hhydro
New member
I spent summers as a teen working on the family farming operations that date back to my great grandfather's 1900 homestead. Sometime while I was out of the region in engineering grad school or getting established with a career and family most of the land went into the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). Two and a half decades later the kids will soon all be out of the house (maybe not all fully on their own), and the land has been passed down one generation. Now I've started farming one of the original pieces of the homestead that's come out of the CRP, trying to capture some farming knowledge while my father is still around and active, and pass it on to some nephews. My son's are at a stage in life (family, career, relocated out of state) where it is too late for them to get in on the fun.
Resuming farming has required getting a bunch of old equipment operational after sitting 25 years, and breaking land that was being overgrown with sage brush. My nephews helping me (shown below) are the 5th generation running the same tractors on the same land. The D2 (5U series) is a machine my grandfather bought before I was born, while the D4 (7U series) which is even older came with the land purchased when a neighbor with no heirs retired. The D6 behind my dad is a more recent acquisition with no sentimental attachment.
It has taken some work the last two years but the D2 and D4 are running as good as they did when I started driving them 40 years ago.
D4-disk.mov - YouTube
D2-digger.mov - YouTube
I bought some service manuals for them and found that there were some important service items that no one alive could ever recall having seen performed. There is a group for the old cats that has been helpful,
Antique Caterpillar Machinery Owners Club
What has led me to this group is looking for a ROPS/FOPS canopy for a Ford 4600. I'll post details of that issue on the thread my search turned up on this site.
I'm still working full time leading a Chemical Engineering R&D project developing synthetic fuels, and funding my farming habit with a home based hobby business building water turbines used in small hydro power projects around the world.
Joe
Resuming farming has required getting a bunch of old equipment operational after sitting 25 years, and breaking land that was being overgrown with sage brush. My nephews helping me (shown below) are the 5th generation running the same tractors on the same land. The D2 (5U series) is a machine my grandfather bought before I was born, while the D4 (7U series) which is even older came with the land purchased when a neighbor with no heirs retired. The D6 behind my dad is a more recent acquisition with no sentimental attachment.
It has taken some work the last two years but the D2 and D4 are running as good as they did when I started driving them 40 years ago.
D4-disk.mov - YouTube
D2-digger.mov - YouTube
I bought some service manuals for them and found that there were some important service items that no one alive could ever recall having seen performed. There is a group for the old cats that has been helpful,
Antique Caterpillar Machinery Owners Club
What has led me to this group is looking for a ROPS/FOPS canopy for a Ford 4600. I'll post details of that issue on the thread my search turned up on this site.
I'm still working full time leading a Chemical Engineering R&D project developing synthetic fuels, and funding my farming habit with a home based hobby business building water turbines used in small hydro power projects around the world.
Joe
