2718 CR 120, Craig, Colorado 81625
I was looking for parts for an Alamo engine that my dad gave me.
I decided the best person to ask would be Val Fitzpatrick as he was
the oldest ‘old timer’ that I knew of94 or 95 at the
time.
Val didn’t know of any Alamo, but he did know of a Waterloo
Boy tractor. He hadn’t seen it in about 20 years.
About this time I got in touch with Bob Arembell, a large land
owner in this area and he drew me a map of where he thought the old
tractor was.
After taking a bunch of wrong turns and starting over a number
of times, I was thinking the junk man must have beat me. We finally
made the right turn and there the junk was. What was left of
it.
One big mistake I made at the start was I didn’t have my
camera. You should always have a before and after picture. I
can’t begin to describe the condition of my tractor.
The tractor had been cut up with a cutting torch about 1966, 14
years before. They must have just bought the torch as almost every
bolt was cut. They had used the frame and other parts to make a
gold separating machine.
What was left was the motor with the cover removed the
transmission with the covers removed, the rear axle and wheels and
the front axle and one wheel and the front casting.
The motor and transmission were filled full with pack rat nests
and blow sand. Pack rats incorporate cactus in their nests to keep
other varmits out.
A few days later I got my daughter and son-in-law to go with me
to help load part of it. We had a tripod and come-along to load
with. We set up the tripod and lifted the motor as high as we
could. It still wasn’t high enough so we took off the flywheel
and crankshaft and finally got the motor loaded.
Next came the transmission. We got it as high as we could and
found some old 4x4s and pried it on in. What a struggle.
A couple of days later my wife and I went to get the rest. I had
to take the wheels off the axle. We backed the pickup to a bank and
rolled the wheels in. We then loaded the axle, front axle and
wheel, one fender and other small parts that were scattered
around.
When I got home I called a neighbor who has a gin pole on the
back of his pickup to unload the wheels. He estimated the rear
wheels weighed about 400 pounds apiece. We made several more trips
with a metal detector and found several more small parts. I sure
wish I had taken a picture before I started to load anything!
Now comes the letdown. I have a Waterloo Boy tractor. Part of
one, anyway, and where do I get parts?
I ran several ads in GEM for a frame and other
parts. I wrote a lot of people who had Waterloo Boy tractors. Sean
Callaghan sent me a drawing of a frame.
About this time I received a phone call from Clarence Criswell
in South Carolina asking if I still needed a frame. Boy, I sure
did! He gave me Lloyd Bellin’s name in Minnesota. He also gave
me Jack Parkhurst’s address in Encampment, Wyoming. Jack also
has a Waterloo Boy.
I made a deal for the frame and an extra carburetor. Lloyd was
going to California after Christmas, so he brought the frame and
carb to Wyoming and we met him at Wamsetter and had a nice visit.
He also gave me a bearing box for the con rod as mine was
missing.
I sent the bearing to a friend of mine in Indiana, Bob Stiger,
and he had another one cast for me. A neighbor of mine has a small
lathe and he machined it for me.
The wrist pins were so loose you could slip a .020 shim in
beside them. Must have had quite a knock! I had to have some
oversize ones made.
Bobby Robinson, another collector from Hayden, widened the ring
grooves and we put in wider rings as the grooves were badly worn.
Bobby also machined the valve guides as the old ones were in awful
condition. Things are sure looking up now!
I have made several trips to Encampment to see how things go
together and Jack has loaned me parts so I could get some cast. It
sure is nice to have friends in this business.
I wrote Berton Blazek in Innisfree, Alberta. He had a Dixie
magneto for a Waterloo, but I couldn’t afford it at the
time.
The next summer we went to Canada as chaperones for the 4H kids.
I asked Chip Large if he knew where Innisfree was and he said it
was only about 50 miles north of where we were.
We went up the next day and I bought the magneto. You should
have seen us in the airport. I had the overnight case with about
fifty pounds of magneto in it and the wife had the big suitcase. I
bet people thought I was something else. We sure enjoyed Canadathe
people were so friendly.
All this time I am brushing, cleaning and sandblasting parts. It
is starting to look like a tractor but it still has a long way to
go.
I located a radiator in Iowa. Dwight Strofle had it, so I had
some of the hunters who were coming from Indiana bring it out for
me.
Clarence Crisswell had extra gear shift levers which I needed
badly. These completed all the major parts. I have had to make a
few parts which I will change when I can find new ones.
On the 25th of September, 1983, we hooked a chain on it and gave
it a pull. It sure was a thrill to hear it go bang for the first
time in about 25 years. (I didn’t have a muffler.)
It didn’t seem to pump much oil so I have reworked the oil
pump. I also have a problem with the ignition but as soon as warm
weather gets here I will get it worked out.
I hope this will encourage others who don’t have much to
start with to go ahead and fix them up. It takes a long time (I was
a little over three years in restoring this one) but it is sure a
lot of satisfaction when you get done.