[AT] 1948 John Deere A

[Indiana Robinson]

Dean said:

Farmer,

Regarding the JD A.  I don’t know if it is a special version or not but if
it is known as a Plain Jane A. and not a tractor that has some special
attachment be careful how much money you put into it if you would like to
break even on it someday.  Plain Jane JD A’s and B’s resale value has
dropped significantly over the last few years. It is quite easy to put
tires on an A that have over half the value of the tractor.  Unfortunately
the guys like you and me who were around when these tractors were new are
starting to be reduced in numbers quite rapidly. And as a result the resale
value has dropped along with those unfortunate events. Low production
numbers and unusual configurations seem to be holding up quite well. But…….
Every time I get my new Two Cylinder Magazine of Green Magazine I am struck
by how many auctions there are of significant collections. Quite often
estate sales.  I think the so called “rare” versions will continue to hold
their value.   My only hope is that the prices will stabilize soon where
the younger crown will buy them just because they are reasonably priced and
kind of neat to own as something different from the typical city toy.




.

My Deere A is about as generic as they come. It's just what I wanted. It
was the basic model that about everybody bought. It does have Roll-a-matic.
One of the greatest things about it was that it was free.  :-)

A guy I didn't even know stopped by my store one day almost 30 years ago
and told me about buying a farm a mile or two away and a Farmall M and a
John Deere A coming with it. They had been sitting in the woods for maybe
15 years. All of the tires were just pieces. He had dragged them to the
tool shed and started on the Farmall M. He did a full restore on the M
including full engine work, tires, paint and decals. He said that it was a
fight from start to finish and that he spent months drilling out broken
bolts. He did a really nice job on it. Next he started on the Deere by
pulling the hood and removed the steering shaft. He said that every single
bolt broke off... He said that people had told him about my interest in old
tractors and said that If I would come and get it I could have it. I said
yes, sight unseen. I hooked the trailer behind the wrecker and almost beat
him back to his house.  :-)

What I found was a complete intact JD A looking rough from weather but
nothing looked broken or damaged. That wrecker was really great for loading
and unloading stuff. I winched it on the trailer and brought it back. I
carried extra snatch-block pulleys on the wrecker and used one to pull the
tractor off of the trailer using the trailer winch to hold it back as the
wrecker winch pulled it off.

The oil actually looked decent and the engine was free. I stuck a battery
in it and it cranked nicely then with a point cleaning I had a spark. I
twisted a mouse eaten spark plug wire back together, poured some gas in the
tank, hit it with some ether and it fired a time or two. A little more
ether and the silly thing fired up and ran... Of course it was only hitting
on two cylinders.  :-)  :-)  :-)

I had an E-3 Co-op sitting there that had been back flipped in a woods by a
guy who never got back on the tractor again. I had bought it cheap mostly
because it had a decent looking pair of rear tires on it. Over the next few
days I took the junk tires off of the A and pulled the tires off of the
E-3. I was amazed to find that the rims on that A were perfect including
the original paint. I cleaned them down and painted them with a coat of
yellow Rustoleum anyway. BTW, a guy stopped one day and offered me about
150% of what I had paid for the E-3 for parts and I jumped on it.

I used that JD-A (lightly) for a number of years, mostly pulling wagons and
trailers. I also loved it for belting it to my buzz saw for firewood. I
never did much to it but I did clean it down and paint it (quickie job)
just to preserve it until I could do it right. I never did ever break a
bolt working on it.

Then things went a bit south... I parked it when it blew a rear tire
probably because the E-3 owner had hit stumps with it in that woods. Then I
had a run of health problems and it just had to sit for long time again. I
had gotten down to the point that I could only walk about 100 feet and that
was using two canes. Got that straightened out then my ticker went dicky
and had to have a re-plumb. Between Diana and I we had a whole string of
health problems. Things are looking pretty good right now, just a lot of
catching up to do. I hope to get back on that Deere again. It won't be a
big money restore. Some used tires, some carb work and a light "go-thru" on
the engine.

My used tire collection has a bad gap. 13.6-38 would be appropriate but
13.6's and 15.5's get snatched up at auctions by the pulling guys. I have 2
decent pairs of 18.4-38's but they are way too big even just for running
around. I have some 10-38's but dang they look too skinny for that A. I'm
probably well into next spring or later getting to it so I can keep
watching for proper tires.


I completely agree on the price situation...


.

-- 
-- 

Francis Robinson
aka "farmer"
Central Indiana USA
robinson46176 at gmail.com
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