Letters: Modified John Deere Model E

By Staff
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Modified John Deere Model E

Having collected John Deere engines for the past three decades, I thought something completely different needed to be added to my collection, which includes a set of John Deere Model E and a set of Model EK engines. I have also owned an EP and have possessed a couple of SC engines. I built the first one some years ago but decided to sell it to purchase another engine.

A cold day last winter, with no projects that seemed of interest to me, I figured the time had arrived to “modify” a John Deere Model E for my collection.

The greatest challenge was removing a section of the water hopper and welding it back together without any water leaks, as I’m not a welder. But because of slow and careful work, the hopper had no leaks on the test run.

Another problem was making a pulley to run inside the flywheel to power the water pump, then aligning the pump so the bore ran true. After several trials and errors, the above was accomplished.

The engine, born in 1942 (serial number 354974), received its facelift in 2010. The photo shows the engine running last summer at my annual get-together for local engine collectors. By the way, the engine is a Model E screen-cooled, hence the “SC.” Jim White, 7821 Dewberry Lane, Cedar Hill, MO 63016; (636) 285-2519; hitandmiss@brick.net.

  • Published on Aug 26, 2011
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