Wierd Farmer fixes
- Thread starter Wuudie
- Start date
darrylkmc
Well-known member
In the mid. 80's I was building a 1931 Model A Pick-Up from parts. I had just finished rebuilding the Rear-End and I decided to have a look at the rear-end in my Dads '31 Pick-Up. I had driven it probably 40,000 miles including about 4 trips from Fairbanks to Valdez.
Everything looked pretty good until I pulled the pinion. Someone must have messed up the nut that threads on the pinion and didn't have a replacement. They carefully filed all the threads from the nut, wedged it onto the pinion and pounded a nail in the cotter key hole and called it good.
I was able to use a thread file to clean-up the threads and install a new nut on the pinion.
Around here this was likely an old gold miner fix and not a farmer fix.
Darryl
Fairbanks, Alaska
Everything looked pretty good until I pulled the pinion. Someone must have messed up the nut that threads on the pinion and didn't have a replacement. They carefully filed all the threads from the nut, wedged it onto the pinion and pounded a nail in the cotter key hole and called it good.
I was able to use a thread file to clean-up the threads and install a new nut on the pinion.
Around here this was likely an old gold miner fix and not a farmer fix.
Darryl
Fairbanks, Alaska
85930tudor
Senior Member
About 30 years ago I bought a 29 rpu from a old guy in NC. He said it allways had a miss. When i got it home and fooling with it I found no# 3 cyl dead no compression took off the head and low and behold no piston or rod just a popular wooden plug whittled out to fit the cylinder bore .......Dave
Tom Endy
Well-known member
Attached photos of a couple of barn yard fixes.
The 28 banjos, without support gussets, have a tendency to crack around the bearing flange. This one has rebar welded around both sides. The banjo came off a running car that was brought to the U.S. from Argentina. I rebuilt the rear end and replaced the banjo. I couldn't bring myself to throw it out, a great show and tell.
The bell housing has a strange repair to the the clutch release shaft lever.
Tom Endy
The 28 banjos, without support gussets, have a tendency to crack around the bearing flange. This one has rebar welded around both sides. The banjo came off a running car that was brought to the U.S. from Argentina. I rebuilt the rear end and replaced the banjo. I couldn't bring myself to throw it out, a great show and tell.
The bell housing has a strange repair to the the clutch release shaft lever.
Tom Endy
Attachments
oldmanandakid
Senior Member
This thread is too good to let it die. The wire between the taillights on my 30 coupe was a piece of the world's oldest coaxial cable. A front fender brace had been reinforced with rebar welded to the frame and the patch for the rear fender brace was a piece of horseshoe. That good old car her good old farmer weathered the dust bowl in Eastern Colorado. Good for both of them.
montanafordman
Well-known member
I've got a few. Since I got my 31 coupe from my grandfather, who actually was a farmer in Montana I guess they would qualify. 
First off, the frame at one time was bent or damaged, and this was the resulting fix:
There was some evidence of collision damage that I'm sure happened before my grandfather aquired the car since it was in my grandpa's garage for 30 years before he restored it and got it on the road. Whether he did the repair I don't know, but the guy he bought it from was also a farmer so there you go!
Now here are the radiator support rods. You can see the end had broken or bent, and was replaced with a welded on peice with different size threads.
Here you can see the steering column had cracked and was welded up with some metal scraps for reinforcement.
Here it looks like my crank pulley had broken and was welded back together.
My grandpa had a AA radiator in his garage and when he found it wouldn't fit the radiator shell it looks like he cut out the top to accomodate the thicker AA radiator which has the filler neck placed slightly farther back.
I saw this picture in an Ebay auction and thought of this thread. It looks like someone put a water spigot in the fuel line to solve a leaky fuel shutoff valve. (For what its worth I had an extra petcock on my fuel line just outside the strainer for the same reason on my car)
While these things can be a source of frustration when fixing an 81+ year old car they can also be entertaining! You can't help but appreciate what sort of use these cars have seen and the hardships they've endured over the years. Some of us are afraid to drive them in the rain yet they were just tools to the generations that originally bought them and saw some hard times and hard use. You can also appreciate the ingenuity of those that did what they could to keep it working, either from a lack of parts, time or lack of money.
First off, the frame at one time was bent or damaged, and this was the resulting fix:
There was some evidence of collision damage that I'm sure happened before my grandfather aquired the car since it was in my grandpa's garage for 30 years before he restored it and got it on the road. Whether he did the repair I don't know, but the guy he bought it from was also a farmer so there you go!
Now here are the radiator support rods. You can see the end had broken or bent, and was replaced with a welded on peice with different size threads.
Here you can see the steering column had cracked and was welded up with some metal scraps for reinforcement.
Here it looks like my crank pulley had broken and was welded back together.
My grandpa had a AA radiator in his garage and when he found it wouldn't fit the radiator shell it looks like he cut out the top to accomodate the thicker AA radiator which has the filler neck placed slightly farther back.
I saw this picture in an Ebay auction and thought of this thread. It looks like someone put a water spigot in the fuel line to solve a leaky fuel shutoff valve. (For what its worth I had an extra petcock on my fuel line just outside the strainer for the same reason on my car)
While these things can be a source of frustration when fixing an 81+ year old car they can also be entertaining! You can't help but appreciate what sort of use these cars have seen and the hardships they've endured over the years. Some of us are afraid to drive them in the rain yet they were just tools to the generations that originally bought them and saw some hard times and hard use. You can also appreciate the ingenuity of those that did what they could to keep it working, either from a lack of parts, time or lack of money.
BILL WILLIAMSON
Well-known member
Chief had scars on HIS body, acquired while trying to keep those old jalopies on the road!! Bill W.
gunmetal blue
Senior Member
My dad used a piece of leather on rod bearing instead of babbit metal. It worked.
Ray in La Mesa
Well-known member
"Rusty" our front lawn yard art , was originally an Aug. '28 coupe for 30 years, then a wore out "cut to cowl only "farm truck with a wood bed for another 30 years, then he sat in a field for the last 25 years, has to many farmer fixes and welded iron & pipe pieces on him to count. A few are: 5 big brass rivits on an iron patch over the 6" split in front fender, thick fence wire for a brake rod, connectiong rod steering column support, pull chain switch for ignition,one gallon round top running board can hung under gas tank for fuel as tank is rusted thru top & bottom, and my favorite- one wheel drive- the right rear axle shaft is frozen inside the axle housing so they just took out the axle key and put a big washer behind the nut. He actually still runs & drives but smokes & knocks.
Mendotaman
Member
My tudor had 10-gauge wire throughout... with some traces of the Romex still attached. The bracket between the rear fenders was a hand-shaped piece of square bar stock and the gasket around the rear window was once a bicycle tube. On the bumper mounts, I found more than one washer made from 1/4 inch flat stock. The hood hinge had rusted out on the left side, so he cut out the hinge and installed a piano hinge with a million sheet metal screws. The radiator support rods were threaded stock right off the shelf.
I miss her.
I miss her.
Rusty Homestead Fl
Senior Member
Found out a keyed Model A steering wheel bolts right on an old Massey Ferguson tractor.
Pete
BANNED
I had a 4 door A when I was in college and my girl and I were into drive-in theaters.
It got cold at night in the spring and fall so I gutted all the upholstery from the rear and installed a small wood stove with the stack going out the window through a fitted piece of sheet metal. Worked great.
It got cold at night in the spring and fall so I gutted all the upholstery from the rear and installed a small wood stove with the stack going out the window through a fitted piece of sheet metal. Worked great.
BILL WILLIAMSON
Well-known member
Kevin - Illinois
Senior Member
Pete
BANNED
No coffee pot but it did smoke a bit.
