I had to move the ’39 A out of where I had it currently being stored (it’s a long story), and since it’s not running great and is a hand start I most likely won’t be getting it out this winter, so I put it behind everything else in the side of the barn. I’ve had the carb rebuilt, and it still isn’t running too well. Anyway, since I had it out and had some of the other tractors started and moved out as well, I thought I’d take the opportunity to post a short video.
We’re fortunate that it’s been this warm with the weather as good as it has been. Typically by this time of year we’re already accumulating some snowfall and the temperatures are rarely above the mid-20s.
Hopefully next year I’ll be able to get it running better. But the list of machines I have to work on is getting pretty large…
One thing about living in Star Valley–as the saying goes, we’re not sure if we’ll get summer, but we’ve never missed a winter. This year seemed unusually hot and smoky, but when it comes time switch to fall, it always tends to go right into winter. We’ve received a few light dustings of snow already, but I don’t think it will be very long until the snow is here to stay.
With the change to winter also brings a few changes on the farm. Though we still work on and tinker on tractors, not having a heated shop and the lack of daylight makes it a little harder and somewhat less desirable. Instead of working in the fields we turn to the chores of feeding the cattle on a daily basis (photos and videos to come, I’m sure) and having to move and shovel snow. However, winter also brings the winter activities of snowmobiling and other winter sports. This year I’ve also purchased a Timbersled (a track for my dirt bike), so that should be fun and a new adventure as well.
The photo above is a photo of a Farmall Model A. I’m not exactly sure of the year, but it is a tractor that is currently being used as a decoration on my uncle’s farm on my mother’s side in Etna, Wyoming.
If you’ve been following the past few blog posts or YouTube videos, you’ve seen pictures and videos of the Farmall B. The Farmall A is basically the same tractor, but in a different configuration. Where the A has a wide front, the B has a narrow front and a slightly wider rear end.
In this video I give a brief comparison of the Farmall B and John Deere MT. The B and the MT were both targeted at a similar market, are around the same age, and pretty similar power-wise. This video is not a full in-depth review or a comparison of each tractor, but I thought it would be fun to show them off and have them be parked next to each other.
John Deere MT and Farmall B Comparison Chart (According to tractordata.com)
As you can see from the table above, the two tractors are pretty similar in many ways. In my own opinion and from my own reading, I would guess that the John Deere Model M was designed to compete against the Farmall A. Keep in mind that tractor development takes several years, so the two years between the two doesn’t mean the one wasn’t influenced by the other. Plus, no development is done in a vacuum (completely independent thought from the other). Also, given that the JD M may have been in response to the Farmall M, I would guess that the MT was in response to the B (as the M and A are both wide front “standards”).
Since the MT was developed later, they were able to make some improvements over the B, such as a better live-hydraulic system and a quick-attach system that was also hydraulically controlled. Unfortunately it doesn’t have a standard three point system (due to patents having yet expired), so the system Deere came up with for the MT was quickly abandoned once Deere was able to implement a standard three point system. However, the hydraulics introduced on the M would remain with Deere throughout the remainder of the two-cylinder tractors era.
Though the Farmall A continued to live on for several more years as a “Super A”, the B was to be no more. It was replaced by the C, which physically more resembled the layout of the Deere MT than the B that it replaced. The Super A and C would live on for many more years, and the M would see direct replacements until the 430 was eventually discontinued in 1960.
The John Deere MT that we picked up has been a fun little tractor. However, although it looks nice on the outside, it still has a lot of work to do before it will be a good and reliable tractor. The biggest item with it at the moment is the transmission. When I first picked it up, the transmission housing was rusted and the back axle was seized when placed in gear. Upon draining the housing, it was about half oil and half water. Sadly, it hadn’t been drained out in years and years and condensation eventually overtook oil content.
Due to this, the bearings in the transmission housing were rusted, and even though we freed it up and replaced the oil, they still needed to be replaced to make it function properly.
Fortunately, the MT is a pretty easy tractor to work on and split (separate the front from the back). I’ve got all the parts I need, so hopefully I’ll be able to get them swapped out and replaced pretty quickly this weekend. I’m sure I’ll have some more YouTube videos of it running once I do.
If you saw my pervious video on chisel plowing with the John Deere 4640, then you saw how we plow the fields each fall. This is followed up by disking the fields, which we typically do in the springtime. After we disk, we then drill (plant) the field. When we plant, I use a spring tooth (danish harrow) with a roller to break up and smoothen the field out before planting. We have a lot of rocks in the valley, so the roller is a necessity to push down the big rocks.
However, this year I decided to try disking in the fall instead of the springtime. Springtime in Star Valley have few open windows of good, dry planting, followed by several days of rain. If you can get your crop planted early enough to beat the rains, then your crop usually does better, especially given that not everything we do is under irrigation. So, I thought this may be a good thing to get done in the fall while we have time, then skip in the springtime to allow for more time to get the seed planted before the arrival of the rains.
I guess I’ll find out next fall if it was a success or not.
The tractor is a John Deere 5020 with a John Deere BW disk. Yes, I know the disk is old and small, but it’s all that I have at the moment. Upgrading takes time and money.
I never passing up an excuse to drive the tractors on a beautiful fall day, I used the opportunity to do some blade and box scraper work to fill in the pivot tracks. Though not a necessary task, it makes working up the ground in the springtime much smoother and is better on the equipment.
I used the John Deere 2010 Utility to fill in the tracks with an Allis Chalmers three-point blade, and I then used the John Deere 435 (2-53 Detroit Diesel) to finish it with a box scraper. Looking back, I should have used drag harrows and will do that next time instead. It tended to clump up some, so I’ll know how to do it better next year.
It’s just about October, which seems pretty crazy to me. This year has just flown by! It seems like just yesterday we were starting with the spring work, then the summer rush, and now the hay season is all completed. The only big tasks left to do on the farm now are putting things away and plowing a few fields in preparation for next year.
I thought post a few photos that I’ve taken over the past few weeks, as the colors have changed quite nicely this year. I’m sure all of that color will be gone though once we have the next big storm…
On the 25th of September, we hosted the 2021 Star Valley Antique tractor show. This year was pretty busy farm wise, and we had some rains that pushed us behind a bit getting some crops in. As such, we were a little late getting invitations and announcements and such sent out. I think that hurt the attendance somewhat. However, despite all of that, I’d say we had a pretty good turnout overall.
Some of the equipment that was at the show included:
John Deere 7520 with chisel plow John Deere 5020 John Deere Model R Diesel John Deere 5 bottom pull behind plow Oliver Super 55 John Deere 70 Gas John Deere 630 John Deere A John Deere No. 5 Sickle Mower John Deere MT John Deere Model H Series 47 Manure Spreader John Deere 420 Utility John Deere 430 Utility with Oliver Loader John Deere 435 Diesel Case Model L 1937 Farmall F-30 1936 Farmall F-20 1937 International Hay Rake Farmall Super M Farmall Super M-TA with IH plow
I had a lot of fun, and I think those in attendance did as well. Currently we plan on hosting it next year as well. It will be the last Saturday in September. Hopefully we’ll see some of you there!
My father needed some help hauling some straw bales to his barn for his winter cattle bedding, so I took the John Deere 5020 over with the two old truck wagons to help haul the straw bales. He brought over the 3020 to load them. Straw bales are quite light compared to alfalfa bales, so the smaller 3020 did okay hauling them.
Being on the dry farm is always bitter sweet, as it’s currently up for sale. It’s a long story, but basically my father and his brother are still here in the valley, and the siblings that are out of the valley keep doing all they can to get whatever they can out of it. They changed the original trust while my grandparents were in ill health from the land going to the ones here to splitting it up with an equal share among themselves, which has left little for my dad and my uncle in return. They also continue to ‘move the target’ of what is going to happen to the land as to maximize their own return, with little to no regards for those here. Rather than follow through with what the trust says and settle things (which still isn’t right), they continually change dates and plans according to the market to try to get the most of what they can out of it. If you ask me, that’s quite the investment plan–move away and do nothing with the farm from right out of high school and come back years later to reap the rewards of those that stayed and labored to keep and preserve the farm. And they call themselves good Christians…
Anyway, now I’m just ranting. I guess when something you’ve cherished all of your life is being taken away by others and you’re helpless to do anything about it–you just have to vet little in a blog post.
Over the weekend I acquired a 1950 John Deere MT single-front. I already had two parts MT machines, so I thought this would be a fun one to add to the collection. In this video we load it up with the Ford F-350, haul it home, and run it for the first time.
The MT was the row-crop version of the John Deere M. The M is unique as it was a two-cylinder vertical engine with a foot clutch. The M also replaced both the models H and LA. The H was the smallest of the horizontal two-cylinder machines.
John Deere Model M
As I mentioned earlier, the MT was the row-crop version of the M. The M was considered a “standard”, meaning non-adjustable wheel tread and a lower stance. One of the things that interests me about the M is that we used to have a model M on our farm. The photo above is the model M that was once on our family farm. They were popular utility machines, as they were small and easy to use as they had a standard clutch to operate. In the photo above, you can see it connected to a manure spreader. Back then they had an old dairy barn with the large large rounded-roof loft. The cows would be milked and also were fed in the barn. This created a good deal of manure which needed to be removed daily. The M in the photo shows it hooked up to a manure spreader. This would have been the daily task of the tractor–to drive through the barn and haul out the manure. I recall my grandfather talking about the process, mentioning how they would manually shovel the manure into the spreader each day. There’s plenty of manure to be seen on the tractor as well.
Shot in 4K HDR Dolby Vision. If you have an iPhone 12 or later (or HDR compatible Android phone), then the color and brightness should really pop.
