km3h 543 #201 Posted September 25, 2014 Scott, when it comes to Wheel Horse, we are all just big kids and none of wants to grow up. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
whfan74 2,066 #202 Posted September 26, 2014 Looking forward to getting back to work with the kids. Make sure to come to the meet and greet to see them on display! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AMC RULES 37,126 #203 Posted September 26, 2014 If you are referring to me.......then no I will never graduate Craig! I might get older but I will never grow up! Not you silly... scroll up to post #179 above. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
whfan74 2,066 #204 Posted October 8, 2014 Well we will be back out in the barn tonight after school. Will try and get a bit done on the old Horses and then prepare for our field trip next week. I am sorry that I have neglected posting on this thread here lately. Will try and remember to get some photos and a follow up with what is going on with the kids. Excited to see them tonight!!!!! 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
whfan74 2,066 #205 Posted October 9, 2014 What a great night back out in the club barn! The kids started the night watching the video from the past weekend. They absolutely loved it! From there we headed out to the barn. Before we pulled the tools out we talked about how blessed we are from all of the generous folks that have made donations to keep us going. I shared with them that without the extra help then there is no way we could function without it. We truly feel blessed. A big thank you goes out to Mike (ol550) and his wife for their generous monetary donation. You guys are awesome and Mike has one of the best sense of humors I have come to know. Don't share that with him, he might get a big head! Paul (shorts) and his wife Sharon are great supporters of the St. Baldrick's foundation and our show. They purchased many raffle tickets and were given some by another individual in attendance. All of the prizes they won were not kept for themselves but instead they graciously picked and donated items that will benefit the kids in the club! How cool is that! When we made it to the barn all of us went through the box of goodies together for the first time. One club member said: "this is like Christmas morning!" I couldn't agree more. Here is a photo of them showing off the new goodies! We then turned our focus to disassembling the B-80 that the kids won in the essay contest. Much learning was taking place and persistence was used in freeing up some stubborn, rusty bolts. Next week we will not be out in the barn but will be taking a field trip to the Warsaw Buick and GMC dealership for a behind the scenes tour. We have already been talking about many of the skills we use transfer over to what the mechanics use in the service department. The difference is they work on a much more complex animal. During the tour the kids will be receiving a very large tool set that will be just for the club. We are all pretty excited! Here are a few pictures of the kids standing behind the new project and getting to work on it a couple of weeks ago! Tune in next week to hear about our exciting field trip! 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
whfan74 2,066 #206 Posted October 16, 2014 Tractor club was back in action again tonight. We didn't head out to the barn but rather took our first field trip of the school year. This has become a lot of fun and very interesting for the kids, as well as the adults. Unfortunately we were missing a couple of members due to some conflicts but those that were there were able to get bombarded with a wealth of information. The night was spent at Warsaw Buick GMC here in town. One of the club members has a father that is a service technician at the dealership. He set up the appointment and took us on just over an hour tour of the service area. The kids were impressed with the technology and were blown away on how much the tools cost to be prepared to do a good job. Here is a photo awaiting our tour! Here we are on our tour getting a peek at the day to day operations in the service center along with the tools and equipment and tools to be successful. At the conclusion of the tour the kids had the opportunity to meet Mr. Nine who is the owner of the dealership. He asked them some questions about what they had learned and then presented them with their very own set of over 200 tools that is exclusively for the club. We are very thankful for the generosity of yet another donor that has supported our program. Here they are receiving their tool set! Of course the night wouldn't be complete without a chance for one goofy photo! Next week will be Fall Break and we would be unable to meet. The kids were so bummed that we agreed to try and meet on Monday so we didn't miss out for the week. These kids are dedicated! 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AMC RULES 37,126 #207 Posted October 16, 2014 Seriously... how can I get into that class? 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
whfan74 2,066 #208 Posted October 29, 2014 Thanks again to everyone that has been following along. I am pumped up for another great night of Tractor Club. Last week was our fall break so we were unable to meet. The kids are chomping at the bit to start turning some wrenches. Especially the new set that we received from Warsaw Buick GMC here in town. This has been fun! Now to get those tractors completed!!!!!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
whfan74 2,066 #209 Posted October 30, 2014 Had a small group for club tonight as some were sick and others were at basketball practice. That didn't stop us though. We spent the first few minutes collecting food for our school canned food drive and then off to the barn we went. The first order of business was to break in to that new tool kit and get it organized. Everything was packaged in small bags so we took everything out and placed it in the proper locations. Here is a photo of the finished product. After that huge task was complete it was time to focus on the tractors. More was disassembled from the raffle tractor and sanding was started on a few parts. It is slow going, but we are still moving forward. Here is a photo of some of the kids working on removing the left running board. Of course my son spent time with my dad buttoning up some loose ends on the tractor that was donated by Clyde Potts out of Wooster, OH. Boy do we really need to get those first two tractors done! Slow and steady wins the race they say. Be sure to tune back in next week as wrenches will be turning yet again. I can't believe we have such a nice warm place to work this year as things are getting cold outside. We are blessed! 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rick_in_CT 156 #210 Posted October 30, 2014 Way to go Mr. Nine at Warsaw Buick GMC. I plan to send him a thank you card from Connecticut just to let him know that his good turn for these kids is greatly appreciated from a very wide community of people. Nice job Scott. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
whfan74 2,066 #211 Posted October 30, 2014 Thanks so much Rick I know that would mean a lot to them. It was such a nice surprise and one that will be put to great use for many years to come. The kids are really taking pride in their new tools and thoroughly enjoyed using them for the first time last night. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lt230s 14 #212 Posted November 6, 2014 Great to hear about the community support you are getting. Nothing like new tools to get the blood flowing to work on a project. Keep up the good work and keep us informed about your progress. I love this thread! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
whfan74 2,066 #213 Posted November 7, 2014 Last night we were back at it. Wow are those new tools coming in real handy! We are big time now! The weather was cool and good enough for us to be out in the fresh air turning wrenches and making some dust! We had a couple teachers stop by and snap some photos of the kids. I took a few and they sent some others to add to the collection. The two painted/powder coated tractors are getting close to being done! Much of the focus was kept on the essay contest B-80. Disassembly commenced with some muscle and determination. Here ya go..... Thank you so much to all of you who follow this thread. The kids will check in periodically to see your feedback and your "likes" of the project. We are giving our best effort and are continuing to move forward. Tune in next week to check out the fun! 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
whfan74 2,066 #214 Posted November 18, 2014 Make sure to drop on over to our new Facebook page dedicated to our club. The kids and I would love for you to "like" our page and follow along on this amazing journey! You can find us here: https://www.facebook.com/HarrisonGTC Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
whfan74 2,066 #215 Posted December 18, 2014 We are still wrenching away. I have been keeping the Facebook page up to date and will try to add to this thread as time permits. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all of the club members! 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JimD 3,345 #216 Posted December 18, 2014 I just love what you are doing with these great kids Scott. Giving the kids something else to do besides video games and texting is helping them experience the kind of childhood most of us had in an earlier time. These kids will grow up understanding how to relate to people far better than those who never get the chance to be involved in activities like this. You are a credit to your profession. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
whfan74 2,066 #217 Posted December 27, 2014 Well I am missing the kids as we are on Christmas break right now. Since I am down with an upper respiratory infection I thought it would be a good time to get this thread updated for all of our dedicated followers. Here is what we have going on..... More disassembly took place on the B-80 with much more hand sanding. They just love grabbing a sanding block and going to town! The kids were ecstatic for another generous gift from Mr. Thames Goon who is a local collector. We now have our very own blast cabinet to help speed up the process of the smaller parts. Here is Thomas working on getting everything hooked up so the cabinet is ready to use. More of the tractor was disassembled and getting ready for the next stage. Slowly but surely we are tidying up a few loose ends on the first tractor. I would never have imagined it would take this long. We haven't given up hope yet. We will persevere. Our new blast cabinet has been a welcomed addition! The kids are amazed on how much it speeds up the process. We have been blessed this past year with some monetary donations. With the generosity we used the donations to our fullest on Black Friday. We were able to get a shiny new shop vac to connect to our blast cabinet. As well as another set of tools so that all hands can stay busy. Now since we have an amazing building to enjoy, and we were all in the Christmas spirit, we thought it would be fitting to decorate with some super cool tractor themed Christmas lights! And here is how we left the B-80 as we all headed off for Christmas break. Much progress has been done and much more work needs to be done! 2014 was an amazing year for this club. Thank you to all of you that have supported, encouraged, and followed our journey! We can't wait to see what 2015 has in store for us! 6 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rickdiver2003 4 #218 Posted December 27, 2014 Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Gears! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
953 nut 55,033 #219 Posted December 27, 2014 Thanks for the update and hope you get to feeling better. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Desko 608 #220 Posted December 27, 2014 Merry belated Christmas and a happy New year and are you going to be splitting the uni drive and showing them how it works and to just replace seals and stuff? I know this is done out of your own pocket but it would be a great experience 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
whfan74 2,066 #221 Posted December 27, 2014 We have taken apart one and checked all of the internals. We have also brought in a 12 hp Kohler that was blown. Going through both of these things showed us how important regular maintenance is when working with any type of machinery. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
whfan74 2,066 #222 Posted December 27, 2014 Please don't forget to like us on Facebook! You can follow along with all of the fun here: https://www.facebook.com/HarrisonGTC?ref=bookmarks 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GT14 243 #223 Posted December 28, 2014 Great project Scott. Keep up the great work! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
whfan74 2,066 #224 Posted March 26, 2015 Well my last update on this thread was a few months ago. I am constantly checking updates, posting statuses, etc. on the computer. I have found that documenting this project is much better, and less time consuming, in one place. Many of you have followed us on our very own Harrison Elementary Garden Tractor Club Facebook page. If you have been wondering what we are up to, we invite you to "like" our page and see all of the cool things that we have been doing. https://www.facebook.com/HarrisonGTC I would have never dreamed that this project would have taken this long. The kids are amazing, patient, and very curious on each and every step that we take. We are nearing completion of our first machine from David Rice of Crawfordsville, IN and almost caught up with the second machine that we received in pieces from Clyde Potts of Wooster, OH. As the finishing touches are being put on those two machines we have started disassembly and sandblasting of our essay contest machine. Powder coated parts from the 3rd machine will not come back in to the club barn until we get at least one machine gone. We are running out of space. We have been very blessed in this project. The amazing amount of support, donations, and pats on the back have been very much appreciated. The kids deserve all of the praise. Please join our page and see how amazing this entire project is. We are a truly blessed group! 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
whfan74 2,066 #225 Posted August 27, 2015 Things are finally coming to an end. With a bunch of mishaps, trials and errors, this machine is just about done!!!!!!!!!!!! For a while, I thought we would never see the day. We have had interruptions in regards to the summer, getting started back to school, and vacations. But we have persisted and are just wrapping things up on this 2 year project!I am sorry that I have neglected to keep this thread going. Time has been an issue, and the time I do have has gone directly to updating our club Facebook page found here: https://www.facebook.com/HarrisonGTCI am excited for the kids and we are planning on getting some photos of the C-120 soon so we can finally find a new home for this beauty. I can't thank the members in the Wheel Horse community enough for their support, encouragement, and praise for what the kids have been doing. It has truly been a huge reward to me for having the opportunity to work with these kids.I have a video from last night and will try and get it posted of the tractor running correctly for the first time. What a glorious sound that was!!!!I will be checking back in here real soon.....be sure to check back! 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
