Fun with the nephews and their Allis

Had some fun tonight with my nephews and their Allis Chalmers B207.  They drove it around for quite a while, and were all smiles.

An accident shows Simplicity toughness

I am coaching my sons soccer team and I mow the practice field since the school doesn't mow it short enough.  Since it is only about 5 miles from home I used just one strap to keep it on the trailer. Well, last night the ratchet mechanism gave out on the strap and the Sovereign rolled off the trailer at 

35 MPH.

Both corners of the deck got hit when the front wheel came off and the deck was supporting the weight of the tractor up front.  It did not bend enough however to impede blade operation.

The wheel got drilled as it came off, scrap now.

I put another wheel on and you can see the damage to the spindle, the front axle is fine.

Spindle is bent enough it contacts tire.

After putting things back together and checking things over, it took less than 30 minutes to get it back mowing. I can't believe that is all the damage done.  I have a new spindle on its way, and that(along with the wheel) is the only thing I need to replace after rolling off a trailer at 35.  Amazing.

Olivia learns to mow with her 616

Olivia wanted to try and mow so I helped her mow for the first time with her Simplicity Yeoman 616.  She did pretty good!  She striped the lawn and the lines are pretty straight!

Simplicity small frame Grader Blade

Finally found a 40 inch grader blade for the Simplicity small frame tractors.  I have one for the Sovereign, but this one will fit the Broadmoors, Yeoman and the Serf!  It would even work on my nephews Allis B207e.  Needs some cleaning up, but nice score, I think.

My nephews get their Allis Chalmers

Had a blast giving my nephews the Allis Chalmers B207e my dad and I got for them. They were in love with it and I guess couldn't stop talking about it even after they left. It is a great addition to the family of tractors, both internal(garden tractors) and external(steam tractors)!

A change in plans means our first Allis

After getting the Serf 515 I thought I had jumped the gun a bit.  I thought it might be hard for my 2 and 3 year old nephews to understand this tractor, which looked just like my kids tractors, was theirs.  So I looked and found a 1968 Allis Chalmers B207e close by, and jumped on it.  I had always wanted to have one of these for the family, they are mostly Simplicity designs but did have differences due to be being built in Lexington, SC and not in Port Washington, WI.  I was so excited to get it for the boys.  So in less than a week we had acquired two more tractors. Whoops. At least they are easy to store!

Another Serf

After seeing how much my nephews enjoyed the tractors at the show my dad and I hatched a plan to get them one.  I found a 1971 Simplicity Serf 535 up in Roscommon, Mi, and ran up one evening after work and grabbed it.

Back to work

After the tractor show I got new belts for the Broadmoor 717 to help the mowing duties and give the Yeoman a break.  It, like the other Simplicity's I've owned, makes the yard look like a ball field.  This is my neighbor's back yard.

Mason Tractor Show

This year the show was once again a great time.  I was happiest that Izzy and Abby had their tractors running really good, and they had a ball driving them around all weekend.  Olivia's Yeoman 616 had people applauding while she used it to pull around a hay wagon full of people.  People were taking pictures and smiling the whole time. Simplicity impressed a lot of people that evening! My nephews love the large steam tractors, but they really took a liking to riding and cleaning my kids tractors. An idea was sprung....more later.  But I think Simplicity really made excellent tractors, the 1963 Broadmoor, the 1967 Serf 515, Yeoman 616 and Broadmoor 717, along with the 1974 Broadmoor 738 and the Sovereign had lots of people looking and asking questions and sharing stories.