This 1941 John Deere Model H tractor was originally shipped to Minneapolis, MN and then was sold at a dealership in River Falls, WI. In the late 1940's, the current owner, Kenneth Anderson, purchased the tractor for the family farm in Prairie Farm, WI. The tractor was used for cultivating on the farm until around 1980 when Ken's father passed away. For the next 2+ decades, the tractor was stored in a shed at the farm where Ken regularly visited. Every time he visited, he would crank the engine to make sure it didn’t get "stuck". However, the tractor never started. In April of 2000, Lee Sackett married Ken's grand-daughter, Shannon Beckrich. During the spring of 2002, Ken and Lee agreed that it was time to bring life back to the family tractor. One afternoon, Lee drove to Prairie Farm, where he met Ken and two of Ken's friends. The four of them loaded the tractor and Lee brought it back to his shop in Ellendale, MN. The first order of business was to get the tractor running. Lee rebuilt the carburetor, cleaned out the gas tank, installed new spark plugs and changed the oil. His wife, Shannon, towed him around the yard with another tractor and it started for the first time in over 20 years! The tractor ran great and was in good mechanical shape. There were relatively few major items that would need to be addressed. The tractor was moved over the pit in Lee's shop where it was easy to work on from all sides. The only challenge was stabilizing the tractor while the axles were removed to replace the brakes and seals. Lee bolted a length of C-channel to the tractor frame to support the front of the tractor on either side of the pit. The rear axles were removed and refitted without incident. The tractor was very difficult to start, so the magneto was sent out to be rebuilt. The brakes were poor and the rear axle seals, radiator core, and muffler were also replaced. The spark plug covers had been removed over the years and were lost, so new ones were purchased. Gaskets, hoses, gauges and wires were also purchased. The biggest problem with the tractor was that it was completely covered with dirt and grime. In some places, the build-up was over an inch thick! After scraping the larger deposits off,
the entire tractor was sandblasted to remove all traces of foreign particles. Extreme care was taken to plug and mask all areas where sand could get into the internal parts of the tractor and cause damage. Once the tractor had been sandblasted, the sheet metal parts were reworked to remove all dents and dings. For the hood, Lee made a special jig that would hold it securely and still allow it to swing 150 degrees. This made it much easier to work on the many dents in the hood. The grilles also required extensive body work. Once everything had been sandblasted and all the body work had been completed, the bare metal was primed with a metal-etching primer. This primer forms a chemical bond with the metal to provide decades of rust protection. If this primer had been available (and used) in 1941, this restoration job would have been much simpler! After the primer dried, the sheet metal was sanded smooth. Then everything was wiped down with a tack cloth to prep it for paint. John Deere Classic Green paint was used with hardener added to enhance the paint quality. The wheels had been blasted and painted a few years before when Ken had new tires put on the tractor so Lee didn't work on them. After all the paint was dry, the tractor was assembled. Lee likes to paint all the parts separately and then assemble the tractor. The parts are easier to paint and he gets better coverage on the corners and edges this way. However, special care must be taken during the assembly process to make sure that the parts aren't scratched. When the tractor was completed, Ken made a trip to Lee's place to see the results. He was very pleased and has asked Lee to work on several other projects that he has. In 2004, Ken purchased a set of fenders for the tractor. Lee and his team sand-blasted, primed, and painted the fenders to match the tractor.
2 сен 2023
