1946 John Deere Model A Tractor

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Re: 1946 John Deere Model A Tractor

Post by Steve Simmons »

I'm running a mixture of glass bead and black oxide. The black oxide helps it to work a little more aggressively and quicker but at only 20 to 30% it isn't too aggressive on the metal finish. But whatever type of paint was originally used on this tractor, it's incredibly resistant to blasting. It's almost like powder coat.
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Re: 1946 John Deere Model A Tractor

Post by Martin Keller »

Hi Steve,

That is why you have a 69 year old piece of farm equipment that most likely spent the majority of its life outside in the elements.
I often wounder what some of the new equipment will look like in that same time frame.
Keep up the nice work......like anything you due is not nice......
:drive
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Steve Simmons
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Re: 1946 John Deere Model A Tractor

Post by Steve Simmons »

A few updates. The intake stack is complete, except for fixing a couple of holes in the oil bath. The fuel tank is also repaired, waiting to go back in.
intake.jpg
intake.jpg (60.96 KiB) Viewed 23551 times
The lack of mobility was really starting to bother me, so I've started on the wheels. Without a jack tall enough for the task of lifting the tractor, I had to get creative. Malcolm will recognize these parts.
jack.jpg
jack.jpg (110.58 KiB) Viewed 23551 times
The front wheel was a real mess, and the forklift tire wasn't correct either, obviously.
wheel1.jpg
wheel1.jpg (116.17 KiB) Viewed 23551 times
It appears the wheel had lost a bearing at some point in its life. The damage was impressive. Unfortunately the threads were also messed up and I almost couldn't get it apart. My hands were bruised from the removal effort but victory was achieved. A quick job on the lathe cleaned everything up.
spindle.jpg
spindle.jpg (30.96 KiB) Viewed 23551 times
lathe.jpg
lathe.jpg (54.47 KiB) Viewed 23551 times
The bearings looked excellent once cleaned up so I put them back in.
bearing.jpg
bearing.jpg (33.79 KiB) Viewed 23551 times
The wheel was split in two and sand blasted, then painted. I didn't spend the big bucks for the factory correct (reproduction) tire, but I got one that looks the part. And it's made in the USA. :thumbs: Once everything was painted, reassembled, some hardware replaced and a new tube and tire, I got to put it back on. Much better looking, I think!
wheel2.jpg
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Re: 1946 John Deere Model A Tractor

Post by gorms68 »

Nice progress Steve
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Re: 1946 John Deere Model A Tractor

Post by Larry Kluss »

Looking good, Steve.
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Re: 1946 John Deere Model A Tractor

Post by VWNate1 »

*VERY* nice ! .

Is that an implement tire or aircraft ? .

Please keep us posted , this brings back so many memories for me .
-Nate
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Re: 1946 John Deere Model A Tractor

Post by Steve Simmons »

It's an actual tractor tire. I was worried that an implement tire wouldn't hold up to the strain of a single wheel tractor, and then I found this. It's 10 ply as opposed to 12 of the original but should be fine for what I'm using it for.
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Re: 1946 John Deere Model A Tractor

Post by malcolmr18zoy »

Yes Steve, I'm glad to see you're making use of some of my old equipment. I recognize the jack, the RSJ, and the lathe!
Malcolm
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Steve Simmons
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Re: 1946 John Deere Model A Tractor

Post by Steve Simmons »

Just for fun and since there are no noteworthy updates, here is our holiday photo for this season.
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2015holiday-640.jpg
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Re: 1946 John Deere Model A Tractor

Post by VWNate1 »

*VERY* nce ! .

Did you use it in a Christmas Card ? .
-Nate
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Steve Simmons
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Re: 1946 John Deere Model A Tractor

Post by Steve Simmons »

We were a bit late so it became a New Year's card!
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Re: 1946 John Deere Model A Tractor

Post by Larry Kluss »

Queue the theme song to "Green Acres" :)

Great photo!
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Re: 1946 John Deere Model A Tractor

Post by Martin Keller »

Larry Kluss wrote:Queue the theme song to "Green Acres" :)

Great photo!
So where is Arnold hiding and where is Mr and Miss Ziffel and Ralf and Alf and Mr. Haney..... :D ......

:drive
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Steve Simmons
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Re: 1946 John Deere Model A Tractor

Post by Steve Simmons »

Been a while since the past update and not a whole lot to report. But some progress has been made in between other projects.

The grills were pretty beat up and while I'm not going for show quality, I figure I would at least try to bang them straight and weld up a couple of large holes. Here is the left grill before blasting, and the right grill after blasting.
left-grill-before.jpg
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right-grill-clean.jpg
right-grill-clean.jpg (41.89 KiB) Viewed 23121 times
The nose piece had a large crack in it. Dean got bored and took care of welding it up. Interestingly, where the decals used to be was some really tough paint. I wonder if the glue from the decals penetrated the paint and made it tougher than the rest. Took a while to get it off.
nose-clean.jpg
nose-clean.jpg (20.19 KiB) Viewed 23121 times
The seat assembly was also bothering me. It was filthy, the operator's foot plate was badly bent upward, and the seat was horribly bent and cracked all over. It took a couple of hours banging on that seat to get it reasonably straight, and then I welded up probably a dozen cracks. Everything went into the blaster and got cleaned up first, then painted and reassembled to the tractor. The seat was still in primer when I took the photo.
seat-parts-blasting.jpg
seat-parts-blasting.jpg (58.5 KiB) Viewed 23121 times
seat-parts-installed.jpg
seat-parts-installed.jpg (78.89 KiB) Viewed 23121 times
The upper water pipe was badly corroded and needed to be replaced. The concern was heating up the cast iron base to get the pipe removed and risking cracking it. The metal near the base was still fairly solid, so I cut the pipe, leaving about a 3-inch stub. Then with a replacement pipe, I cut off the amount that would have inserted into the base, and flared the end to slide over the stub. Then the new pipe was soldered to the old one. It doesn't look original but I'm ok with that.
water-pipe-repair.jpg
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water-pipe-repaired.jpg
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water-hose.jpg
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And this is how it sits, mostly reassembled, as of a coupe days ago.
front-end-painted.jpg
front-end-painted.jpg (123.09 KiB) Viewed 23121 times
front-end-assembled.jpg
front-end-assembled.jpg (122.94 KiB) Viewed 23121 times
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Re: 1946 John Deere Model A Tractor

Post by VWNate1 »

Very , VERY nice ! .

I remember hand wire brushing some radiator shrouds for our 1937 (IIRC) 'A' Model Deere in 1967......... they looked about the same , we were very glad to have found them on a junked tractor in someone's field .

Keep up the good works ! I'm very impressed by the upper water pipe repair .

Is this a thermo-syphon cooling system ? .
-Nate
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Re: 1946 John Deere Model A Tractor

Post by Steve Simmons »

Yes, thermo-syphon cooling. I should just leave the radiator blinds off since I'll never need them but they're too fun to open and close. :)
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Re: 1946 John Deere Model A Tractor

Post by VWNate1 »

NEVER leave parts off ! :hammer: .
-Nate
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Re: 1946 John Deere Model A Tractor

Post by Steve Simmons »

The cooling system is complete! Filled 'er up with water today and no leaks. Next was to inspect the gearbox. I opened up the fill plug to the rear end, which shares oil with the gearbox, and it looked good in there. Wet oil on the gear teeth and no rust. So I decided to just add some ATF I had laying around to thin out and clean what was there, and after a short time I'll flush it all out and fill again with fresh stuff.

Then I decided today would be "do or die", and took it out of the driveway for its first drive in decades. Very exciting! All went well over my 90-second low-speed drive, except the video which didn't come out very well so I'm not posting it.

Afterward, a few tweaks to the carb smoothed out the idle a bit. It's using a ton of gas and the carb keeps overflowing, so I'm hoping gas isn't flowing into the sump. That will be the next thing I address (checking the sump for gas and rebuilding the carb).

A few photos from today, one just for fun since they were both outside.
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Rear End Gears
Rear End Gears
diff-gear.jpg (32.75 KiB) Viewed 23068 times
Tractor put back together before test drive
Tractor put back together before test drive
IMG_20160402.jpg (120.98 KiB) Viewed 23068 times
Two old work horses
Two old work horses
modelt-tractor.jpg (87.62 KiB) Viewed 23068 times
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Steve Simmons
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Re: 1946 John Deere Model A Tractor

Post by Steve Simmons »

Ok I lied, here's the video. It was a lot more fun in person than it is to watch the video. The engine ran super cool, around 130F after 10 minutes of running. I'd say that's a good thing. Reverse gear took me by surprise though. It's really fast!

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Re: 1946 John Deere Model A Tractor

Post by HealeyBN7 »

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Re: 1946 John Deere Model A Tractor

Post by VWNate1 »

O.K. , you're like a kid with his favorite toy :lol: .

I thank you for this video , we had 'A' and 'B' Model Johhny-Poppers in New Hampshire in the mid 1960's , nice to hear that sound again .

Ours were working rigs and beat to hell .

I bet your neighbors all think you're loco :P .
-Nate
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Re: 1946 John Deere Model A Tractor

Post by Larry Kluss »

Very exciting, Steve! Way to go.
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Re: 1946 John Deere Model A Tractor

Post by gorms68 »

What no helmet :hammer:

Congratulations!
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Re: 1946 John Deere Model A Tractor

Post by Martin Keller »

Very cool Steve,

So when are you getting a trailer to pull with your new to you TOY?

Was that Linda wiping up some oil off the driveway in the video clip.

:drive
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Steve Simmons
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Re: 1946 John Deere Model A Tractor

Post by Steve Simmons »

That was Linda, but what she thought was oil was just water and rubber marks from the rock hard tires. The tractor doesn't leak a drop of anything!

We already have a trailer but unfortunately it's a restoration project as well. Needs four tires for starters. It's been pulled behind this tractor since the 1950's so I couldn't bring myself to split them up.

It's a John Deere Model 110 Chuck Wagon on a 963 chassis. Anyone want to restore it? I'll pay for supplies. :D
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trailer-front.jpg
trailer-front.jpg (100.66 KiB) Viewed 23046 times
trailer-rear.jpg
trailer-rear.jpg (98.49 KiB) Viewed 23046 times
trailer-gears.jpg
trailer-gears.jpg (97.58 KiB) Viewed 23046 times
trailer-interior.jpg
trailer-interior.jpg (79.81 KiB) Viewed 23046 times
trailer-chute.jpg
trailer-chute.jpg (77.69 KiB) Viewed 23046 times
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