Playing with Antique Tractors

[HotRodTractor]

I had the great honor of driving a very special tractor for a few minutes at our local Labor Day Festival in West Liberty Ohio.

 

Here I am on the "Bathtub D":

 

 

This was a prototype tractor built in 1917 by the Waterloo Gas Engine Company before John Deere purchased them in 1918. This tractor is literally the first in a long line of prototypes that spanned years and gave birth the iconic John Deere D.

 

This tractor was believed to be destroyed like all of the rest of the prototypes - except the transmission case with gears, axles, and the crankshaft was unearthed in 1992 during the excavation of a parking lot - it was used as fill material.

 

 

 

[pflaming]

That is a great bit of history. Five years ago we found or fathers 1934 model D bought it and restored it. I remember when Dad poured the concrete into these rims. Those are the names of the three brothers, proof it was Dad’s tractor.

[HotRodTractor]

Very nice Paul. I also have a 1934 D - its currently in pieces and working on a restoration.

 

I'd love to see some more pictures of your example and get a serial number. I see that tractor has some "updated" parts on it. (Most notably the air cleaner - it has the newer style which was a common upgrade if anything went wrong with the original).

 

I was going to take my 730LP Standard to the Labor Day Festival - its only a few miles from home so I figured I would just drive it..... got about a mile from home and it started missing badly.... I figured a spark plug wire came out of the cap since I just was working in that area the night before.... nope. That cap was arcing all over the place - just try to touch it anywhere and you would get hit. I limped it back home - went and watched the parade - found a new cap in the swap meet area - came home swapped it out - purred like a kitten. Oh well.

[Todd B]

1 hour ago, pflaming said:

That is a great bit of history. Five years ago we found or fathers 1934 model D bought it and restored it. I remember when Dad poured the concrete into these rims. Those are the names of the three brothers, proof it was Dad’s tractor.

 Looks like pretty fresh concrete to me 

[pflaming]

Two more photos. This was a western Nebraska tractor, so it had the air cleaner stack, and the two position front axle. It also has the water line from the radiator to the left piston for added power when pulling a long hill. 

 

I spent hundreds of hours hours on this tractor.

[HotRodTractor]

Paul - that is at least a 1935 model year tractor. Perhaps an early one built in the 1934 calendar year.

 

The oil bath air cleaner came out in 1935, but was commonly used as an upgrade to the early cast iron "core" style air filter - so that isn't definitive. What is definitive is that you have an oil pressure gauge instead of a "red head" pressure indicator. That is decidedly a 1935 and up feature and not readily adaptable to the older tractors as it also included an oil filter relocation.

 

That tractor has to have a serial number higher than 119099 - and it has a 3 speed transmission instead of the 2 speed that would have been in 1934 model year.

[cheesy]

No photos easily available to me but I had 1937 JD A when I was in high school, (cough, cough) years ago. It was a basket case that I reassembled and got running. I’d show it at the Kenosha(WI)County Fair Antique Engine Exhibit until I sold it my senior year to a gent who restored it. He continued to show it until he passed away a few years ago. I think it is still in his family.

 

According to my Dad, our family farm was a testing ground for McCormick-Deering tractors in the 30s to the 50s (could be BS, too).