Parts 37 and 38

The John Deere tech and I looked at the drawing. Yep. Parts 37 and 38 were what I needed. It’s a strange feeling when you are driving your tractor near three board wood fencing and the loader control lever slips out of place. The front-end loader freezes in place as you try raising it, and you think, “Uh-oh. Danger! Danger, Will Robinson!”

I’ve had the John Deere 4400 for 26 years now (Nothing Runs Like a Deere). It’s a midsized tractor – bigger than a yard tractor, but nowhere near the size of tractors used on large farms. It’s been reliable and a real work horse around the farm. I’ve had it in the shop a couple of times, but usually I can fix the problem myself. It just takes some time. Now that I’m retired, time is something I have.

The loader control lever broke once before. It was a winter day a couple of years ago, and I was driving to my neighbor’s house to plow her driveway after a snowstorm. I jury-rigged it to keep it up in a fixed position and plow her out with my blade. I made a trip to the John Deere dealer that time as well to buy the parts. Fixing it in the wintertime was a royal pain. You need to work sight unseen in a tight location to make it happen. Eventually, with Cathy’s help, I was able to get ‘er done.

 After replacing the nut and lock washer that winter, I periodically checked it, ensuring it stayed tight. After a couple of months, with it always tight, I promptly forgot about it.

Until last week.

When the exact same thing happened. 

Except the weather was better.

You need to be careful around fences with front-end loaders. If they hook onto a board or a post, the fence is breaking or moving. More money. More work. More time. As I was bushhogging along the fence (cutting the high grass in the field), I was moving the front-end loader above the fence line to ensure that didn’t happen. That’s when she froze.

Damn. I guided the tractor about a foot off the fence line and finished the 100 feet or so and then stopped for the day and drove back to the barn.

I looked at the lever when I climbed off the tractor. Yep, same problem as last time. I briefly cursed myself for coulda, shoulda, woulda on inspecting the part regularly for tightness, and then walked to the house and popped a beer

 The next day, I went back to John Deere and talked with the tech. I showed him the photo, he checked my records and printed off the spec sheet. Yep. I needed parts 37 and 38 again – a nut and lock washer. As he went to the storage room for the parts, I said, “Bring me three of each.”  He laughed and said, “Sure thing.” Five dollars and some-odd-cents later, I was on my way back to the farm.

When I returned home, it was late afternoon and the smart thing to do was to wait until the next day and fix it then. I didn’t feel like being smart and went to the barn to grab a big pan to put under the tractor (in case I dropped the nut or washer) and then walked to the tractor.

“All right baby, let’s see if we can cooperate and do this easily.”

 As I said, it’s a bit difficult trying to work in a small space on the side of the tractor, with your hands coming in unseen from the bottom to thread the washer and nut back on. I dropped the washer a couple of times and the nut once and was about to stop for the day. I figured I could come back the next morning and with Cathy’s help, finish.

 Then, I changed my mind and said to myself, “Let’s try one more time. Just use some patience. The kind Dad used when working on something tough around the house.”

 …and… Miracles do happen. The washer was on, and I was fumbling with the nut, when suddenly, it found the thread and started going on the bolt.

 I finished with a wrench on each side. The space was even tighter with the wrenches, but it worked. Nothing was moving that wasn’t supposed to move.

 Dad’s ghost? My patience? Luck? I have no clue. I know I’m going to try and check the connection more regularly—and I have two spare sets of parts 37 and 38 sitting in MY parts drawer for when I inevitably forget again.⁠