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!!!

Air Conditioning!!

Late yesterday our AC unit died and went to where dead AC units go when they pass. I don't where it went but I know it is cooler than it is here !!!!!! It is 95 on the outside and several degrees warmer in here. Tony, the AC reviver just drove up and is out looking at the dead unit. I hope he can work his magic and revive the cool air machine!

Eric Benton, Southeast Tractor Parts, It ain't hot as Hell here, but I can see the gates from here and they are open!

Yesterday's Rain

It rained 3.8 inches of rain late yesterday. From 4:15 to 5 pm it rained about 3 of those inches and the rest came before midnight. Lots of thunder and lightning!!!!
We had only had about 1/2 in of rain in the last 40 or so days and it was extremely dry most of the corn here had burnt up from a lack of water.
Hopefully the rest of the year will be better.

Eric Benton, Southeast Tractor Parts, Thankful for the rain!!

Hail, Lots of Hail

Last Saturday night I went to my High School Class Reunion. About 2 hours into the get together it started raining and storming. Lots of rain, lots of lightening, lots of thunder and then lots of Hail, Big Hail, the size of golf balls and it covered the ground 3 to 4 inches deep. I did not think alot about it damaging the pickup. I bet every vehicle in the parking lot was damaged. It looked like someone had been out there with a small ball peen hammer beating up the hood and the top and the sides of the truck. So now I have a one of a kind dimpled truck. Hope it makes it worth more!!! Eric Benton, Southeast Tractor Parts, Anyone want a special one of a kind truck!!!

Snow 1-10-11

I am setting here looking out through the front door of the shop at the snow while drinking a cup of hot chocolate. Looking at what is left over from the snow storm from Monday. We had 8 inches of snow. Mr. Planning Disaster Expert (LM)give yourself a pat on the back. You planned a good one!! I know you will read this and I saw how you artfully curved that band of heavy snow around to include me. Next time push it a little farther south or throw it at Charlotte, again. You should get medals like they do in the army. You could wear them and people would know what you have accomplished. A medal with a little building and and a playground, You could point to it and say "Yep, I closed all the schools in Chesterfield County for 2 days with just one snowfall." A brown truck medal with a white pile of snow on it would mean "Closed UPS for 2 days". A medal with a glass of milk and a loaf of bread would mean "Sold every gallon of milk and every loaf of bread in just 24 hours in Chesterfield County". I think Wal-Mart and Food Lion are going to send you an award for being the number one salesman for the month!!!!
However, Southeast Tractor Parts is still open for business and I sold some parts yesterday and have already had calls today for parts. So you will not get a medal for STP this time.

Eric Benton, Southeast Tractor Parts, picking at Larry

A Snowy Day

I went to bed last night with rain lightly falling about 11 pm. And I thought well no snow for us. Woke up this morning with 2 inches of snow on the ground and snow still falling from the sky. The flakes seem o be getting larger and are falling faster than they were earlier. I'm going out to take pictures I will try to post some later.
Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!!!

Eric Benton, Just watching it snow !!!

Snow

I came out of the house about 6:30 am this morning and it was still dark and as I was standing there I could see little flakes bouncing off my jacket. It was lightly snowing. It was 29 degrees on the thermometer. It tapered off in a couple of minutes and as I was driving out the drive it turned to rain.


Eric Benton, Southeast Tractor Parts, just trying to stay warm today!!

Cold Weather

Monday morning it was 21 degrees, Tuesday morning it was 16 degrees, Wednesday morning is was 16 degrees, Thursday morning it was 21 degrees, Today it was 24 degrees! A regular heat wave!!! Monday morning the pond did not have ice on it. Every other morning including this morning the pond has been covered in ice. Since we have had few days this week that the temperature got over 32 degrees the ground is frozen which probably is why the pond was frozen over at 24 degrees.
Last night I went and looked at a JD 3020 that a friend of mine is repairing. The owners son was pulling stumps with the chain hooked to the lift arms. He would back up to the stump, put it in a high gear and pop the clutch and let it run to the end of the chain. When it reached the end of the chain it would yank (and yank is the proper word) the front end of the tractor 6 to 7 feet off the ground. I think he is lucky to still be among the living. The lift stopped working somewhere in this assault. I looked at the control valve for the lift and pressure checked the lift piston and it worked. I pressure checked the control valve and could not get anything to work. It had a pressure valve that I could not open with 175 pounds of air pressure. It normally requires about 1700 pounds of pressure to open the valve for oil to go to the lift control valve. I then back pressured the valve and with the lift lever in the down position I could blow air through the return side of the hydraulic system all the way to the oil cooler in front of the radiator. I could hear it bubble in the cooler! I moved the lever to the up position which should have closed the down/return valve in the control valve. It didn't, I could still hear it bubble through the return side in the oil cooler. We pulled the control valve off and all the valve looked OK. We installed a used control valve I had on a tractor and everything went back to work. The only thing I could think that had happened is the wall between the high pressure incoming oil and the return oil had been cracked by the shock wave created when he hit the end of the chain. The repeated yanking on the lift had evidently beat a large passage out between the two oil passages.
The used control valve fixed the problem and made it an expensive stump pulling!!!

Eric Benton ,Southeast Tractor Parts, Used parts not availible at JD anymore!

Dawn of a New Day!

I went and voted this morning. I was the first one there and had to verify the vote box was empty and the seals were in place. It was the first time I have been the first to vote.
When I got home there was a beautiful sunrise lighting up the sky. If I believed in omens then I would be able to say that the beautiful sunrise would mean that things are going to change for the better because of how we vote. However, on the other hand I ran my pickup out of fuel on the way home. I had 5 gallons in a fuel can in the bed of the truck I had been hauling around for a week and I put it in the truck and got it cranked back up and drove it straight to the store. Seventy two dollars later I had a full tank. So I will let you figure out what these omens mean.
Maybe, someone is saying Good Luck!!!

Eric Benton

Cooling down

I came out of the house this morning and it was 59 degrees. A pleasant change from a month ago!!!


Eric Benton, Southeast Tractor Parts, enjoying the weather!!!

HOT AGAIN

We got to 102 degrees last Thursday and then had rain Friday and Saturday. 1.7 inches for the weekend.
John ,I found out to late about the chicken bog to be there. I know it was good! I would not mind driving to Monroe for good chicken bog!!!!!

We are getting some more rain right now. Maybe it will rain all night.

HOT!!!!!

Today's temperature was 99 and tomorrow is forcasted for 101. We need some rain to cool off and help the soybeans to grow. Maybe we will get some on Saturday. Promises promises!!

Weather and Stuff!

Yesterday, I had a customer come in and say he needed a bearing for a Ford
9N steering sector. I looked it up in the computer and he said his did not look like the one on the screen. I asked him did he have a 3 speed transmission. This is the easiest way to tell the determine if it is a 9N (Three speed transmission) or a 8N ( Four speed transmission). He said he had a 3 speed but his steering gear was different. Then he said " I have got it in the truck" I said " Lets go look at it!"
It was a steering sector for a Ford 601!!! All 601's have a 4 or 5 speed transmission. Then he remembered it was a 4 speed. Some days it is clear why I have no hair!!
Last night it rained somewhere between 2 and 3 inches in about 45 minutes and this was accompanied by a loud amount of THUNDER and a bright amount of LIGHTENING the whole time it was raining. it was probably the most rain we have had at one time in the last 2 years.
Our pond went from being almost dryed up to overflowing!


Eric Benton, Southeast Tractor Parts, Crazy customers and weather!

Weather

Our last bout of snow looked real good on Tuesday night. There was enough to cover the grass in the yard at about 10:30 pm. The next morning almost all of it was gone. Today it is all gone.
The weather people are calling for a nice weekend. Maybe most of our winter is gone! But,I am not going to put my jacket up yet!!!!
Even with the weather the first few days of March have been really busy and I like it! Lots of people are getting the garden tractors ready to break ground and start planting. The farmers are rebuilding engines and replacing clutches and getting ready to go. I sold 2 identical DT436 IH engine kits yesterday both were for a IH 1466. I am looking for a gear for a IH 1566 transmission for a customer.


Eric Benton. Southeast Tractor Parts,Selling Parts & Staying Warm(trying to)!!!!

Weather

It is raining, sleeting and snowing here and the weather people are calling for 3 inches of snow this afternoon and tonight. At least it is only going to stick on the grass and not on the highway. I had enough bad weather while in KY 2 weeks ago. Hopefully, this will be gone tomorrow. I need to pull parts off a Super C tractor and I don't like to pull parts in the rain ,especially, freezing rain! The way it is falling now I would be soaked and freezing over in about 7 minutes.



Southeast Tractor Parts, new and used tractor parts, some still on the tractor!!!!