Posted by Roger Aspinwall [72.171.16.183] on Tuesday, January 06, 2015 at 18:07:52 :
I went over to help my second cousin with an old Massey Ferguson 35 Tractor to get it running again. We have had a pretty good amount of rain lately water standing in ditches. This area has planted pine forest that produces a lot of pine straw scattered in with the farm land. So we have pine straw crews working around here almost year around it seems a lot of the time. I was on my way back to the house in the old cummins on the dirt road to the house. Came around the corner and there was a Ford Diesel in the road kinda backed up to road tractor and 50ft trailer loaded full of pine straw. He backed off the packed dirt road to hook and pull the load of pine straw out of the edge of the forest basically an old log road. I slowed down and stopped the lady said they were stuck and she could not get him pulled out. Asked if I could help and pull him out of the mud with my pickup. I told her I was not heavy enough to get that rig unstuck but I had a truck had the house that could do the job. I drove the 1/4 mile and switched to the old red beast. I got back to where they were and they looked at the old W500 with unsure looks the old poly head V8 singing it's deep throated song thru the flow masters. I climbed down out of the cab and went forward to look the hubs. I backed up to the Kenworth single axle tractor hooked to that 50ft trailer and did not blink an eye. He hooked an old chain to the tow shackle loop on the hitch of the truck. I climbed back up and the cab pulled forward cinched the chain not even a snatch strap. Now remember this a packed dirt road. I eased out the clutch brought engine up and looked out the back window. Saw the road tractor ease out his clutch and start to spin. I poured the coal to the old beast and felt the rig behind start to creep forward. I kept the coal going to it leaving a rooster tail of dirt road behind me. Felt the old 500 walk sideways a couple times looking for more digging room. The Kenworth found some solid road but was still spinning from the weight of the fully loaded trailer also still in mud. I kept the pull going till the whole rig was on solid road. I stopped eased back to unhook and jumped out of the cab of the old Dodge. The woman came walking up to me and the driver of the truck climbed down came walking toward me both with a bit of disbelief on their face. Oh yeah I failed to mention the 5yo grandson that I saw standing up looking out the windshield of the Kenworth. I bet you 5 dollars he be telling everyone about that old red truck that pulled granddads rig out of the mud. I never batted an eye or doubted my old W500 would get the job done. All I could think was where is a video camera when you need one. I know an old power wagon dodger would belief this story, but who else believe an old gas engine Dodge would pull it off. I guess maybe the guys that built the W500 Shuttle Wagon. I must admit it made my week I ate it up and LOVED IT. Sorry if this story got a little long but hey gotta love it.
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