....
Having just done exactly that, the difference in design philosophy between the late 30s and now is insane. This tractor is literally designed to be rebuilt and repaired, endlessly. Sleeved cylinders, an engine that makes basically no power (20-25hp on 2L) but is designed to start in the spring and shut down in the fall - and apparently a lot of farmers did pretty much just that with them.
Ol' Bob - reckon you know him - told me about how you defended against wildfire on the plains. "Easy. You see it coming, hear it, head on out to the barn, and go through the whole boneyard till you find a tractor that starts. Hook up a plow, and plow a circle around the buildings. Got time, you get back to the start and plow around the circle again, a little wider. Keep going, until the fire gets there."
"But the whole thing is, you got to have one tractor on the ranch that starts. Just one. You think, 'Shit. One tractor that starts? Hell. My car starts every time. What's the big deal with a tractor that starts?' No big deal to you, but by god, on a standard Colorado ranch, you get a tractor starts every time, it's Special Providence from God Hisself." That's why you read about so many of them ranches embered out.
So I checked out some ranch friends, and they do have one that starts. It's a Deere, and so old it has a huge smooth green external flywheel that you haul on by hand to get it going (IF you know which direction to crank on it), and a petcock on the cylinder to bleed off the excess compression until that one-lunger starts thumping, when you can gradually close it off. I believe that with some baling wire, duct tape, a slotted screwdriver, and a crescent wrench, you could rebuild it through an infinite series. But - it's their fire protection, their mitigation, the thing that keeps them unburnt.
