Can yo identify this???????

John Deere Model L perhaps, circa 1940ish

http://antiquepower.com/working-1940-john-deere-model-l/

 

It's called a 'tractor'.

 

Yep, JD model L or LA. Light enough to haul in the back of a 3/4 ton pick-up. Value as sitting if running $2000.00. Less if motor is stuck. But looks mostly complete.

 

Cute little thing! Seems to have a lot of leg room!! (or is that for a passenger?! Like old airplanes did..)

 

She's a beauty!
There are a lot of those sad bastards around my town sitting as lawn ornaments.
I'de love to have the time and money to do a full restoration to something like that.
I think there's actually one of those on one of the routes I take my Dog for walks on, but it has paint on it still. I'll see if I can't get a picture next time I pass it. I know the guy who owns it, so I can ask him about it and go right up to it if he is home. It's out in his backyard about 150m from the roadside, but I quest for old arn and love machinery, so I make note of it every time I pass.

 

My grandfather had a tractor that looked like this one and when I was growing up I got to ride on it some, and when I was old enough I was able to drive it a few times. It was bought when my father was born back in '39 and they kept it running all those years.

When my grandfather got fairly old he was unable to repair it himself to keep it running. For many years it sat in the barn unable to be cranked. One Spring he hired a mechanic to come to his house to fix it. My father happened to hear about this and got in touch with the mechanic and said, "Work on the tractor, bill me for anything you do and make it worth your while to have come out here. But whatever you do, do NOT get that tractor running again." My poor grandfather would have seriously hurt himself.

 

You guys are amazing. Thank you for helping me identify it. It's mine for the taking if I want it.

 

If you have the room and the patience, it would make a good yard tractor. Mostly draw bar pulling stuff. I can't tell from this angle for sure, but most of those didn't have a pto. It was either drawbar or belt drive implements. Definitely no 3pt hitch or hydraulics of any sort. Early ones had a Hercules 2 cylinder and later, Deere made their own engine. Some parts may be a challenge to find, but still can be had. Heck, you could part it out and make a decent amount of money, but that would be a shame since it looks so complete. A quick google search turned up this little gem if you ever decide to take possession and restore it to use.
View attachment 303791

Now, I'm gonna be brutally honest here. If (especially IF) you hire everything done to restore the tractor to this amount of detail, you'll have way more invested in the tractor than what it is worth. If you do a lot of it yourself over a long period of time, when you get finished, you'll have a nice little tractor that will last several more decades. We try to restore ours to good running condition and not so much about shiny paint. That way we aren't afraid to use them. Even then, you still may have more invested than the tractor is worth. BUT, you won't regret the satisfaction of getting it running yourself, ever... There are a few items on that tractor that even I would recommend hiring done. For instance, the ignition system is controlled by a Magneto. To me (too young), they are a magic box... BUT, there are lots of places that rebuild them for you at a decent price. Same with the carburetor. Here are some resources, should you continue with this project: Yesterdaystractors.com
Greenmagazine.com
Two-cylinder.com
Antiquepower.com
Robertscarbrepair.com
Well, just google magneto repair and a whole bunch of places come up. Search through them by closest to you (don't tell me where you are located... If you're too close I'll be tempted to come "help" you with the tractor :wink: :eyeroll: ).
Any farmer near you can get you a tire dealer. However the L had uncommon sizes I believe, so M E Miller Tire (millertire.com) would be your best bet. He specializes in hard to find sizes.
Have I talked you into OR out of it yet...

Adrian

 

If I had a good local resource to get the parts blasted I would be a lot more tempted.

 

Blasting is over rated. A good wire brushing and that rust converting primer from NAPA or someplace like that works too. It doesn't have to be show room quality. In fact if you look closely at most restore tractors, they have a better finish than Deere ever put on them... Too nice. That's why we don't bother...

 

Careful! "Old Arn" is as addictive as Rocketry! I'm considering saving $500 for a ShopSmith lathe combo that's in good shape, as I could certainly make use of something like that. I'm going to have to blueprint a template scheme for a laminate version of these saws.

 

+1 A twisted wire rope wheel or cup on an angle grinder will make short work of rust and some primer will keep it decent.

 

Do yourself a favor, instead of the Shopsmith buy the individual tools if you can. While a Shopsmith can do many things, it does very few of them well and without a bit of "fiddling" (okay more than a bit). I inherited my Grandfathers Shopsmith Mark V and found that it really wasn't as good as the hype.

Now my other Grandfathers Ford 8N tractor with the downdraft carb is still running to this day and has been a part of my family for over 60 years, too bad I didn't inherit it, but I still get to operate it every so often.

 

Are you sure it's a downdraft? Every 8N I've ever worked on (a lot of them) had updraft carbs...

 

I remember them talking about it is all, if I remember correctly the carb was mounted below the intake manifold, does that make it an updraft? So no I am not certain, mechanics are not my thing, I do mechanical repairs on my vehicles because I don't want to pay the prices our local mechanics charge.

 

Thanks for the heads up! I see a nice Yates Bandsaw on Craigslist now for $750. I'de rather save up for something like that.
http://vermont.craigslist.org/tls/5819782444.html

 

Yep. Updraft. Ya never know with all the aftermarket stuff that was offered for the 8N since it was made a long time ago. Aftermarket parts are huge for this tractor. Even Sears and Montgomery Wards offered stuff for these tractors back in the day...