Its been a really depressing week so far. Monday saw two set-backs- yes, I should be used to it by now but when a tractor has been lovingly worked on and then things are not right one does wonder why life can't be simple.

There were times in the past when Mark and I were working together when things kept going wrong when even he, with his sunny temperament and ability to look on the bright side, would go into the office and put his head between his hands.

One bright spot is that Mark is coming back for work here for one day a week to help us through the staff shortage since Gary has left us and we've got three tractors on the go two of which should have been finished some while back and one which should have been started and hasn't been.

So what's gone wrong: well for a start, Daisy May (the tractor who doesn't want to go home), is still here. Every day for the last week she has been started up (and started first time every time) and run round the yard.everything (apart from the brakes which we are still working on) has been fine.

Her owner had taken time off to come and check he was happy before she was delivered back at the weekend and ten minutes before he arrived Ivan went to start her up to bring her to the front of the workshop so that her owner could take her round the yard and damn and blast, the starting problem which had been fixed re-occurred! I think we are going to have to have the top off the gearbox again. There are no quick fixes on this one. I am off the opinion that the problem lies with the button on the side of the gearbox (this is a diesel, remember) which makes it impossible to put the gearstick into the starter position by mistake. I've seen a number of TEFs with this button totally removed but we are a restoration workshop and if we can get Daisy May starting with the button there then we will do so. The trouble is that every single thing on that tractor is worn to the point where things are loose and sloppy where they should be crisp and unidirectional. More on this later.

Bob was, by the time Mark had spent twenty minutes on him, running round the yard with a tickover which sounded gorgeous. He adjusted the governor controls and tuned the carb., reset the tappets and confirmed that new plug leads would be a good idea and we were left with a final list of things like adjusting the clutch pedal and painting the bits of axle beam which were still in red oxide.

This is what he looks like at the moment- again...

Why?

There is still water getting into the oil so off the engine has come again, pistons out, liners out to check the spectacle gaskets, big ends off. Bob's owner asked why, when Bob had run without problems, apart from the low oil pressure, before he came in there were so many problems with the head now which is a very valid question. I remember asking the same thing when my ancient Volvo estate which had run without problems started throwing every possible fit after just a service. I was told that disturbing anything on an older vehicle creates new stresses and strains and this is a similar case. We had noticed, when we started Bob in the workshop where there is a concrete floor that water was bubbling out in one corner of the head. This is not something that would have been noticable on grass. By stripping the engine for line-boring of course we upset all the comfortable juxtapositions of the gaskets, head and head plate which had settled down over the years. Bob had also been running with very low oil pressure. Now, with a newly reground crankshafts, a camshaft which is not leaking oil and new pistons with excellent compression, the whole engine function is notched up to a different level.

I only get briefly depressed when things go wrong. People say well, why don't you just give it up, retire, do something else you've always wanted to do but the bottom line is that I love the work, love  working with these gallant little tractors- they are individuals deserving the very best chance to go on running into the 22nd century and I love the challenge of getting things right in the end. When you've arrived at where you've always wanted to be since you were four years old, why chuck it away?

Anyway, to finish on a cheery note- I was looking through the photos to see if we had a view of a particular tractor and ran across this picture of my two grand-daughters sitting in the truck.