Old Original John Deere Grain Binder (Pict's)

I know of a man who has this old John Deere Grain binder. He says that it was his grandfathers and he bought it new back in the 1920"s or 1930"s. It has been inside an old barn for the last 60 years and he says that he remembers his grandfather using it in the 1940"s. It is in fantastic shape, just covered in a lot of dust. All of the paint on it is original and all the decals and its pin striping are also. The wood is in great shape and is not rotten anywhere that I could tell. He even has all the canvas"s for it. I could not believe my eyes when i walked into the barn to look at it. He is wanting to sell it and is asking $500, his reasoning for that price is so the scrap buyers wouldn"t get at it. I would like to try and find out the year of manufacture on it if that is at all possible. Here are some patent dates from the binder.
1179638
1426937
1546436
1650369

I also found the number 4702 on the frame of the binder if that at all helps in dating it.

Does anyone know of a place to look for info of these old John Deere Grain Binders? It would be great to know what years these types of binders where made. I looked on jdparts.com and they dont have a pdf for this type of binder.

I am thinking about purchasing it and would like to know what you all on here think.

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading!
From Nebraska,
Andrew Kean

The Western Development Museum in Saskatoon where I do a lot of volunter work has a binder just like it. It is complete with canvases and in first class original condition except for a little rust. Every year we use it to cut and make about 2000 sheaves of oats that we use for threshing demonstrations.

If you buy it, I'd like to know the width of the canvas. I have three rolls of NOS canvas with wooden slats, at least one has the JD "Running Deere" on it. I'm not sure if they are for a binder.
I think the price is very good (low) for a machine in that nice shape!
BUY IT!!!

It's a little hard to tell from the dark pictures, but it appears to be a ground driven type. They were available as 6, 7 or 8 ft cut. I have a John Deere Service Publications Catalog that lists the Operator's Manual as OMW16150 and the Parts Catalog as PCW8 (01 Nov 49). That date is the latest revision date of the Parts Catalog, not the date of manufacture of the binder. Sometimes the Parts Catalogs have dates listed as to when the units were made. You should still be able to get those publications from John Deere, either as a paper copy or on a CD.

I would go for buying it if you're at all interested. The price is OK and someday it may be worth a heck of a lot more if you keep it in nice shape.

My dad owned a John Deere 10 ft PTO driven binder of the same vintage. The PTO driven ones were available as 8 or 10 ft cut. Dad had his rigged to have one man operation where the operator rode on the binder and controlled the tractor from the binder. I remember I was old enough to watch him and he was busy with both binder and tractor controls. The tractor he ran it with was a McCormick- Deering 22-36 on steel.

Let us know more when you buy it.

man, are you sure gonna need that shed if you keep it up it will too full before you get it built! (just kidding) it looks great,how many of them could be around in that shape., not many!

Yes you are right it is ground driven.

Do you know what years that the Grain Binders were manufactured?

Thanks for all the info!!!

Hahaha yea you are right!!! We might have to build a second shed, that is...if we will ever get this first one up.

And yea, there cant be to many in this good of shape, that is why i am so interested in it!

When I was a kid, my dad had one he pulled with a Fordson tractor and had it set up to drive the tractor from the binder. One day one of the steering control ropes broke and the whole thing went in a circle in the field till dad jumped off the binder, and ran up and crawled on the tractor.

About then, my sister and I were big enough to ride the binder while dad drove the tractor.

I know of another John Deere binder similar to that one. A guy here in WI has a tractor collection and has one.