Bruce Boehmke
I’m 65, married (43 years), retired, and living in Carrboro (aka The Paris of Piedmont), North Carolina, having moved here from Philly 6 years ago.
The Pony
Manufactured by Massey-Harris in Woodstock, Ontario, Canada, eh? Came off the line in 1952. Its got a 4 cylinder, 11 HP engine and a 3-speed, two-wheel drive transmission.
The Princess
Age: unknown. Former elementary ed school teacher and commercial fiber artist. Presently involved in various artistic ventures. Miraculously still married to the idiotic author.
Gene
Good friend, age 77, PhD in Nuclear Physics/Vanderbilt Univ. Retired Prof of Medical Physics, Dept. Radiology, UNC, Chapel Hill. Married to Lynn, a social worker. They have 5 children and 3 grandchildren. Gene rehabilitates old Jaguars, but what he really likes are old tractors, especially if they belong to someone else. The Pony is corralled out at Gene’s place.
Jim aka Idiotic Brother aka IB aka whatever knucklehead falls out of his brain
My older brother by 3 years, retired. Lives in northern CA in “witless” protection program. Constantly brings up his 6 yrs in nuclear subs, has restored numerous vehicles (no tractors), makes millions growing and selling cactus and rides his bike almost as much as I do. Sometime contributor to this blog under various noms de plume. Watch him, he can’t really be trusted.
Pony Cost-O-Meter
Spent to date: $2630GuineaPig-O-Meter
Expense recovery (payments from medical experiments on Idiotic Author): $2198READ PAST POSTS
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Bruce
Keep the story coming. I want to know more. Hope you and Cindy are well. SS
Bruce, as the saying goes, you have way too much time on your hand. I agree with Steve, these are very good stories. Maybe you should apply for a column with the local paper, or the UNCC student newsletter.
Bruce,
What a hoot. Love the stories keep them coming. How in the heck do you find time to write all these stories? We need more photos.
Cuz Bill
Date is 4-7-11. Aren’t you happy to learn that there are several ladies over age 80 who get a lot of fun reading your blog. Sure, we know nothing about tractors or mechanics, but your human interest stories are moving and help to brighten the day.
It isn’t easy to come up with all your clever ideas.
Thanks,
C. Boehmke
I’m restoring a pony and would love to ask you a couple questions. Email me.
What a wonderful blog. I stumbled upon this while looking for the spec for the clutch fingers on a pony. Thank you for that. Our Pony is a 1947 and is still used about 200 hours per year. What a great machine.
Thanks so much for your comment. When people tell me that they have stumbled on my blog, I’m always fearful that the next day’s mail will bring a lawsuit. Hope you weren’t hurt in the fall!
No, I assure you I was not hurt, but thanks for the concern. I am writing from Canada and it has been said that we are not quite as litigious as our neighbours to the south when considering legal action against bloggers. Anyway, why am I writing? Well ,thank you for that clutch setting of 7/32. I had pulled out the engine and one of the three clutch levers was way out of spec. The tractor had been juttering all summer. I set up the clutch, but upon inspection it seems that the release bearing is a very poor match for the position of the clutch levers. Some of the area of the levers, that is intended to run on the bearing when the clutch pedal is depressed, will in fact run on the bearing carrier. Any suggestions? There is no indication on the clutch pressure plate of the make or model which leads me to believe it may not be the correct clutch pressure plate for the pony. I have a pony manual from 1947 but it is not nearly as detailed as the one on the web. I downloaded the one from the web, but it says that the clutch info is found in a different manual called The Standard Units Manual. Do you know where I might find this on the web? I have been using the current clutch components since I bought the tractor 12 years ago and aside from significant wear on the clutch fingers and bearing carrier, it does not seem to have caused much damage. It is not noticeably more noisy with the clutch depressed. Your thoughts and experience?
John