Pete76NYPa
Member
Anyone that has been here a while may remember Dave2N from the Southern Tier of NY. He used to be a frequent poster but mostly a lurker the past few years, because being an American, his political views put him at odds with the powers that be, and he told me he was done apologizing for that
Well he passed two days ago of complications following heart surgery. He gave it a helluva fight, watching him decline a little more after each set back in an ICU bed for four months made me realize there are worst things than dying.
He was an awesome Father, Mentor, Friend, and a truly Special Husband to my Mother: 60 happy years together and holding hands when he passed.
He grew up in Westen, NY, as a teen he would summer here in the Southern Tier working his Uncles farm, logging many hours on a Farmall M and a Massey Harris 44. After starting his own family his first tractor used for working a sizable vegetable plot for a roadside stand in summers when he wasnt teaching, gathering firewood, snowplowing, was a John Deere MT, which after a couple years got traded for a John Deere B. After the B suffered a catastrophic mishap (unattended) it was a Farmall Super C.
After all us kids were on our own, I came across a JD 70 that brought me back to my roots working the same farm, logging time raking hay on a B and chore work on 4020s. The 70 was mostly in boxes but I had it delivered to his shop and we restored it together.
After we finished he told me he wanted a Ford 2N because that was the first tractor his Grandfather had after horses on his farm. So we went in halves on a trailer and found and restored a 2N, the Super C was next then several others, but the 2N was his favorite.
Two days after I finished painting it, he backed it out of the shop and hooked it to a 5 hog. I said already? He said we didnt do all that work to sit around and look at it!
That was about 27 years ago. Although we did a helluva good job mechanically, we were relative neophytes when it came to paint/prep. We cleaned, degreased, sanded all, but never knew enough to epoxy prime, or use hardener in the paint, and worse yet we used Rustoleum battleship gray, so it faded fairly bad, fairly quickly. I always wanted to strip it and start over but his answer was no it runs fine! Although a Kubota would take over hogging, snowplowing, and woods dutiesthat 2N was his go to for parades, plow days, and occasional pulls.
About 2 years ago he started to slow down at age 77 as this heart issue began to creep up on him and it sat and developed some electrical issues. They decided they were gonna fix him with a new heart valve and a triple bypass, so last fall I did a tuneup, carb rebuild, thermostat, and completely rewired the old girl and put a new bearing in the Sherman Step up so it would be ready for plow days this spring.
Then I tidied up a couple of our Johns for the Pageant of Steam this summer in Canandaquia, NY whic will be featuring JD.
Well he will be plowing in heaven and watching me plow this spring at plow days, from up there, and we obviously wont be at Canadaguia.
I never had a lot of regard for the little N, but no matter how bad the conditions, Dad was one of the ones at plow days that NEVER had to get off and adjust often and always turned that dirt well. This year I plan to honor him by plowing with the N instead of one of My Johnnies or IHs. The sad thing is he always told me adjustment was key and showed me several times how to adjust those 2-14 Dearborns, and it always ran out the other ear as I was too busy adjusting the trailer plows I preferred. So I guess I need to work up the strength to go to his shop, sit down in his chair at his desk by his workbench and dig through his considerable library of manuals to educate myselfany suggestions are appreciated as to adjustments.
The conversation between my siblings and I is whether to repaint the old girl, (i have nephews as young as 5 BIG into tractors so it will be staying in the family well beyond my stay) as the other want to do, or clean and clear coat it so it looks like it did when he took it for his last ride last fall.
Opinions are appreciated!
Well he passed two days ago of complications following heart surgery. He gave it a helluva fight, watching him decline a little more after each set back in an ICU bed for four months made me realize there are worst things than dying.
He was an awesome Father, Mentor, Friend, and a truly Special Husband to my Mother: 60 happy years together and holding hands when he passed.
He grew up in Westen, NY, as a teen he would summer here in the Southern Tier working his Uncles farm, logging many hours on a Farmall M and a Massey Harris 44. After starting his own family his first tractor used for working a sizable vegetable plot for a roadside stand in summers when he wasnt teaching, gathering firewood, snowplowing, was a John Deere MT, which after a couple years got traded for a John Deere B. After the B suffered a catastrophic mishap (unattended) it was a Farmall Super C.
After all us kids were on our own, I came across a JD 70 that brought me back to my roots working the same farm, logging time raking hay on a B and chore work on 4020s. The 70 was mostly in boxes but I had it delivered to his shop and we restored it together.
After we finished he told me he wanted a Ford 2N because that was the first tractor his Grandfather had after horses on his farm. So we went in halves on a trailer and found and restored a 2N, the Super C was next then several others, but the 2N was his favorite.
Two days after I finished painting it, he backed it out of the shop and hooked it to a 5 hog. I said already? He said we didnt do all that work to sit around and look at it!
That was about 27 years ago. Although we did a helluva good job mechanically, we were relative neophytes when it came to paint/prep. We cleaned, degreased, sanded all, but never knew enough to epoxy prime, or use hardener in the paint, and worse yet we used Rustoleum battleship gray, so it faded fairly bad, fairly quickly. I always wanted to strip it and start over but his answer was no it runs fine! Although a Kubota would take over hogging, snowplowing, and woods dutiesthat 2N was his go to for parades, plow days, and occasional pulls.
About 2 years ago he started to slow down at age 77 as this heart issue began to creep up on him and it sat and developed some electrical issues. They decided they were gonna fix him with a new heart valve and a triple bypass, so last fall I did a tuneup, carb rebuild, thermostat, and completely rewired the old girl and put a new bearing in the Sherman Step up so it would be ready for plow days this spring.
Then I tidied up a couple of our Johns for the Pageant of Steam this summer in Canandaquia, NY whic will be featuring JD.
Well he will be plowing in heaven and watching me plow this spring at plow days, from up there, and we obviously wont be at Canadaguia.
I never had a lot of regard for the little N, but no matter how bad the conditions, Dad was one of the ones at plow days that NEVER had to get off and adjust often and always turned that dirt well. This year I plan to honor him by plowing with the N instead of one of My Johnnies or IHs. The sad thing is he always told me adjustment was key and showed me several times how to adjust those 2-14 Dearborns, and it always ran out the other ear as I was too busy adjusting the trailer plows I preferred. So I guess I need to work up the strength to go to his shop, sit down in his chair at his desk by his workbench and dig through his considerable library of manuals to educate myselfany suggestions are appreciated as to adjustments.
The conversation between my siblings and I is whether to repaint the old girl, (i have nephews as young as 5 BIG into tractors so it will be staying in the family well beyond my stay) as the other want to do, or clean and clear coat it so it looks like it did when he took it for his last ride last fall.
Opinions are appreciated!
