Giving an old warrior a new life
John Deere Model A Serial number 675861 Built in 1951
Arriving at Forest Home Farms, San Ramon, CA at the tractor repair shop. A group of diverse and talented volunteers will need to address all the tractor systems
Purchased new by Bill Toomey’s family in 1951. Donated to Forest Home Farms in December 2015.
The Challenge
There were many challenges that needed to be fixed with this tractor such as:
- Carburetor and fuel system – complete rework necessary
- Generator, fan and fan belt – cleaning and rewiring necessary
- Clutch and pulley and transmission housing– clutch adjustment required
- Distributer and ignition coil– new parts and complete rework required
- Instrumentation and controls– transmission needed to be freed up
- Exhaust and intake, rust and a modified hood– new pipes and hood repair needed
- Brake, flywheel housing and steering wheel– new steering wheel and cleanup necessary
- Roll-A-Matic front axle– cleanup and new lubricant needed
- Instrumentation– new gages and wiring required
Cleaning
Power washing all parts
Rims were severely corroded but were repaired and salvaged
The underside also gets attention. Notice the repaired rims and new tires.
Oh come on, cleaning the rusted threads with a tap can not be that difficult.
Painting
Tom Sawyer was correct, painting is fun!
Gas tank
The hood, after major repair
Progress
Adjustments
Replacing the refurbished starter
Indexing the flywheel
Some electrical considerations
Installing the new instrumentation
A new bushing will help steering
Yep, that steering adjustment is down there somewhere, along with all that grease
Adjusting the carburetor
New wiring
All Finished
Rebuilt fueling system
Rebuilt electrical system
On the job – preparing to use the clutch pulley to start a stationary engine
All dressed up for the party and ready for the next 65 years!
Summary
Forest Home Farms Tractor Volunteers
- Dan Foster
- Ron Frye
- Vern Kalepp
- Joe Krueger
- John Maryott
- Bob McCoy
- Bill Sherwood
- Ron Simmons
- Tom Slingerland
- Pat Sorensen
- Mike Storms
- Walt Sommer
Project Duration: Mid January – August 2017
Cost to refurbish this tractor: $ 2500
The major expense was replacement of all four tires
Volunteer hours spent – Impossible to know for sure since during the 4 hour sessions twice a week duties are fragmented to satisfy other requests from farm management. A guess is 320 person-hours were donated by volunteers during the refurbishing of the John Deere Model A.