Farmer fixes
 

My grandpa's 30 AA truck has a bunch of farmer fixes
angle iron welded from fender to the running board
light switch shutting off all power to car,
LOTS OF SOLDER
Fenders welded 2 dozen times
cowl held on by some make shift bracket
Some fixes look like they will never last
but some how they did?
Post some pictures of your discoveries and unique farmer fixes
John

Re: Farmer fixes
 

I don't have a pic, but when I pulled off the radius rod I noticed the bolts seemed awfully small. When I got all the pieces out it seems someone had dropped a muffler clamp, u-bolt thingy thru the bellhousing and thats what the radius rod was bolted to. Lots of slop etc...I feel MUCH safer after I got all the proper hardware and got rid of the rubber ball as well. Doesn't even shimmy anymore:)

Re: Farmer fixes
 

I think mostly trucks got these. My 29 AA had quite a few, a modified front axle too self steer behind the cornchopper,a fishplated crossmember in the frame, soldered up gas tank after removing column bracket, only real bad one is they torched the crossmember to get tranny's out for use in a 39. Bob E.

Re: Farmer fixes
 

Don't know if this counts....but my front seat is held together by JB Weld.

Re: Farmer fixes
 

I went over to a clients house a few weeks back, to view a bunch of old car parts strewn about the property.
Some of the pics match this "farmer fix" topic. I wonder what was used to weld the head?

Re: Farmer fixes
 

Great Topic...Very Interesting

Re: Farmer fixes
 

According to a Barner with more knowledge than I have, my 32 BB's fuel pump is a B model bottom with a 34-36 V-8 top. It did work.

Re: Farmer fixes
 

Interesting story's. Keep em coming!

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http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o...rakespring.jpg

Some farmer is missing his screendoor spring.

Re: Farmer fixes
 

I bought a set of 4-21" wheels at the swap meet last year for $20, they look real straight and solid but I won't know till I cut the model T hubs out someone welded in for a long ago project.

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The worst farmer fix I have ever seen was a cheaply fabbed draglink. It cosisted on a piece of pipe which they had ran several strands of number 9 wire through and tightly rapped around the spindle arm ball and the steering arm. I am not sure how far they drove it that way, but it looked dangerous to me. I wish I had my camera with me at that auction where it sold, but I left it home that day. Rod

Re: Farmer fixes
 

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o...g/WornSeat.jpg

Is this what's meant by "driving by the seat of your pants"?:D;)

Re: Farmer fixes
 

LOL! Thats a good one Tom. A REAL farmers fix.:D

Re: Farmer fixes
 

Tom, Oshkosh by Gosh is my guess for the overall texture of the patches. Bob

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http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o...g/b4094323.jpg

Some farmer's Model T is missing part of it's running board.

Re: Farmer fixes
 

I was going to wait until I got my A running again (hopefully in a couple months) and post an album of the many farmer fixes/mods it has but here's a couple samples. The most obvious is the truck mod to the coupe body. Check out the intake manifold, those are castle nuts welded in there and it's setup to mount a Carter W-1 downdraft. The bottom castle nut is for a farmer made check ball that allows excess fuel to drain from the farmer made plenum. Since the Carter W-1 has an accelerator pump this check ball would allow excess gas to drip out of the plenum when starting and prevent flooding, after the engine starts vacuum pulls the check ball closed and seals the vacuum leak. While this looks like a total hack job (and it is) it actually ran quiet well. More to follow.

Re: Farmer fixes
 

Jeff Foxworthy would love this one, I do too......:D

Re: Farmer fixes
 

I for one love these fixes. It gives the car a history and a personality. Plus it just goes to show you how versitile our cars are. Try these fixes on today's and see what happens.

Mike

Re: Farmer fixes
 

Remember that when the majority of these "fixes" were done was before the internet, and probably before bratton's, mac's snyders, etc. A lot of them done during/after the depression when no one had any money and you did what you had to to keep it running.
Paul in CT

Re: Farmer fixes
 

Paul from CT is "right on". It is easy to be critical from our 2012 perspective. I grew up in a depression family and remember well when a family conference was called for a big expense like $10. Not trying to be preachy but it is good to remember when families had a very difficult time making ends meet.

Re: Farmer fixes
 

I'll have to admit I've been responsible for some pretty crude field repairs in the past. But, by comparison some of these Rube Goldberg jobs make me feel like a Master Mechanic.....lol

Re: Farmer fixes
 

me too!!

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A couple months ago,I did a *farmer fix* of sorts.I was driving along a country road when the engine died.The drain plug had fallen out of the carb& the gas was running out.I was beside an orchard so I looked around & found a small branch & shoved a piece of it in the hole & was able to drive home & get a plug from a spare carb.One of the great things about these cars is that it doesnt take much to keep them running.

Re: Farmer fixes
 

Rube Goldberg, my HERO!:D:D:D
I wonder if Rube ever had to have his car towed? Bill W's Ghost

Re: Farmer fixes
 

I have a dissy shaft that has been brazzed and then turned back to true. A lotta work, but if that is the only one you have, it will have to do. ALso a model A wheel with a Chevy rim welded to it.
Clem

Re: Farmer fixes
 

These farmer fixes always look poor, but they are still there for us to find them!

I have a Model A cyl. head that has multiple passes of weld all over it and from one end to the other.

Also nails for cotter pins. I had one model A with a pin for the brake rods replaced with a very small nail! Yikes!

I looked at this yellow Tudor and it had a 3 rib tractor tire that is worn out on the front right.

The last picture is not a Ford, but look at the "Custom" brace to hold up the fenders!

Re: Farmer fixes
 

Here's what I found when I started 'tearing down' the steering.

The column was broken, but the fix was to wrap it with heavy duty wire and secure it with the handle of a screwdriver.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net...668_3611_n.jpg

Return spring on the brake is seen here:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net...722_2211_n.jpg

Re: Farmer fixes
 

I heard of one guy who had a piston problem . He knew of an old model A motor buried a few years previously on the farm so he dug it up. Pulled a piston out and replaced the one in his car . Bolted it all up and it ran well for years afterwards - Try doing that with a modern car !

Re: Farmer fixes
 

This was my "Farmer Fix" back in the 50's. This is what I used around my fathers farm to pull trees.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/l...Scanned-10.jpg

It is now this.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/l.../IMG_0698a.jpg

Re: Farmer fixes
 

Fred K, how did you have those duals rigged up? Looks interesting.

Red

Re: Farmer fixes
 

Red, very "Farmer" like. I think it was a 1 1/2 or 2 inch metal pipe stuck in the wheels where the hub cap are suppose to be, with heavy wire tied between the spokes of each wheel. Worked great(at that time). You did what you had to do in those days! Still using the same wheels on the Huckster. Had to straighten the spokes a bit and do some welding on the wheels.

BTW I had one h*** of a time getting that hole patched in the hood-still using the same hood on the huckster.

Re: Farmer fixes
 

Is that the first consept extended cab pickup?

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Amazing what a little paint will do :)

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Not necessarily a model A but I remember dad shimming under the inserts on his 1945 flathead with newspaper. He had to do this to keep the old truck running so he could run a couple loads of logs into the mill so he could afford a new set of bearings. A few weeks later everyone was fascinated by the fact you could read the print that was imbedded into the insert. Of course you had to hold the inserts up to a mirror to read them. My dad was 9 years old when the depression hit and everything that had to be fixed was repaired with whatever was on the farm. I always felt so sorry for Mom because that depression style of living still needed to go on until the mid '60's. Our yard was always full of throwaway junk that had to be held onto just in case he ever needed something. Wearing the hand me down clothes and eating food that came from the people who were on welfare because the govt gave them free food called commodities that we couldn't get because the Dad was working was tough. We had our own chickens, milk cow and raise beef calves and hogs to feed ourselves. And I watched Dad make everything work. I watched him pull the rod and piston out of a 216 cu in engine out of a '47 chevy and pound a stick of stove wood into it in order to run it until he could find a '39 engine to put into it. He'd fix radiators by dumping pepper and raw eggs into it. We use to build a fire under the old F14 tractor to get it to run in the winter time. He used the rear end out of a ford car to make a winch on the logging truck and used the brakes to hold the spool so the cable wouldn't unwind and drop the log until you wanted it to. The lever for the brake came off of an old horse drawn sickle mower. He drove the winch with the power take off on the truck. Cracks in the fenders were welded up and broken windows weren't replaced. Stumps were taken out with dynamite that you bought at the hardware store. And it's time for me to quit or i'll be here going on forever. And yes those were the good old days.

Re: Farmer fixes
 

Re: Farmer fixes
 

How about a real farmer. I have had my 30 Roadster for 44 years so I knew the car well. I bought a 9N tractor that had the same Model A engine. When I got it, I looked and the four spark plugs had coat hanger wire wrapped aroung the distributor tips and then around the spark plugs. I got such a kick out of that, that I left it that way for the four years I owned and used it.

Re: Farmer fixes
 

garrison89,
Are you Chief's long lost brother that disappeared in the woods a long time ago?? Bill W.

Re: Farmer fixes
 

I don't quite know how to answer your question. I had a cousin that died on the Gunflint Trail about 25 years ago. He was Ojibwe and died when his car crashed. We called him "Chief" for years. He was my cousin but he seemed like a brother. He was from Minneapolis MN but ended up working on the Canadian border as an honest to God "Indian guide".

Re: Farmer fixes
 

Missed this link the first time around so I thought I'd add in one of my finds.
This was a home grown Float a Motor attached to a recent motor.

Re: Farmer fixes
 

A couple more items. One looks like a door popper. Helps the door to open? That's my thought. The second is a picture of the steering column. Spring loaded support so some of the tension when pulling on the column to enter is distributed to the springs. The rubber support has dissolved over time.