So I take it you have a new tractor now? I bet your shorts were a nice shade of tan after taking out your friends shed : )

I know this don't help and I really do mean this in the nicest way, but you sure gave me a chuckle when I read that. I ran my old MF10 into the garage wall one time, showing off for the wife and misjudged my speed. It rattled the garage and put me up on the steering wheel, I look at the wife-she's laughing so hard she's about to fall over.

Not sure why the older crowd has trouble with a foot operated hydro?Or why so many get it confused with a gas pedal?Or think its a clutch pedal?Or a brake pedal?Must be something to do with starting out in a Model A Ford?You even used your foot to start them.Yet I have not seen them try to use there foot to turn the ignition yet!Remember when you dimmed your headlights using your foot?Now you use your hand.Maybe some driver do not dimm there headlights?Maybe they just can not get there foot up to the steering colume to dim there lights?Maybe thats why the older crowd do not use turn signals also?They just can not get there foot up to that directional lever on the colume?Or if they do there to tired to get it up there again to cancel it after the turn?

I was recently at the local car wash.When a elderly lady pulled into the automated bay.In a Buick LeSabre.Shortly there after I heard a crash!She went through the other end and took out the door.Thousands of dollars damage to the door and here car.Its a wonder she was not decapatated.She said she hit the gas when she thought she hit the brake!She must of had a Model A moment or something?

The thing that gets me is they have no trouble figuring out there Little Rascals.

To: John Deere:
Oh, yes, i cut my eye teeth on the steering wheel of my Model T Ford Roadster! And, it didn't even have the dimmer switch on the column, floor, or anywhere you'd think it would be. No, it was on the dash panel, with the ignition switch combined in it. And, the battery ammeter beside it. The Model A had it on the steering wheel first, then an extension on the side of the steering column. I think my '39 Ford had it between the pedals, or on the left side of the clutch.
After i got out of the Army, with my wooden left foot, that danged dimmer switch got the heck beat out of it, by me stomping around trying to hit it in the dark!
Something i'd like to know: Have you ever hand cranked a Model T. Ford? They came with the same mindset that hand cranked farm tractors came equipped with: To wit:
(Tractor talking) "Well, that fool farmer thinks i'm going to go out and pull his plows first thing in the morning! I'm gonna fix his wagon, and not start! In fact, I thing I'll teach him some respect, and toss him up over the hood! Might even snap his wrist! Hmmph! I'll show him who's boss around this farm!"
Yep, John Deere, I'm only 83 yoa, and i could still ride my motorcycle, if i hadn't let my wife talk me into selling it! And, i think i have driven most all kinds of machinery, from a Renault Dauphine, to a B-60 Mack tandem axle truck, hauling 2000 gals of water for the Fire Company, and it had the Quadraplex tranny , 5 speed and 4 speed auxiliary.
So, i guess that durned wooden left foot has to be retrained, as does the right one!
Cheers: Rusty Jones

OK rusty jones, you mentioned that hand crank Model T Ford.....Made me think back to a story one of the "older guys" in the shop told in the lunch room back in 1971. He said he and his year older brother shared a Model T to get them to their jobs when they were both young (so it had to be about 1930 when it took place). Both of them still lived at home (with their parents) at the time. He said his older brother work a night shift job and got home about 6 AM. My friend had a day job where he had to be at work by 9 AM. He said it was a frosty morning in November when he went out to hand crank the old Model T. He described (step by step) how he retarded the manual spark advance a bit, set the throttle up some, trickled a bit of gasoline into the carb (all these "hand controls" were in the cab), and then went to the front of the car with crank in hand. He said he rolled it over to get it between compression strokes and then gave it a mighty twist. The engine caught instantly, but it seemed as if something was loose under the hood from the noises and thumps he heard. Just as he reached to open one side of the hood......his Mama's big ole tomcat streaked out from under the car....running for the nearby woods like hell was chasing it......every hair on it puffed up like a bird on a cold day. He looked at the engine (which now sounded normal) and saw lots of cat hair all over the top of the cylinder head. He said he figured that cat had gotten into the habit of stretching out there on cool mornings after his brother came home and parked it. He said the cat just lingered a little too long that morning....stretch out there amongst all those spark plugs on that flat head 4 cylinder. He reckoned that ole cat learned a lesson about magneto ignition the hard way that day. He said from that day forth, you couldn't get that cat to go near that car.

Growing up on the farm, I ran a few barn cats through the fan in the morning when starting up my '53 ford, I learned to honk the horn before hitting the starter.
Usually used all 9 lives going thru that fan -

when I was a kid, to get the 1 cylinder 1.5 liter diesel tractor started in the winter, we had to light a fire under the engine to get it all good and warm... otherwise you'd be warming up that engine by trying to hand crank it.... oh yes And it was finnicky... would not even cough until the block was up at 20 deg. C.... and the glow plug of course was just a metal rod that one would attach a rolled up piece of cotton soaked in diesel and lit up - then threaded into the side of the block. That tractor had 2 speeds. Go and Off. Yes it did have gears and a clutch, but unless the engine was loaded it would rev up and sound like it was going to grenade... so after you got it started (by hand cranking it), you'd have to jump in the seat and get it in gear before the 200lb fly-wheel spooled up too fast... then when you got to wherever you were going, you just shut off the engine. The gears were used only for determining the speed of travel in between the start & finish.

Yeah wally, I worked with another mechanic at the same job who used a variation of a cold start technique employed by Cummins (diesels) in the olden days. Cummins back then offered a cold start option kit where they put a "glow plug type" igniter in the intake manifold. To utilize this, you first switched the electric power to the "glow igniter), waited 20 seconds for it to get good and hot, then you operated (by hand) a small plunger pump that fed a tiny fuel injector nozzle in the intake manifold which was aimed at the glow igniter. Cummins said to operate the pump with slow and steady strokes while cranking and continue the process until the engine idled smoothly. Well, this fellow said he would just twist up 3 sheets of newspaper and light the end. Then he would hold the flaming end near the engine air intake on his diesel tractor while cranking and the heated air being drawn in would add enough heat to support ignition. He said he did this for a couple of years until one day an ember got sucked in and the air filter element caught fire. It did no damage to the engine (assumed) but it created a mess in the filter cannister from the burned, melted rubber and plastic of the element ends.