3109 Ridgeway Drive, Ft. Wayne, Indiana 46816
The tractor was used and abused like no other for about 20
years. It was used by Dad’s brothers on the homeplace northeast
of Tripp, leased out to the school for $3.00 a day to help dig the
basement for the auditorium in the late 30s, and used on the
threshing machine about 10 years.
When the Second World War was about over, Dad got a model A John
Deere on skeleton wheels and in ’48, a new S.C. Case, so by now
we weren’t using the KT much.
The Korean War came along and I was gone for about 2 years and
kinda forgot the old Twin City. It sat behind the garage for years,
was used to plow some gardens and dug a basement in ’51, was
robbed of parts and rusted tight.
Then Louie decided to save what was left and pulled it to the
east end of town where it sat for years under some trees.
Meanwhile, I came to Ft. Wayne and worked at the IH truck plant.
In 1982, I found out about the big 60-90 Twin City at Rollag,
Minnesota and it got my interest going.
Then on a trip to South Dakota in September of that year, I
stopped at Mitchell, went through Ronnie’s Junk Yard and found
an old KT on cut off steel. But Ronnie didn’t want to sell it
because he was planning on an auction sale later on in the fall. I
talked to old Louie about the old tractor and he said ‘It’s
yours, Roy.’
I was calling around the country for parts and checking to see
when Ronnie was having that auction. I finally got hold of
Ronnie’s boy and he said he would sell the KT. I told him I
would take it and to get it up on planks so it wouldn’t freeze
down, that I’d be out right after Christmas of 1982 to haul it
down to my brother’s farm near Delmont.
About this time I found out about the Prairie Gold Rush, and
things started to look good. I went to South Dakota just in time
for one of those good old snow storms and made arrangements for my
nephew, Michael Fechner, to move the tractor in the spring. On the
way back I stopped at Roger Baumgartner’s and looked at his KT,
then I learned that the KT in the junk yard had a brass carburetor
on it.
After I was laid off in July of’ 83 (as they closed up the
truck plant here), I tore the engine in my KT down. It was in bad
shape-2 push rods rusted and pistons stuck. I brought a piston back
and NAPA sent it in, had new rings made (2 per groove); Louie and I
ground the valves. I found a new head gasket from Adrian Egbert
plus a few items I picked up at Dalton, Minnesota at the P.G.R.
display and convention in September of ’83, where I saw my
first early KT on full steel at a show.
Now it was about the third week of October, 1983, and I thought
I had everything I needed to get it running. After another 800 mile
trip and a week’s worth of hard work with late nights, I had
everything assembled. My nephew and I primed it and on the second
pull on the crank, the engine popped and ran. What a joy it was to
hear it run again after all those years! I had new fenders made and
in the summer of ’84, my nephew and I painted it. In July
’85 I had the road bands made to over the steel lugs. I ran it
in the Delmont, South Dakota, Centennial parade June 14, 1986 and
hauled it home to Ft. Wayne and have had many good comments on
it.
By the way, Dad had a 3-row cultivator on this tractor. You can
see some of the mounting brackets on the tractor yet and it’s
got power lift.
The ‘before’ picture shown here was taken in September
of 1982 where it sat in Delmont, South Dakota. The other two are
here at Ft. Wayne.
Also, Dad put a new block in. On these the crank case is
separate from the block, pistons are 40,000 over size, so you can
see it was run hard.
I have two uncles living yet who know this tractor from day one.
Uncle Helmuth said it was a ‘real tractor’ and Uncle Alvin
said ‘you couldn’t break him’. After’ this
restoration job, they call me ‘TC’ now.
