Mudrig150
New User
I haven't posted this tractor here, but here's a project I've been working on for the last 2-ish years in my absence.This is our 1969 John deere 3020, that I lovingly call the "Ratty-20" because it was uuugly when I first pulled it out of the weeds to work on it.
This tractor has been on our farm for, at this point, probably 30 years, it's been through a lot. It used to have a loader on it, which built half this farm along with our backhoes and 2950, had an engine rebuild, killed the starter, and was overall abused and neglected.
It raked hay, moved wagons, and did all the odd jobs that it could, up until 2010, when it was last used for actual farm work. 2012 rolled around and it was parked after digging the post holes for our corral, initially only for a couple months, but then those months turned into years. It got moved around a bunch in the years since (never under its own power of course), before finally ending up in our pile of junk, along with our old 50 and tons of other abandoned projects.
In 2020, the loader got pulled off and sold, leaving the tractor sitting alone and without a purpose, doomed to be abandoned in the scrap pile forever.
At least, until 2023. After seeing the ratty-20 sit for over a decade, and feeling that sitting wasn't the fate that it deserved, I finally took initiative and took the 2950 up and dragged the poor girl out of the weeds, threw on some better rear tires, and, after another year of it sitting, I put a starter on it and finally got it running.
I raked hay with it last summer, and for probably the first time in our farm's history, we were a 3 man crew doing hay, my grandfather in the 5100M mowing, my dad in the 2950 baling, and me on the ratty-20 running the rake.
After over a decade of sitting, it's back to running again, just as it always has, and even though it may not have much work to do, I think it's happy to not be getting taken over by nature.
It's currently in the shed with the front end pulled for a wide front swap since the rollamatic is definitely not made for our farm.
This tractor has been on our farm for, at this point, probably 30 years, it's been through a lot. It used to have a loader on it, which built half this farm along with our backhoes and 2950, had an engine rebuild, killed the starter, and was overall abused and neglected.
It raked hay, moved wagons, and did all the odd jobs that it could, up until 2010, when it was last used for actual farm work. 2012 rolled around and it was parked after digging the post holes for our corral, initially only for a couple months, but then those months turned into years. It got moved around a bunch in the years since (never under its own power of course), before finally ending up in our pile of junk, along with our old 50 and tons of other abandoned projects.
In 2020, the loader got pulled off and sold, leaving the tractor sitting alone and without a purpose, doomed to be abandoned in the scrap pile forever.
At least, until 2023. After seeing the ratty-20 sit for over a decade, and feeling that sitting wasn't the fate that it deserved, I finally took initiative and took the 2950 up and dragged the poor girl out of the weeds, threw on some better rear tires, and, after another year of it sitting, I put a starter on it and finally got it running.
I raked hay with it last summer, and for probably the first time in our farm's history, we were a 3 man crew doing hay, my grandfather in the 5100M mowing, my dad in the 2950 baling, and me on the ratty-20 running the rake.
After over a decade of sitting, it's back to running again, just as it always has, and even though it may not have much work to do, I think it's happy to not be getting taken over by nature.
It's currently in the shed with the front end pulled for a wide front swap since the rollamatic is definitely not made for our farm.
