003 around to plow snow with this
winter thinking I would sell it in the spring and
then move the plow to the 2007 half ton. Now I am
just dreading selling the 2003. This truck has
done everything I have ever asked it to do without
hesitation, I feel that selling it is letting it
down. The biggest thing that makes me want to sell
it is the gas mileage. It has never done better
than 12, usually gets about 11 MPG. the 2007 half
ton gets 16. That equates to 2 tanks per month
saved, or about $150/mo. I had the 2003 into the
shop and just hauled it home on the trailer behind
the 2007 half ton and couldn't believe the way the
2007 handled the load! Acceleration was a bit
slower but it really handled the load well. I can
justify selling the 2003 due to the above
mentioned facts, but I am just too attached to put
it for sale. I know I would cry like a baby as it
drove away. I've been thinking about this
situation since I bought the newer truck and still
don't know what I'm gonna do. I never in my
widest dreams thought I would ever get attached to
something like this.

If we shift to vehicles, it's a 1973 Plymouth Satellite I bought new and junked at 297000 miles. It took Marilyn and me on our honeymoon, Marilyn to the hospital twice to have a baby, hauled she and the baby home, hauled ME to the hospital a couple of times, took us to church god knows how many times and was the school car for both of our kids, plus a few family trips thrown in for good measure. At the end it was so rusted I was afraid someone would fall through the floor. When the time came to let it go I called the salvage yard and told them where it would be for them to pick it up. Then I left for the day. If I would have stayed home the tow truck guy would have seen a grown man cry. My daughter hated that car. My son once told me "dad, that was one tough car". I never did ask him how he came to know that. LOL Jim