July 5, 2012

View of the day-Not the actual tractor, but this was the first type of 4WD tractor that Al ever drove, a Case 1200 Traction King.  We saw it at a dealership near Mission, SD.

We slept in after having a late night out, then drove into Winner to see if we could get parts for the General.  We stopped in at the truck shop and ended up spending 45 minutes there as we got most of what we needed...the air bag for the General and a new shift valve for the Freight.  Al also inquired about a semi tractor that was sitting out front for sale...ouch...to rich for our blood.

We stopped at Pizza Hut for lunch, then swung by the tire shop to see if we could get the tire on the General fixed tomorrow morning.  He could fit us in, and we were hopeful that we would be able to get the new airbag on the General so we could drive it in.

Marilyn did a bit of shopping and Al went for a short cruise to kill time and get a picture of the elevator that he had been hauling to.  Once Marilyn had stocked up, we decided to take a road trip west to Mission...well, not quite all the way to Mission, just this side of it.  It was to the CaseIH dealer to look at the used Magnum tractors that they had for sale...ouch, again. 

It was raining when we left the dealership, but by the time we had driven the 32 miles back to Winner, it was nothing but sprinkles and as one farmer here put it..."not enough drops to connect on the windshield".  We got back to Hamill and started in on the General, getting the airbag on...no easy task...then put on a new shock absorber while we had the box up. All functions normal.


Al brought the Freightliner over to our "lot" and we proceeded to dismantle the gear shifter knob to see if we could somehow use the new shifter that we had purchased.  That was not going to work, because we had two ports on the new piece and three air hoses coming out of the old one.  Back to Winner tomorrow, but this time we took the old one off to see if the professional has any ideas...after all the truck is 33 years old.

We put our tools away for the day, cleaned up, then went across to Cal & Tracy's to settle up and have a visit.  Back at the camper, we had a visit from Brian, the last farmer we cut for, as he came to settle up, too.

We aren't sure where we are going yet and since there isn't any rush, we will stick around the quiet town of Hamill and maybe get some more organizing done in the shop trailer.


At least here we are hard wired for internet...