A while back I mentioned I would be looking for a small crawler tractor to use on The Lot for pulling around the brush chipper and firewood trailer. Well, now I have one that I really didn’t want.

I bid on this particular tractor thinking my bid was low and I would not win the bidding. Oops! I received a call from the auction house, located in Omaha, informing me that I had the high bid and when would I be coming to get it? I drove to Omaha on Sunday, August 26, and brought the tractor home on Monday, August 27.

1953 Oliver OC3 at home

Tractor, bucket, and blade at auction site

Loading OC3

Loaded up, ready to head home

Pam is NOT happy about this and has dubbed the tractor “The Spirit of De Beque”  and threatens to turn it into yard art, complete with flowers on the seat. It was not a good move on my part to bid on a unit I could not examine myself but now that I have it I am going to try and get it running.

What I have is a 1953 Oliver OC-3 crawler tractor equipped with a Ware (brand name) 3WI bucket loader and bulldozer blade. While it might be nice to have these items I don’t really need or want them; I just wanted a basic tractor. However, checking eBay I see the loader and blade selling for several hundred dollars and it may be I can sell these parts to help pay for repairs.

Loading in Omaha was accomplished using a forklift. The bucket and blade were loaded into the back of the F-150 and the tractor on my utility trailer. The trip home was uneventful, if not real fast.

Once home I used my 8N Ford tractor to pull the OC-3 off the trailer;  a neighbor who owns a skid-steer helped me unload the bucket and blade.

There is a ton load of work to be done. Biggest problem is that the engine is missing a critical part, the magneto that supplies “spark” to the spark plugs. I did not realize this when I placed my bid or I would have bid a lot less. Rebuilt magnetos are available for about $325.00, ouch. On the positive side there is oil in the crankcase and the engine can be turned with the aid of a wrench so the engine is not frozen. I think I could get it running if I had a good magneto.

Does this mean the tractor could be useful at that point? Probably not; a lot of maintenance is required for a tractor that has been sitting outside for an unknown period of time. Some of the tasks include installing a battery, rewiring the basic electrical system, replace radiator hoses, repair and adjust the clutch linkage, replace all hydraulic hoses, grease and lubricate all pivot points and rollers. These are just some of the tasks that need to be completed provided I can get the engine to fire. It will be some time before the tractor will be ready to do any work, if ever.

Work on this rig will be a common theme in future posts and I plan to start a dedicated web page in my “Toys” section on my web site. I’m sure readers of these notes will be hanging on every word…. 🙂

In other news, work continues at The Lot. We are nearing the end of the season with only a few more work weekends planned. Fall colors are already present and night time temps have dropped into the mid-40s. Normally I bring The Box home in early October by which time low temps are consistently below freezing.

More chipping has been done, pretty much finishing Homestead Acre. This weekend we plan to spread the chips from this chipping session, a job that requires shoveling and raking to finish. We will bring back a load of firewood, probably the second to last of the season. (I have more than one load stacked up.) Work on other parts of The Lot has resulted in quite a few piles of both firewood and brush stacked here and there. (I need the OC-3 running to get the chipper to some of these brush piles.)

Photos of my last trip:

Sidelight accentuates rock’s red tinge

Trees cut, now to haul out and pile

Ready to load up and take home

Large pile of wood for chipping, base of Grassy Ridge

Even with a hit-and-miss summer schedule, spending fewer days on The Lot than planned, quite a bit was accomplished. Probably more surface area was cleared than in many past years, including Homestead Acre and The Grassy Ridge. Plenty of firewood was moved out, about three cords, which is enough for our friend Kathy to get through the winter; this is about our regular annual harvest.

This time of year is the best time to be in the high country. During my last trip I saw antelope, deer, and spotted a badger. The badger photo is not very crisp as I took it from inside my car at maximum zoom with my iPhone, but I do have to say these critters have attractive faces.

Badger face

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Did Fields mention The Spirit of De Beque weighs somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,000 pounds? Dangerous. Unnecessary.

Fall aspen changing color in the high country is equally as beautiful as fresh green Spring in the high country. Looking forward to it.

Happy Trails.