I got a phone call this morning saying he was half an hour away. Great I replied! Then he said "It's a big tractor and not sure how we are going to get it off..." "I am sure we'll manage" I replied.
It arrived on time and with a bit of maneovoring and shunting the lorry reversed back to my lock up.
He then revealed the tractor in all its glory which was strapped onto a pallet. The first problem or as some people like to say challenge was that the pallet was too wide to go through the rear so i quickly used my hand saw to reduce the width. This worked ok and we could just about get it on the tail lift.
We then came across another issue. It was again too wide to go through my garage. I quickly thought I would roll it off and gave Chris a quick ring to ask him the procedure to release the valves to aid rolling. However, the seller have strapped the deck underneath the tractor and so we couldn't roll it even if we wanted to. ....
By now the delivery guy was clock watching and I said let cut the sides again. This time speed was of the essence so I fired up my chainsaw and quickly sliced through the timber on both sides and after a couple of failed attempts managed to get it through the door and under cover. It was a great relief to get it in the garage as the driver said he was beginning to think he would have to leave it in situ if we couldn't get it inside. Thanksfully it's all sorted.
Chris is coming over on Saturday and hopefully between us we can get it off the pallet ....
Photos to follow but a quick glance around showed me it's a mightily sound tractor and with a good clean and a service will be a good one. Compared to the 850 in the corner, the HT20 is huge!
All I have done with it at the moment is remove the tiller and store the tractor and tiller safely
Iain
Whena are you planning to get seat time on this one? :-)
The real gem on this score is the fact it's road registered which is worth its weight in gold in my opinion. Be good to see this back on the road. Literally.
I was aware of this purchase and there's an amusing story which Iain told me about the G14, but that's for him to tell.
A few weeks ago I got a call out of the blue saying would I be interested in this old tractor. My pulse quickened when he mentioned that it was hydrostatic and had 20 HP engine in it. I asked for photos which duly came a week later and my thoughts were confirmed. It was a Large Frame and both Chris and Iain identified it as a HT20. I have been told it is an early model. It runs and stops ok and come with a 56" deck too. There's a bit of tinware missing but otherwise it's solid. These are hard to come by ad I am chuffed to but that I got my hands on one.
Glad you two got home safely last night. It was miserable weather here in Devon yesterday and I didn't envy you guys driving back in the dark with that trailer load.
It's Not always good to get them involved as I was contacted by someone over the break who wants to sell me a tractor. The boss asked me if I had one of that model and my carefully considered reply was that I did not have one of those models. Joseph then corrected me and told her we have three of that model and proceeded to tell her about each one. Not a good move and I need to talk to him about benefits of listening to a question fully before answering
Iain
That made my day after the disappointing espisode with my tactor earlier this afternoon. Thanks Joseph
Essentially you want your son to be economical with the truth Iain? This would be a good skill to master when Joseph become a politician
I always say Christmas is a time of miracles! I am amazed you both survived but miracles do happen and put it this way young Joseph learnt a few new skills and a new word which he will always treasure
That made my day after the disappointing espisode with my tactor earlier this afternoon. Thanks Joseph 
This would be a good skill to master when Joseph become a politician
Bolens HT20
in Ride On's
Posted
Here are some photos...