Still Turning Wrenches

Jake Kaderly began working on International Harvesters in the 1960s

Jake Kaderly remembers the International Harvester 560, 706 and 806 being in production when he started working as a mechanic.

Working part-time during high school at Jasper Implement, the International Harvester dealership in Jasper, Mo., Jake’s career intention was only to be a mechanic for a short time. However, after two years of work at the dealership and his high school graduation in 1964, he accepted a full-time position at Jasper Implement. He worked full-time for one week, when the owner decided to send him to the two-week International Harvester mechanic school in Hickory Hills, Ill. During that time, he decided he wanted to be a mechanic. Jake worked at the dealership until they closed in 1987 and then decided to open his own garage at his home in Carthage, Mo., called Jake’s Garage. He continued to work mostly on International Harvester equipment.

Reminiscing about Jasper Implement, he said the dealership kept a lot of parts and quite a few tractors and combines in stock. They staffed four mechanics in the shop, one parts man and someone who setup and delivered machinery. While working at Jasper Implement, Jake worked on a wide variety of equipment but specialized in hydraulics. When ordering parts, if the supplier had them in Kansas City, Mo., the dealership could have them the next day; otherwise, they put them on a weekly stock order.

Tractors have changed since Jake started as a mechanic. The best tractor feature he has seen companies add in his lifetime is the live hydraulic system.

“They just have so much more power in them,” Jake said. “Tractors have become bigger and are now computerized.”

Jake remembers the 5088 as being International’s first tractor with a computer.

“In this day and age, you about have to have an education of some kind to run the computers. To work on tractors, you need experience or someone to show you what to do to. If you want to be a mechanic, you better have a lot of patience, you better be real interested in it and want to learn.”

He recalled a man named Ponso who taught him what he should look for when trouble shooting a tractor; the rest he’s learned from experience.

When Jake starts working on a tractor, he first changes the filters then checks the fluid flowrate. He listens to the engine to see if he can hear a rattle, then checks the transmission and hydraulics. A file is kept on each customer’s tractors and equipment he has worked on over the years, and he can tell you what all he has done to each one. Quite a few visitors come out to his garage and keep him company during the day.

“I’ve heard a lot of stories,” he said with a smile.

Jake has spent his career working on combines, although laughing, he said, “They’re not my favorite things to work on.”

The first combine Jake worked on was a 1956 open station IH 101 that resides close to his home and occasionally still cuts a few acres of wheat each summer.

“These combines were simpler to work on because the belts, chains and bearings were easier to get to.”

Jake continued to work on combines as the 03 and the 15 series combines were introduced. He watched as the Axial Flows were released in 1977 and remembers going to the combine factory near Chicago, Ill., to receive training to help mechanics understand how the new Axial Flow combines worked.

His favorite tractor to work on is the IH 706, and many of them are still being used today. Jasper Implement sold and serviced many of these tractors. He believes the 706 and 806 were two of the best tractors ever built by IH. The hydrostat tractors are probably the most difficult to work on because they have no gears, just high and low, and are driven only by oil. Issues Jake often sees when working on tractors includes a lack of maintenance. “You have to make sure you keep the oil and filters changed and the tractor greased.”

Jake has worked on International Harvester combines, tractors, trucks, lawnmowers, plows, planters and the list goes on. You name it and he’s probably had it in his garage.

He continues to work on tractors at his garage, as he mostly enjoys trying to figure out new problems on older tractors. Occasionally his customers still bring in a 560, 706 or 806 for minor repairs or a major overhaul. Some of these tractors Jake has serviced since they were new. Through his years of work, he’s always said one thing, “It takes experience to work on this stuff and about the time you think you know something; you find out you don’t know nothin’.”