5131 W. Spencerfield Road, Pace, Florida 32571
Born in May of 1995, or the idea was anyway. This was my second
attempt at building a small tractor the first was a 1955 300
Farmall three years ago. I tried my best to build a 1937 John Deere
un styled. This tractor is not one built to any exact scale, but
was built just for fun, and fun I have had with it.
I’m not a machinist but have acquired a 12′ lathe and
have been learning what it’s all about. I have been lucky
enough to have found a fellow who knows his way around a lathe and
has taken quite a bit of his time to show me something. Thanks,
Raymond Taylor.
Many folks I have met in this old iron hobby have either had
some answers that I didn’t have or have dug in their pile of
goodies and come up with a piece of something I needed or could use
when modified.
I started out with a Wheel Horse rear end and transmission given
to me by Claude Miller. The engine is an old L.B. International 1 –
2 HP. It came out of a Jaeger cement mixer. The frame is just
2′ angle iron and that’s the only thing that didn’t
come out of my scrap iron pile or somebody else’s. The steering
sector came out of my brother Gordon Thompson’s ’67 Chevy
truck when he put power steering on it. The front tires are
wheelbarrow tires. The rear wheels I had to build. The centers are
from a Dodge, and rims are from Allis-Chalmers; that gives me
16′ rear tires. The seat is a Jacobsen lawn tractor seat. The
radiator is cut down from air conditioning equipment. The grill and
hood are hand built, thanks to my brother Gary Thompson and his
friend Glenn Ates, who rolled the sheet metal for the hood. The
clutch is hand type and done with a belt and simple tightener on a
pivot. Because of it being an International engine and the belt
pulley running off the cam, this gave me a problem. I had to turn
the power in the other direction. Well, I had a time finding two
gears, but Dale Stan cliff found me two in his pile of ‘good
stuff.’ I spent quite a bit of time building a gear box and
mounting it on the side of the transmission.
Welding was not a problem, but machining bearing races and
cutting key ways was all new to me. Thanks again to Mr. Taylor for
showing me the way.
I have also built in a 3′ pulley so that I can run belt
driven equipment. The first show I took it to, I ran my old John
Deere corn sheller. Looks real nice, John Deere tractor running a
John Deere corn sheller.
I tried to sit down and think about how many companies or their
parts were used in building this tractor: Ford, Chevy, Dodge, Wheel
Horse, International, Massey Ferguson, Jacobsen and
Wheelbarrow.
It’s been a real adventure I wouldn’t trade for
anything. My wife Kim has been very supportive and I’m thankful
for that. Thanks again to everyone who helped with this project
.
