A Real Farmer Fix

[John S]

Here are a few pics of an E30 AA I bought at a farm auction a while back. I appears that #1 rod left the block at some point. The fix was this tin patch screwed down over the hole. I knew the fellow that owned this truck, and he ran his equipment until it was worn smooth out then fixed it up and ran it some more. He was still using a pair of '39 Fords with grain bodies to take grain to the elevator the last year he harvested in the early '90s.

 

[anteek]

Back when people didn't have the money to burn like today. Most farms didn't have electricity,let alone a welder. That repair kept him working on the farm and kept the truck around for us to pick at today. Ingenuity reached its peek with the great generation and now we have bottom feeders and whiners.

 

[Rowdy]

That sounds common for the time. One repair I could not get over was a draglink I seen several years ago. It consisted of a piece of pipe and #9 wire. The pipe ran from the pitman arm to the ball on the spindle with 6 of 7 wraps of wire inside the pipe around each ball. It looked like he had ran it that way for quite awhile. Rod

 

[Wick]

Ive seen the Transmission patched the same way,I cant remember if I have it?
I do have a Flywheel housing that has a sheetmetal patch.
Also have a few brazed up waterpumps.
Wick

 

[John S]

Ive seen the Transmission patched the same way,I cant remember if I have it?
I do have a Flywheel housing that has a sheetmetal patch.
Also have a few brazed up waterpumps.
Wick

I worked with a Gent that was raised on an East Texas farm and one day the subject of old cars came up. He told a story about his first car, a Ford T that broke down on the road close to the farm. My buddy got the car free in exchange for giving the T owner a ride in to town. When he tore into the engine he found one piston broken and a rod thru the cylinder wall into the water jacket. His fix was to pull the pan to remove the remains then cut a fence post down to size and knock it down the cylinder and seal it with tar and oakum. He claimed he ran it on 3 cylinders like this all through high school.

 

[flatheadernie]

Boy that sounds like Kilgore, carthage, nacodoches area, seen a lot of old cars running that should have been retired. ernie n tx

 

[Jason in TX]

He claimed he ran it on 3 cylinders like this all through high school.

Haha. Good story John.

If that had been my car and anyone said anything to me like, "Boy, your car sure runs like crap!"

My reply would have been, "No, it runs like $FREE!!!"

 

[howie123]

I remember my Dad telling the story of my uncle. He was running a saw rig powered by a Model T engine. When a rod bearing went out he removed the cap, wrapped a peice of pork rind around the journal, put it back together and kept on sawing.

 

[John S]

I remember my Dad telling the story of my uncle. He was running a saw rig powered by a Model T engine. When a rod bearing went out he removed the cap, wrapped a peice of pork rind around the journal, put it back together and kept on sawing.

A lot of old timers are full of stories like that.
Another one that was told to me was about trading in a car with a knocking motor. The guy told it that when his dad was ready to swap in an old car that knocked he pulled the pan and wraped the rod journals with leather. Then he towed the car with a horse to within a mile or so of the car lot, cranked it up and drove on into the lot with the motor running quiet and smooth.

 

[John Duden]

A lot of old timers are full of stories like that.
Another one that was told to me was about trading in a car with a knocking motor. The guy told it that when his dad was ready to swap in an old car that knocked he pulled the pan and wraped the rod journals with leather. Then he towed the car with a horse to within a mile or so of the car lot, cranked it up and drove on into the lot with the motor running quiet and smooth.

WOW

 

[85930tudor]

I got a rpu 29 model in NC in the 70`s that had a popular wood plug in the no# 3 cyl. the rod and piston was removed and the old man said it had one dead cyl! ..Dave

 

[Ron in Quincy]

A house painter, in Oroville, Ca., had a 29 Standard Coupe. He installed a Smith- Gordon head, a 50 gallon tank in the trunk area ; drove to the job on 2 cylinders; had his compressor with him for the house painting.

Ron

 

[John S]

A house painter, in Oroville, Ca., had a 29 Standard Coupe. He installed a Smith- Gordon head, a 50 gallon tank in the trunk area ; drove to the job on 2 cylinders; had his compressor with him for the house painting.

Ron

I wonder how fast it would run that way? You know it was loaded down with paint and supplies too.