LabFiles at LightningRod Labs

I was poking around in the old garage and found this container of old grease. I think it is quite old because of the label “hard oil” instead of the word grease being used. I tried searching for the Kunz oil co. of Mpls. without much luck. Maybe I’ll find something with a little more time invested. If any one has any information on the age of this can I would appreciate hearing from you.

Some time back I showed pictures of a railing I made for my son’s garage. In my usual fashion, I sped ahead without checking the building code for the spacing of uprights.   We were unable to use it because of this . I set the thing aside in my shop, wondering what to do with it. My wife, Donna spotted it while she was doing her gardens. Being clever and artistic she came up with a neat use for it.

The picture above shows her west garden which is one of many. This one is secluded behind the house and was carved from the brush.  I think they look interesting and attractive there. Hopefully they will cause the deer to detour around the garden.  As the spring progresses and the flowers grow, the garden will look even more beautiful.

This is me on my  loader tractor. I would have a hard time getting along without it. It is an antique, believe it or not. Manufactured in 1959, the year I graduated from high school. I purchased it for $1100  on an auction sale in the 1970’s when I bought dad’s farm. That same year my wife went to an auction in the neighborhood that had listed a heavy duty loader. With advice from a cousin, my wife joined the bidding. Now we we were newly back in the area and only the relatives and a few neighbors new Donna. When she called out her bid everyone turned and looked to see who this attractive young lady was. A woman bidding on a tractor loader was in itself unusual. The sale of the item was forgotten as they asked each other who was this stranger. You could here the whispers, “oh dat must be George Anderson’s  Daughter-in-law, ya sure, she next to Pete Peterson an dat would be her cousin den”. The Auctioneer knew it was over, called sold for $220 to the young Lady. The men turned there attention back to the sale, with more than one regretting they had been distracted.  I rebuilt the mount to fit the 340 and the result is a loader much stronger than the tractor.

Time takes it toll on everything, no big deal just buy some new parts, simple. You Bet, not on a 1959 tractor.  No longer available, a problem Hot Roders and car restorers run into all the time.  Making the pipe was the easy part. Rule’s tire in Willmar was able to bent me a copy.The result is below, I had to tweak the pipe a bit by heating it with my old acetylene torch. Yaa, I know The power bender does a nicer job. Normally you have the unit your working on, next to the bender so its easy to do.  I’m ten miles from town and I didn’t want to run back and forth or haul the tractor.

The problem came with the muffler. No one had one on hand that would fit. ordering was a possibility.Searching the parts books for dimensions and pipe size is a pain in the butt. Plus that all takes time. I wanted to use the tractor, so the thought of a straight pipe entered my mind. Not a good idea, I  knew my hearing was already bad enough.

In the corner of the shed I spotted an old muffler from a motorcycle. I knew I had a cool solution. With a little hack saw work and my gas welder, I fabricated up a tolerable system.  [[edit from jeremy:  the muffler is half of a 4-into-2 Supertrapp system from a 1984 VF750F Interceptor]]

View the pictures below I know the tractor needs new paint, that with some work it would be pretty again, buts that’s down the road. With summer coming that means cruises and fun so getting the red convertible ready is first.

In the mean time you don’t often see custom exhaust like this on a tractor.