1950 John Deere A?

mikewood869

Well-known Member
On Saturday we bought our first John Deere A and have no clue what year the tractor is, the guy we bought the tractor from said it had no ID plate and the tractor was yellow before it was painted green. The tractor is definitely on pre 1947. The tractor is 12 volts. The problems we know it has are; the lights don't work, sheet metal is a little banged up/ cut up (around the stack), the hydraulics don't work (where the arms go that doesn't seem to move and the tractor has a one remote set), front left tire wobbles and one of the tires are dead. Those are the the things we noticed so far. I have the tractor in the driveway with a board under the tractor to see what spots it makes. We were shown by a friend how to drive the tractor and to check the oil / hydro level but forgot (checking fluid level). The things I know I need to get are; manual, new tire and maybe rim (tire is filled), ORC (over run clutch), 3 point hitch (in the future with weights, plow (what plow can this pull? 2, 3, or 4 plow), might get a battery with more cold crank amps. When we got the tractor, the tractor was being setup for pulling (has wheelie bars and a weight on each side).
Sorry for the upside down photos.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMvZbSTTvTo...yesterdaystractors.com/photos/23210.jpg[/img]
 
Mike,
It's later than pre-1947 as the owner told you. Looks like a single shift lever and has a distributor, not that it couldn't have been added later. It also has square axle housings which is on later models. It's probably a 1950 or later tractor. If you didn't pay too much for it and it runs you've gotten a pretty decent tractor. The problems you describe kinda come with the territory when buying used old tractors. Depending on where you are an A will pull a two bottom very well and a three bottom in decent going. These tractors originally had two six volt batteries in series to make twelve volt. You could put a single good size 12 volt in if you want. The Hydraulics won't work if the PTO is not engaged just as a note. Make sure it has oil in the power-tol and engage PTO. It might work. Good Luck!
John
 
The owner before us, said the tractor was a 1950, but we have no clue because the tractor is missing the ID plate. We tied to get the hydraulics with the pto on and that didn't work. Up till now we have all Fords and a John Deere D140 lawn mower and we can't wait to use the tractor. I have to clean out a bay to store the tractor. The tractor has a bucket over the air stack and a flapper on the muffler.
 
After standing on my head, I too believe the tractor is a 1950/ Model A, single shifter & extra round hole in the cast wheel centers.
 
Mike, unless the rear wheels have been changed I would guess your tractor to be a '51 or '52. Somewhere in early-to-mid-1950 was when Deere made the changeover to a single gearshift and square axle housings, but the round holes in the cast centers didn't come along until 1951. Also I see your choke knob is mounted down on the headlight bar. Another unique feature of a 1950 A was the choke being mounted on the left side of the steering post. No other year even has the hole for that, unless the steering post has been changed. As for dating it any closer than that, it's about impossible without a serial number. Late 1952's came from the factory with a water pump, but many earlier A's also had water pumps added so it is tough to use that to date it as a '52. Hope this little bit helps.

Matt
 
Also, the power-trol is only a lift. It depends on gravity and the weight of the implement to move it back down. If the rock shaft is up, you will need to rotate it down manually with a big wrench
 
I also forgot to mention that the tractor does need a ring gear. The tractor doesn't have a serial number.
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The choke lever was moved to the light bar at 662729 when they went to the 18 gallon gas tank. As others have said the extra hole in the cast wheel center started in 51. JD put a larger pulley on the fan shaft to turn the generator at 674342. Do not remember how much larger. I had a parts tractor with that pulley on it. I was going to put it on my A but could not remove it so it got scrapped after I kept all the other good stuff. I see a picture of the serial number plate. You might try rubbing it with chalk or soap stone to see if there is any trace of the numbers left in the tag. There were some other changes. The only way I know to get close is to use the parts manual and spend many hours reading. Different tractor but I have a 1950 Case VAI I narrowed the serial number down to within 310 by using the parts manual. Good luck with your A. Hope to have mine running by the end of the month.

Rodney 8)
 
The PTO has to be engaged and the metering valve on the left side of the Powr_Trol unit has to be turned all
the way in for the remotes to work. You should get an Operators Manual. It covers this and a whole lot more.
 

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