But its diesel engine turned freely.
Compression tested well.
Oil pressure was good.
Earl removed it.
Slowly.
Nothing rushed.
He photographed connections with an old instant camera Megan had brought, then labeled wires and hoses.
Every bolt removed went into a marked container.
Earl cleaned the donor engine until layers of oil and dirt disappeared.
He replaced seals.
Water pump.
Belts.
Filters.
Several hoses.
Ray kept asking:
"If the engine runs, why rebuild things that aren't broken?"
Earl answered:
"Because they're easier to replace while it's hanging from a chain than when it's in the tractor."
The third donor provided a usable transmission and rear drive assembly.
Again, Earl dismantled more than Ray expected.
Bearings were checked.
Shafts measured.
Gear teeth inspected.
Seals replaced.
Earl rejected one bearing that looked perfectly acceptable.
Ray held it up.
"There's nothing wrong with this."
Earl ran one finger along the race.
"You feel that?"
"No."
"Exactly."
Ray frowned.
Earl handed it to Megan.
She rotated it.
After several turns she paused.
"Rough spot."
Earl nodded.
"That rough spot becomes heat."
He looked at Ray.
"Heat becomes failure."
The project took seventeen days.
Not three.
Not five.
Seventeen.
By the second week, neighbors started stopping by.
Gordon Hail came once.
He stood beside the partially assembled tractor.
"You actually trying to make one run?"
Earl looked up from the clutch housing.
"That's the idea."
Gordon laughed.
"Call me when it leaves the yard."
Earl returned to work.
On the seventeenth afternoon, the rebuilt tractor was ready.
Ray stood beside the fender.
Megan leaned against the workbench.
Earl sat in the seat.
He turned the key to heat the glow plugs.
Waited.
Then turned farther.
The starter engaged.
The engine rolled.
Coughed.
Stopped.
Ray exhaled.
Earl tried again.
The engine turned twice.
Caught.
Black smoke burst from the exhaust.
Then the diesel settled into a heavy, steady idle.
Megan shouted.
Ray laughed.
Earl did neither.
He watched the gauges.
Oil pressure.
Temperature.
Charging.
He climbed down.
Listened.
Walked around the engine.
Checked for leaks.
Then shut it off.
Ray looked confused.
"Why'd you stop?"
"Because starting isn't the same as working."
The next two days were testing.
Hydraulic pressure.
PTO operation.
Transmission under load.
Brake balance.
Steering.
Heat cycle.
Earl connected a heavy disk and pulled it across Ray's field.
First slowly.
Then for hours.
He stopped repeatedly.
Checked temperature.
Listened.
Smelled.
Touched housings carefully.
At the end of the second day, Ray climbed onto the running board.
"Well?"
Earl smiled.
"Now we have one tractor."
That first success changed the atmosphere around the sixty machines.
The field no longer looked completely foolish.
Even Ray began walking through the rows differently.
He started noticing usable tires.
Straight drawbars.
Complete three-point linkages.
PTO shafts.
Good starters.
Alternators.
Fuel pumps.
Steering cylinders.