For years I have read other people’s stories about their
engine finds and restorations, and I thought it was my turn to do
my part.
This story is about a common 1 -1/2 to 2-1/2 HP IHC LB engine I
bought back in 1984 from Bob Zeigler of the Berkshire Engine Farm.
Bob told me the engine was almost new and that it had come from an
International Harvester dealer’s warehouse. I am sure this was
true, as the engine had no visible wear and came with the original
owner’s manual – and even a factory tag.
It ran just fine, and I kept it until 1998 when hard times
forced me to sell it. I ended up selling it to a co-worker, who
wanted to use it on a buzz saw to cut firewood. I told him that
with only 2-1/2 HP – and an antique, at that – I didn’t think
it would do what he wanted it to.
I lost track of him and the engine until June 2003, when we had
occasion to see each other again. After talking a few minutes he
asked me if I wanted my old engine back. ‘It was never any good
and had no power. It finally quit and won’t run,’ he
said.
When I went to buy it back I found the pulley sitting next to
the engine with a stub of the camshaft still in it. The engine was
covered with sawdust, oil and grease. I almost changed my mind, but
I really wanted this engine back as it was from my ‘younger
years’ and it was the second engine I bought when I entered
this hobby.
The more I got into the engine the sicker I felt, both from
seeing what this person had done to a good running, antique engine
and the feeling that maybe I was on ‘the shorter end of the
stick.’ The camshaft was broken from overloading the engine,
and to make matters worse he had screwed the governor lever screw
in as tight as it would go. When the camshaft broke, it broke the
exhaust rocker arm and bent the valve. I will never understand how
some people have so little common sense and no regard for machines
such as these old engines.
Thanks to Hit and Miss Enterprises and finding a Junker engine
with a good camshaft, I was able to repair and restore it back to a
good running engine. After a new paint job it started right up, and
it now runs as good as it did when it was new.
It might sound a little crazy, but I hope it is as glad to be
back as I am to have it back in my collection. I am sure all of us
collectors have sold some of our engines and tractors only to find
out how attached we are to them. I know I did.
Contact engine enthusiast Bill Rogers at: 17
Independence Lane, Hannacroix, NY 12087.