Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1545857
Parts from the Past KALONA, Iowa – Seventeen-year-old Zane Brandt made the solo drive over Father's Day weekend from his home in southeastern Nebraska to The Allis Connection Show in Kalona, Iowa. While he has attended some shows closer to home, this was his first A-C exclusive show, and he says it likely won't be his last. Zane, of Plymouth, Neb., made the 5-1/2 hour trek to Kalona to show off his Allis-Chalmers B10 garden tractor, which he recently got running. Friend Michael Wells gave him the B10 as payment for his help around Wells' shop. Wells bought the lawn tractor on auction. "If I swapped the engine, I could keep the tractor," Zane said, adding that it took him about a week to return it to operational status. Once he got the B10 up and running, he started accumulating attachments, including a mower deck, snow blower, blade and cultivator, as well as a cab. He hooked it to an auction- find plow for the TAC show. Zane said he uses the B10 for tasks around the family farm, such as digging in their large garden and, when the time comes, for snow removal. Once he gets the skills necessary, he plans to give the tractor a fresh coat of paint. Zane's family utilizes A-C farm tractors, but he got into garden tractors after finding one in his grandpa's junk pile and restoring it. His collection has grown to five, including a 410 and three Simplicity models. He said he hopes to go bigger, restoring his great-grandpa's WD45 that has been sitting in a shed for 30 years. While in town for the TAC show, Zane, an avid runner, took the opportunity to participate in the Kalona Days 5K race on Saturday morning. After graduating from high school next spring, he would like to pursue a career in diesel mechanics. Nebraska teen is just getting started By Heidi Clausen, Editor Photo by Heidi Clausen Zane Brandt, 17, made the long drive solo from his southeastern Nebraska home to The Allis Connection Show last month to show his B10 lawn tractor. Continued from Page 6 the grain bin. All of this was painted over, initially hiding the aluminum in the machine. Some of the machines held together well enough, but others had cracking and fatigue issues due to the lighter material. Many of the pieces had to be reinforced to hold up to all the movement of a combine. Some farmers traded them off after they had a lot of problems with the components of the combine simply shaking apart. According to Arland Lepper, former La Porte engineer Paul Herrer said this happened just in 1948. There were also a few corn pickers that used some aluminum. I have a side divider from a picker that is produced this way. This is the only one I have seen and it's in bad condition from being moved around as it's not strong enough to hold up to such abuse. I am unaware of any other machines that had some aluminum parts. If anyone knows of any, I'd love to hear about it. Special thanks to my dad Jim Sr. for suggesting this subject idea. If you want to see some great videos of an aluminum 60 combine, go to the YouTube channel @ CollinMoore2010. This ambitious young man pulled a pretty sad 60 out of a grove of trees and got it back in running order. Well worth the watch. 21 OLD ALLIS NEWS