Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1544539
OSKALOOSA, Iowa – What started in 1978 as a humble "mom-and-pop" operation in a three-car garage grew into McKim Tractor Service – an AGCO dealer that once was one of the largest Simplicity dealerships in the U.S. and now is one of the biggest Ferris dealers. The McKims employ two technicians who go on the road doing service work. Family also is involved: Son Rodger and his wife Sunny work at the dealership, and grandson Nathan also helps out. The McKims also have a daughter, Jill, and four grandchildren in total. Bob grew up on a small farm, where his dad milked a dozen or so cows and sold cream, along with raising hogs and chickens. His father's biggest tractor was a WD45 Gas. Bob and Joyce McKim launched McKim Tractor Service from the ground up. Shortly after Bob finished technical college for agricultural mechanics about 1970, he got his on-the-job training at Strawn Equipment in Oskaloosa. The Allis-Chalmers service technician for the area had given them three 190 tractors in which to install update kits. This consisted of transmission gears, bull pinions, ring-and-pinion, bull gears and axles. They changed the gears in the Power Director to 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 and 7-8. Before that, they were like D17's, which were 1-3, 2-4 and so on, Bob said. That tech had tried to get Bob a job as an A-C's service tech, but it didn't pan out so he continued working for Strawn until he joined the U.S. Army in 1970. He returned home in 1972, then went back to work for Strawn until 1974, when he left to work for a White and Oliver dealer -- Whitaker Implement – for a couple years. Dykstra Corp. (later known as O&M Equipment) recruited him, as they had gone through some ownership changes. He worked as shop foreman for two years. During that time, A-C in Bondurant, Iowa, offered him a service tech job, but he had just bought a house and didn't want to travel. In 1978, the McKims began their own business Through challenges, Iowa family built McKim Tractor Service … From the ground up By Old Allis News staff Photos by Dave Clausen Joyce and Bob McKim have many A-C toys to remind them of their dealership history. Below left is part of their dealership building, and an Allis project is in the shop, below right.