Amazingly we managed to get our project tractor reassembled and to the County fair; along with our large donation can!

Within the week leading up to the Mercer County 4-H fair, the list of things were accomplished to get the tractor there in one piece.

July 23rd- Put on back tires; sand-blasted the engine; put back the pistons and their liners; made a ( rather large & heavy ) donation can; put in new main bearings; put on exhaust manifold.

July 25th- Remounted the engine and reattached the front axle.

July 27th- Engine head was placed back atop the engine; inserted the push rods; put the rocker arm back in place; valve cover was put on.

At the latest Rusty Bolts meeting, the pistons, piston liners and the crank shaft were removed from the engine of the tractor.

Pictures of us at our Rusty Bolts " Pets for parts" fundraiser, at a local Tractor Supply.

During the eighth meeting of the Rusty bolts, we did the following work on the tractor.  We removed the front end; took off the engine and mounted it to an engine stand; detached the fenders and disposed the front loader mounts. We also took a club picture for our booth that will be at the Mercer County 4-H fair.

On the seventh meeting we worked on our booth for the Mercer County 4-H fair and made a fundraising thermometer.  We also worked on a fundraising letter to send out to local farmers and businesses for support and donations for our club.

During the sixth meeting we removed the center rim of tire; detached the exhaust manifold and removed the engine head.

The following is a list of things accomplished at the fifth Rusty Bolts tractor meeting.
We  removed the back tires;  drained the anti-freeze from the engine; removed the radiator; drained and removed the gas tank;  checked the engine compression;  detached the spark plugs;  freed the engine and last but not least removed the valve cover.

On the rather cloudy and rainy fourth meeting, we power washed the tractor and finalized the club bylaws. We also had a discussion with ideas for fundraising options.

During the third meeting of Rusty Bolts, the tractor was moved to the bay and the front loader, which wasn't original to the tractor, was removed. Bylaws were worked on for the registration of the club.

At the Rusty Bolts second meeting, we cleaned out the tractor bay where the tractor would be staying for the remainder of the restoration.  We also located the serial, year and  model numbers on the tractor. Future goals and record books were discussed as well.

First look.

This is a picture of our project tractor that the new 4-H club, the Rusty Bolts, is working on.

Our challenge begins!!