An Afternoon With The Cockshutt 40

As winter is approaching, one of the things I like to (need to) do before the snow flies is cut the grass and willows that grow along my half mile driveway. It helps to keep the snow blowing across rather than settling in drifts on the driveway.
The old Cockshutt 40 was the most likely tractor for the job as it is the smallest and allows the mower to cut right up against the fence pickets.
Old tractors need regular exercise to prevent the problems that arise from storage too long.
It performed well although I stalled it once hitting a piece of steel culvert that some careless person (could that be me?) left in the long grass.
As I turned back into the yard some new clunks and rattles caught my attention. Looking back at the mower for the source I was even more surprised when I felt the front end of the tractor drop and watched the wheel fall over on it's side. Figured it was a wheel bearing but turned out that the same careless person that left that culvert in the grass must have forgotten to tighten the wheel studs when he put that nicely painted front wheel back on the tractor last spring. All the studs had fallen  out and I could not find even one. Lucky I had a few spares in the shed, borrowed a couple more off a parts tractor in the bush and was rolling again in no time.
As breakdowns go it was not too serious. Wish they were all that easy.