The last post was actually from a couple weeks ago, forgot to hit "publish" so it's dated August 26th instead of August 9th.  Since then we've been taking parts off so we can get into the transmission to see if the bearing parts were left over from a previous failure that's been repaired (I hope) or from an existing problem that needs our attention.  To get into the tranny the seat, the steering column, and the gas tank came off.  Of course there was a learning curve to all of them so next time it will go much faster.  Today Fenn and I took off the belt pulley gearbox that sits on top of the transmission.  It simply unbolted and lifted off but it was darn heavy.

Fenn removing the belt pulley bolts

The belt pulley is just what the name implies; it's a pulley that is powered by the tractor and when  a belt is attached it can power any number of contraptions from sawmills, to threshers to peanut washers like pictured below.  This was a picture I found on the web.  You can see the wide belt going from the belt pulley on the tractor to a pulley on the peanut washer. 

Probably something Jimmy Carter was familiar with.........

Here's a picture of the belt pulley after removing from the tractor and a picture of the gears below.  From the looks of the gasket, it appears Frank has been in here before.  Hopefully that's a good sign.  We'll see tomorrow when we lift off the transmission cover.