Its harder than it looks turning trash into treasure.
And this tractor, for all intents and purposes, should have been hauled to the dump long ago.
It sat, idle, in a pasture for 10 years, probably more.
And when the owner a farmer near Eureka burned off his pasture a couple of years ago, the flames crept too close to the 1941 Ford 9-N. The heat melted away much of the wiring and burned off one of the front tires.
Nobody around town wanted anything to do with it, so the farmer made a call, in search of anybody willing to give it new life.
The search led him last spring to Iola High School vo-ag instructor Amanda Strickler, who is always on the lookout for special projects for her students.
Strickler, who formerly taught in Eureka, had just the person in mind.
Jack Eyster, then an IHS junior, had been around cars and engines for years.
He and his brother had rebuilt three engines. He helped with dozens more while working for a mechanic near LaHarpe.
Even better, Eysters class schedule for the 2017-18 school year was pretty much complete. Hed recently finished a series of skill weld tests; other side projects he and his fellow FFA members had worked on were finished, too.
Strickler asked him if hed be interested in trying to fix the old Ford.
He was.
IT WAS ABOUT a year ago when they wheeled the old tractor into the ag shop on the Iola High campus.
Eysters first task was to survey the damage, to see what needed fixing.
There was plenty.
In addition to replacing all the wiring, Eyster found the tractors spark plugs had been removed. Each of the engines four cylinders was full of dirt. Crank bearings and piston rings needed replaced. The valves were a mess, too.
But there were signs that a rebuild would be successful.
Aside from the fire damage, and the aging components, the tractor still was in solid shape. Its hydraulic system was intact. The frame was solid.