Lonesome7.3
By whatever means necessary …
A few months back I lost a cousin. He was a great guy and was taken from us far too soon. While we were up for the funeral his wife told me I should take his old Massy. I agreed and set forward on the plans to return with a trailer. Here is the catch though; he had taken it apart to do some work on it. It needed a new head and a few other things. Not a big deal, a Massy 35 is about the size of my 9N so I should have no trouble transporting it.
In preparation for the move I did a lot of work to my trailer. It got new trailer brakes, new wiring, two new tires, tongue jack, and so on and so on. Work that had to be done anyway. Oh, and did I mention I am using a car trailer, not my bigger flat bed?
And so the journey begins.
For some damn reason my wife just had to go with me. So I had to go the opposite direction from south west GA all the way to Rabun County to pick her up “on the way”. Then we spend another five something hours on the road to Lyles Tennessee just below Nashville. The next morning when I went to the barn I discovered I was getting his MF 65 not his 35. I thought the 65 went to his father in law. So now I have a tractor that is twice has heavy and twice as big to load with no rear tires. Getting it loaded was, well… interesting. But, with perseverance and a lot of foul language, loaded it got. My little car trailer was not liking the load at all. Oh, and did I mention my wife’s F250 is having transmission trouble? Yeah, that added to the pucker factor.
So now we have to go to Dandridge Tennessee (which is on the east side of the state) because my aunt is allowing me to store the old Massy in her basement until I have time and a place to put it back together. So here we are pulling out of the driveway onto the gravel road and I could tell right away this was not going to be a pleasant drive. We were making our way through the Tennessee country side at a responsible pace and I was keeping watch over the load and the tires via the truck mirrors. When to my disbelief I watched a trailer tire detach itself on the passenger side. I guess it felt it had enough of handling such a load and said “I’m out”. Even better, that was the axle the trailer brakes were on. I was scrambling to get this hoss slowed down and pulled over while trying to also get a bearing on where that tire was going to stop. That thing was moving. It hit a ditch and took flight. A guy on crutches was standing in his front yard watching the show. The tire finally came to a stop by slamming into the side of someone’s house. I know it had to knock stuff off their walls. I can just see the kids coming home and yelling “grandma!” as her urn lies spilled on the floor.
So, there is nothing I can do to reattach the tire. The bolts that hold the rim in place (no, not lug nuts) were gone. I think the weight helped them to work their way out. So while we are standing on the side of the road scratching our heads the guy on crutches approaches us and asks if we need any help. I could not help but think, what in the hell can you do with a broken leg. But, I know he was trying to help so I thanked him and he stood there with us scratching his head as well. Finally, we decided there is no other choice. We had to limp it back to my cousin’s house because it was closer. So now here I am limping this over loaded trailer with one trailer brake and one tire on the passenger side all the way back to where it began.
I dropped the trailer at the house and now have to go back with a buddy’s truck that can handle the load. More time, more gas money, and more aggravation. But hey, it is a free tractor
In preparation for the move I did a lot of work to my trailer. It got new trailer brakes, new wiring, two new tires, tongue jack, and so on and so on. Work that had to be done anyway. Oh, and did I mention I am using a car trailer, not my bigger flat bed?
And so the journey begins.
For some damn reason my wife just had to go with me. So I had to go the opposite direction from south west GA all the way to Rabun County to pick her up “on the way”. Then we spend another five something hours on the road to Lyles Tennessee just below Nashville. The next morning when I went to the barn I discovered I was getting his MF 65 not his 35. I thought the 65 went to his father in law. So now I have a tractor that is twice has heavy and twice as big to load with no rear tires. Getting it loaded was, well… interesting. But, with perseverance and a lot of foul language, loaded it got. My little car trailer was not liking the load at all. Oh, and did I mention my wife’s F250 is having transmission trouble? Yeah, that added to the pucker factor.
So now we have to go to Dandridge Tennessee (which is on the east side of the state) because my aunt is allowing me to store the old Massy in her basement until I have time and a place to put it back together. So here we are pulling out of the driveway onto the gravel road and I could tell right away this was not going to be a pleasant drive. We were making our way through the Tennessee country side at a responsible pace and I was keeping watch over the load and the tires via the truck mirrors. When to my disbelief I watched a trailer tire detach itself on the passenger side. I guess it felt it had enough of handling such a load and said “I’m out”. Even better, that was the axle the trailer brakes were on. I was scrambling to get this hoss slowed down and pulled over while trying to also get a bearing on where that tire was going to stop. That thing was moving. It hit a ditch and took flight. A guy on crutches was standing in his front yard watching the show. The tire finally came to a stop by slamming into the side of someone’s house. I know it had to knock stuff off their walls. I can just see the kids coming home and yelling “grandma!” as her urn lies spilled on the floor.
So, there is nothing I can do to reattach the tire. The bolts that hold the rim in place (no, not lug nuts) were gone. I think the weight helped them to work their way out. So while we are standing on the side of the road scratching our heads the guy on crutches approaches us and asks if we need any help. I could not help but think, what in the hell can you do with a broken leg. But, I know he was trying to help so I thanked him and he stood there with us scratching his head as well. Finally, we decided there is no other choice. We had to limp it back to my cousin’s house because it was closer. So now here I am limping this over loaded trailer with one trailer brake and one tire on the passenger side all the way back to where it began.
I dropped the trailer at the house and now have to go back with a buddy’s truck that can handle the load. More time, more gas money, and more aggravation. But hey, it is a free tractor
