The Rest Of The Story!! Berts Revenge

On the last day of the National Farm Machinery show at 6.00PM it is time to tear the booth down and load up to come home. Several years ago we decided to go and eat and let some of the other booths tear down and get out of the way so we could drive in and tear our boot down in and load it on the truck instead of carrying it out to the truck. We would have to carry about 1000 pounds of parts about 300 feet. It would take about 150 trips to get everything to the truck.
I had called Linda to get a current weather report and it was bad, a winter weather advisory down the I-75 corridor which is the way we come home. We elected to leave on Saturday night instead of Saturday morning. This put us ahead of the storm and all we saw was rain which made for easy traveling. The next day there were 10-15 wrecks about the Tennessee line where it had snowed and even created a whiteout on I-75 and the highway department closed the road because of condition and wrecks. We would have been in the middle of it !!
I drove the first 2 hours and CB drove the next 2 hours and we stopped in Canton NC at the Waffle House and got coffee and I got "Bert's Best Bowl of Chili". This was about 3:45 AM. It tasted ok but might have been a little off. We left there and got home about 7:30 AM. I went in and set down in the recliner and promptly went to sleep. I woke up about 1:00 PM and made me a peanut butter sandwich and really did not feel good. I spent from 2:00 PM until about 7:00PM in the bathroom and I must have thrown up everything I ate the previous week. I have not been that sick in a lot of years. I think they should rename the chili to "Bert's Revenge" cause it sure took revenge on me!!!!!

Moral of the story. Don't have chili at 3:45 AM and have to drive home!

Eric Benton, Southeast Tractor Parts, Should have left the Chili alone!!!

National Farm Machnery Show

Last week I was in Louisville Ky at the National Farm Machinery show! There is a lot of nice equipment scattered around in a number of halls and wings. My brother was there and he did not see all of it in 4 days . There was everything to do with Farming. Equipment, Tires, implements, Tractors, Combines, Headers, tools, Hay Equipment, Parts to fix your equipment, Safes to lock up your Money, good socks, paintings of farms and farm equipment, oil suppliers, toys for the kids, lawn mowers, wagons to haul the crop our of the field, trucks to haul the crop down the highway, tools to make parts to fix your equipment, and then there is the food! BBQ, Pork and Beef, fish, Pork Chop Sandwiches, Mini Donuts , Pizza, hot dogs, and then there is Ice Cream for dessert. All you need is good shoes, cause you are going to walk a long ways,a pocket full of money to buy toys, and a appetite and you have 4 full days of entertainment!!

I will tell you about the trip home the next time!!

Eric Benton, Southeast Tractor Parts, All showed out and glad to have made it home!!!!

Southern Farm Show

Last week I was displaying at the Southern Farm Show in Raleigh NC. It was also the 3rd anniversary of my blog. The show was busy on Wednesday and the second day was a little busier than the first day. The last day was really busy. I have had the best response from the show that I remember having in he last 7 or 8 years. Every day I have sold something to someone I talked to at the show, or someone has emailed me or called about parts. Maybe it is because of the weather. The weather was nice . No Snow, No rain, No cold and No wind blowing!!!!


Eric Benton, Southeast Tractor Parts, No Snow- No Rain-No Problem!!!

Thursday Night!!

I am setting here listening to WSOC on the computer while I have catalogs copying in the CD Duplicator. It will copy about 75 discs per hour. I have another 88 discs to go before I finish tonight. I will have about 700 to take to the National Farm Machinery show.
One of the vendors is making a nice JD AR26625 steering wheel for a 3020 and 4020 and other tractors. They also have the black steering wheel cap and a white cap for the 1010 and 2010. The caps are about $36.00 up till now the only new cap I could find was about $65.00. This is a nice OEM quality cap and steering wheel.
I ordered a new Carburetor kit today for the zenith carb used on a lot of different tractors. It has all 3 gaskets in it to fit 3 different carbs. People call us wanting a zenith carb kit and they don't know which one it is and now I can send this one and one of the gaskets will work. It will make my life easier. And it will be priced about the same as a regular kit.
Did any of you see in the paper that Mexico had the worst freeze that they have had in 50 years!! Must be more of the global warming!!

2 Years

I am at Raleigh for the Southern Farm Show this week. Yesterday was a pretty good day but Today was probably 10 times as many people. I was busy from about 9:30 to almost 4 in the afternoon talking to people about the parts they need.
Tomorrow is the last day of the show and I hope it is a good day!!!
Today makes it 2 years that I have been blogging. Sometimes it is hard to find the time or inspiration to write.
I talked to the guy that puts on the tractor pull in Pelion SC and his first pull this year is the last Saturday in March. I might be ready by then, I still have a set of tires to cut. Also have a little work to do on my tractor.


Eric Benton, Southeast Tractor parts, 2 years and counting!!

The Face of Rural America!!!!!

While I was at the NTPDA meeting in Orlando, Florida I set in on a presentation on Social Media by Micheal Libbie from Insight Advertising. His blog is listed on my blog list also. Yesterday, I commented on his blog about how I enjoyed the presentation and had actually brought some ideas home to use in my business, Southeast Tractor Parts. This morning he emailed me some questions about my business and today he featured me and Southeast Tractor on his 1 hour long Webcast. This is like radio except only on the World Wide web. Here is a link to the live webcast. Scroll down just a little and go to the 48 minute mark and listen for my name.
Wow!!!! I answer a few questions and I am on a live webcast!!! Look for my picture!!!

Eric Benton, Southeast Tractor Parts, Expanding our market!!!! WOW !!!!

Florida Trip

Last week I went to Orlando FL. for the National Tractor Parts Dealer meeting. As usual there were a bunch of vendors set up to advertise their products. They also had 2 speakers, Michael Libbie who gave a presentation on Social Media and Ed Mcmillian who gave a presentation on Fraud and Embezzlement. The speakers by themselves were worth the trip.
I left home last Wednesday morning about 5:30 am and it was 25 degrees here. When I got out of the pickup in Florida it was 76 degrees. It was hot again!!!!
One of the ideas I brought home and I recommend to all of you is used a gel pen when you write a check. The gel ink is supposed to bind to the fiber in the check and cannot be washed off. A crook can take your check and wash the ink off the pay to line and the amount and leave your signature on the check Then they can fill it out payable to whoever and they can write in any amount that they want to. And the check has your signature on it. The gel pen ink is not supposed to wash out. If you use a regular ink pen the ink sits on top of the paper and will wash off with the right solution.

When you come here to buy a parts I will loan you my Gel pen to fill out your check!!!

Eric Benton, Southeast Tractor Parts,

Pulling Tires

Larry, this is the set I am getting. It is a little hard to see but the guy in the white T shirt is standing in front of it. I think I can run 2nd gear and get about 15mph maybe even 18mph down the track!!

Eric Benton, Southeast Tractor Parts, Pulling Tires!!

Farm Shows

The last day of the Raleigh Farm Show was a good day attendance wise. but a lousy day to have been outside. It snowed, rained and sleeted on us all day long. I got soaking wet loading up the truck to come home. I saw a couple of fender benders on the way home and it was probably because of the slick roads.
Sunday I left to go to the National Farm Machinery show in Louisville KY. It snowed on and off for the whole trip to Ky. I stayed at a hunting cabin a friend has there in Pleasureville KY. The driveway which is a 1 lane road between 2 fences that are barely far enough apart for the road. When a Dodge 2500 series ,long bed, quad cab pickup turns sideways on the slick ice/snow cover road there is verrrrrry little room left between the fences. I did not hit the fence but I think it is only because the fence moved over some!!!
There was 5 or 6 inches of snow on the ground when I got there and it snowed another 8 inches on Monday night. I backed the truck up on Tuesday morning to meet my buddies to go and finish setting the booth up and stuck my truck. They picked me up and I left the truck stuck 2 days before I could get to it to pull it out. When I did get it out I drove it to the front side of the cabin and stuck it again. So my buddies picked me up to go to the show every day. The only day I drove in was on Saturday so I could load the truck to come home. Once I had the weight of the parts and racks I had on display then I did not have any problem getting around in the snow. I left home with 1000 lbs plus my display parts and should have had 1400 lbs in the back of the truck. This was the worst year for weather problems that I have ever had while at Louisville.
However, It was one of the best years for talking to customers and new potential customers.
I met several people I had been shipping part to but had only talked to on the phone. So lousy weather good show!! I handed out 2000 catalogs while at the show. I was so busy I only got to go get ice cream on 2 days instead of every day!!!!

Eric Benton Southeast Tractor Parts,

Raliegh Farm Show Day 3

I am setting in my booth waiting for the show to open and it is a rainy, sleeting and snowy day here at the fairgrounds. I don't know how this will affect the attendance but I think it will be a good bit less than yesterday. Thursday was a real good day. There were a lot of people who were interested in parts. There were also a lot of my customers that came by the booth to talk to me. Some even came to pick up parts I had brought to the show for them. I had expected to see some empty booths here due to the economy, However, every booth is full and I have not found an empty booth anywhere here at the show. At the Sunbelt Expo in Moultrie GA there were a lot of empty booths where displayers cancelled or just did not show up. People have been more upbeat about things than there were in Moultrie in October. I hope today will be a good day also!!!

Eric Benton, Southeast Tractor Parts,

Raleigh Farm Show

Today was the first day of the Raleigh Farm Show. I expected it to be a slow day and I was pleasantly surprised. I was busy for most of the day talking to customers and handing out catalogs. I have a list of parts to find for people when I get home and also talked to several customers I have previously sold parts . One of these customers is going to pickup tires rims and centers this Saturday. The weather was good today, lots of sunshine, lots of snow and ice melted and everyone seemed to be in good spirits about the coming year. Tomorrow should be good and Friday is supposed to be back to a wintry mix.
This is my 1 year anniversary for blogging. I started last year during the show. Some days this is easy to do and sometimes it is almost impossible to do. There have been visitors from all over the states and several other countries. I have some ongoing projects I need to finish to get on here and some new projects I want to do if I can find the time. I will be here for the rest of the week and then at the National Farm Machinery show in KY next week and then home to sell more parts and get ready for another tractor pulling season.

Eric Benton, Southeast Tractor Parts, Working for a living!!!!

NTPDA Tradeshow

I have been a member of the National Tractor Parts Dealer Association since 1989. I have served as a director of the association, and as the vice president and president but this year I am just a member. This is probably the position I am most qualified to serve. All in all it was a good informative meeting. I found some new suppliers that will provide me with some new parts I have been looking for to meet my customers demand. The best "meetings" were in the bar at the end of the day. For some of us , this is more a family reunion to catch up with what is going on with familys and friends. Linda did not go this year and I was asked"Where's Linda?" about 100 times from various people aroound the country.
Friday night I went to the Grand Old Opry at the Ryman Auditorium. They were doing a live radio show while we were there for the 2 hour show. It was a good show. The wood pews (seats) had my butt numb in about 30 minutes. There were singers from the 70s & 80s as well as singers that are current so it was a good mix of country music. And it was interesting to be in a live radio show, especially one I have listened to many Friday and Saturday nights as I was growing up. The rest of the time I spent in the Trade Show looking for deals. I did find a couple of deals and brought them home with me. I had the cab of the pickup full of clutch packs and guage assemblies.

Eric Benton, Southeast Tractor Parts,Always looking for a deal!!!

On the Road!!

I am in Nashville TN attending the National Tractor Parts Dealer Association meeting. It was a 500 mile drive to get here. The interstate I40 is still blocked by a rockslide so I had to bypass around the slide on Hwy 70 from Asheville NC to Newport TN. I saw a lot of snow on the bypass, yards still covered in snow and trees that had blown down or the accumulation of snow had broken them on the side of the road. I also saw creeks and ponds that were frozen over and there was snow on top of the ice. At least the roads were clear. I have spent today in classes on Strategic Planning, Computer programs and Environmental planning. In a hour the trade show opens so I can see what my suppliers have available in new parts for the coming year. It has been a good time talking to friends from across the country.


Eric Benton, Southeast Tractor Parts,always looking for more parts to sell!!!

Richland Creek Revisited

Linda pulled in 2 classes 6000 lb & 5500 lb. In the 5500 lb she got a second place trophy. This was good considering it and the 6000 lb class were the largest classes there. There were about 15 tractor in each class. We have a good friend who has pulled there 13 years and only got 2 trophies the whole time. He had told me earlier that I probably would not get a trophy the first time. So for us to get trophies on the first trip is real good!!!
There were 75 to 80 pulling tractors there from several states. Next year we will be better prepared for the track and the competition.

Eric Benton, Southeast Tractor Parts,

Pictures of Richland Creek Tractor Show

Richland Creek Antique Fall Festival

Friday night I went to Ward SC to the Richland Creek Antique Tractor Pull. I pulled in 2 classes Friday night, 7000 and 7500 lb class and got 2 second place finishes. All of us that were there Friday night like to have froze. It must have been in the low 30's. My second pull was about 9:30pm and I sat on the tractor and shivered while waiting to pull. The pull was over about 10:30 and the time the lights went out it got real quiet fast!!! . I spent the night in the sleeper of my truck and could not hear any noise.
Saturday was nice and made a perfect day for pulling. I pulled in the 7000 lb class and got a first place trophy. Then I pulled in the 6000 lb class and got a second place finish. I think that made a pretty good day! I was the only tractor from SC in each class. The other tractors were from GA and TN.
This was a tractor show and pull. There were over 100 tractors on display anywhere from 10 hp to 275 hp tractors with a lot of different makes and models on display. They were running a JD Thresher that was powered by a belt that was ran to a 2 cylinder JD tractor. There was a wood plane powered by a JD H tractor and it was also ran off a belt. They had the rear tire of the tractor ran up against a post in the shed to hold it in place. There were steam tractors running at the show. There was a sorghum mill running. They were actually running cane through a sorghum mill to squeeze the juice out of the cane. They strained the juice and poured it in a stainless steel pan to cook it. As it was starting to heat up they would scoop the impurities off the top of the juice and then they boiled the juice to make molasses syrup. You could see the whole process from the beginning to the end. They had a blacksmith shop where they were making wagon wheels. The hub and spokes of the wheel were wood with a steel ring on the outside of the wheel.
If you have not been then you should make plans for next year. If you are pulling anywhere in the southeast then this should be a "Must BE There TO Pull" event. It is a little different from anywhere else I have pulled in SC GA or NC.

I will put some of the pictures in the next posts.

Eric Benton, Southeast Tractor Parts, New Pulling Tracks

Back To Work!

I got the truck loaded and left the Expo grounds at 5:30 pm on Thursday . I arrived home at 1:30 am Friday morning. I have gotten home as early as midnight and as late as 2:30 am. So it was an average trip home. It is 460 miles, mostly 4 lane roads and Georgia is always working on I95. The last 300 miles took me 4 hours to drive and that includes the 40 minutes I stopped to grab a bite to eat and 2 pit stops. It was a good drive home. The crowd was a lot smaller than it has been in the past. However, I talked to a lot of people looking for parts and I have had several sales since I got home. It was worth the effort! I talked to people about JD 4840 transmission parts, Farmall M pulling carbs, AC CA snap coupler springs, FD 7610 instrument panels, FD 8530 digital instrument panels, rims for a variety of tractors, IH 706 leveling box assemblies, JD 2030 leveling box assemblies, JD IH FD AC MF engine kits, Radiators, Wheel hubs, Sheet metal, Starters, FD fuel tanks, JD 3020 lower lift arms and seats. There was a lot of interest in a lot of different parts.

Eric Benton, Southeast Tractor Parts, Show Times!!!

Sunbelt Expo ... Last day

Today is the last day of the Expo. At four o'clock I will start to load up to go home. The numbers have been off for this show this year I bet some of the exhibitors will be tearing down and loading up by 1 o'clock this afternoon. I have talked to a lot of people looking for parts so maybe we will sell some.
I normally bring 30 to 40 parts to display at the show. Normally, one part will get 70% of the attention of people walking up to the display. The difference this year is that every part I have on display has been picked up and looked at and asked questions about and priced. I think it shows that more than ever people are looking for an alternative to the pricey OEM parts.
We've got them better prices....better parts....better people to deal with!!!!

I will be in the office sometime Friday. Maybe not quite sane from being from the show but I will be there. Call us for your parts needs!

Eric Benton, Southeast Tractor Parts, still at the show

Sunbelt Expo

I am setting in my booth at the sunbelt expo in Moultrie GA this morning waiting for the show to open up at 8.30. It is 7.43 now, I have to get here early to beat the morning traffic coming in to the show. This is the best time of the day to be here. There is not much of a crowd so you can walk and see everything without having to work your way around the crowd.
Today is the second day of the show. Yesterday was a good day but the crowd numbers were off from last year. I quoted several engine kits and clutch packs and lots of other parts to farmers and repair shop people.
There are lots of exhibits here to look at, just about anything you need to farm with today. Tractors, combines, pickers, parts buildings, vehicles,net wrap, twine, chemicals,welders, a tornado shelter,seed handling,lights,fuel conditioner,fencing materials,tools, and Southeast Tractor Parts for the parts to keep them running! So if you are not here come on down to Moultrie GA for the show. You have today and tomorrow!

Eric Benton, Southeast Tractor Parts, selling parts out of the Georgia branch!!!

Last Day of the Southern Farm Show

Friday was the last day of the Southern Farm Show in Raleigh NC. The number of people that were there was probably more than day one and two combined. I was busy enough that I did not get a chance to go and get a hotdog for lunch until about 2.30 in the afternoon and the crowd did not thin out until 3.30 . The most asked about part I had on display was a E5NN10849BA tach/guage cluster that goes in the dash of a Ford tractor. It fits
2600, 3600, 3900, 4100, 4600, 5600, 6600, 7700 and some other models. I had one couple asking about a Tillotson carburetor and that is one that I don't get asked about very often. The 2nd most asked about part was the carburetor I had there which was a 17A11 Zenith carb. The 17A11 fits lots of different tractors like a IH 240, 330, 340, 404, MF TO20, TO30, TO35, 35, 50, MH 50, AC WD and others.
The show ended at 4 o'clock and the madhouse began, all the exhibitors trying to get loaded and on the road. I beat the rush hour traffic out of Raleigh just barely and made it home in time to have dinner with my wife.
Today, I am unloading some of my parts and loading others to go to the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville KY. I will be there next week exhibiting parts. I hope to see some of you at the show.
Thanks,
Eric