JOHN DEERE DEALER OFFERS INSIGHT

By Staff
Published on January 1, 1982
article image

Stephen Equipment Company, Box 89, Franktown, Colorado 80116

I am a John Deere dealer and I would like to share some
information and experiences with your readers. I have subscribed to
both your magazines for one year now and consider them to be
repeatedly excellent.

About one year ago, I decided to see if I could get a showpiece
John Deere D to run. It is a 1929 D on full steel and had been
sitting in the same spot for ten years. Well, I got it to run and I
found I was hooked! I started looking around our dealership a
little more closely. I located three stationary engines under a
shelf where they had been for some time. I found two John Deere 1?
HP and one Fairbanks Morse 3 HP. I restored one of the John Deeres
and got the other running. I also located a walk-behind plow and a
walk-behind potato digger. Well, one year later, I have accumulated
a somewhat larger collection!

It includes: 2-1927 and 1-1929 JD D’s on full steel; 1-1936
JD A; 1-1937 JD B; 1-JD L; 1-JD LA; 1-MM Z; 1-IH F-12; 1-Rock
Island F/A; 3-JD 1? HP engines; 1-JD 3 HP engine; 1-FM 3 HP engine;
4-horsedrawn corn planters (3 JD, 1 IH); 1-horsedrawn JD model KC
cultivator; 1-Clipper #1-B seed separator; and a growing literature
and parts books collection.

All tractors except the F-12, Rock Island, and 1 D run. I also
completely restored a 1935 JD for a customer. I did everything from
rebuild the engine to mount the new tires to paint and detail the
tractor. I talked my wife, Cathy, into sewing the radiator curtain.
I have received many compliments on it. (I have enclosed a photo of
it.)

My wife and I and another couple traveled to Bird City, Kansas
to see our first show. We really enjoyed ourselves and I had an
idea. I wore the telephone out tracing people who were interested
in old tractors and engines. All this effort paid off on September
12, 1981 when the first show of this type in our area was held. It
was combined with our local Chamber of Commerce show and the
results were surprising. There was a total of 21 tractors and 33
engines. Entrants ranged from a 1925 spoke-flywheel D to IH F-20s
and F Cubs to a 1952 JD R diesel. Everyone had a great time and I
feel we could double the size of the show next year.

I would like to share some thoughts on John Deere parts
availability with you. Many people seem to be surprised that John
Deere still makes many parts for the tractors and stationary
engines. The non-styled D is getting harder to get parts for; the
GP is nearly impossible; but the nonstyled A and B are still
relatively easy. Gaskets and springs are still available for the
stationary engines. It seems like the ‘hard’ parts go
obsolete first and the gaskets go last. Many of the still available
parts are stored in the obsolete parts depot in Moline. It usually
is a short wait of 2-4 days to get these parts that are stored
here.

A few examples of parts that have gone obsolete in the last
three months are as follows: the spade lugs for D rear steel
wheels; the low-tension magneto for igniter set-up on type E
engines; the 1? HP head; and the brush with holder for the E
engines. Naturally, I delayed and missed ordering them by a week!
John Deere will continue to stock parts for which they receive a
certain amount of orders each year. I urge the readers to check
with their dealers and keep the demand up so the parts will
continue to be stocked.

John Deere also still provides operator’s manuals for
all their tractors. Parts catalogs are still
available for everything except the GP tractor and the stationary
engines. And yet parts are still available for these units. So the
trick is to find a dealer that has a parts catalog so he can know
which numbers to order. Deere furnishes an order form booklet which
lists all available literature and includes prices and order forms.
The best part is that it is free for the asking from John Deere
dealers. Two books which I recommend are: #SM-2124-Carburetors
service manual and #SM-2029-Electrical Systems service manual.
These show all the rebuilding procedures on carburetors and
magnetos as well as schematics and cross-reference lists to show
which tractor had which carburetor, etc. They have proven to be
invaluable.

I have also enclosed a serial number list on the older John
Deere tractors which should be of interest and benefit many people.
The list is taken from the John Deere bicentennial book and they
are John Deere’s official production records.

I hope some of what I have written will help somebody. If
anybody wants they can write me at the above address and send a
stamp and I will mail them a literature order form for free. I
would also try to help anybody with parts if I could. John Deere
dealers that are on the computerized parts ordering system have a
method of running a search of other computerized dealers’
inventories for obsolete parts that Deere no longer furnishes. I
have found many parts sitting on dealer’s shelves that I
needed.

JOHN DEERE SERIAL LIST

WATERLOO BOY ‘L’ & ‘LA’

1914

 1000

WATERLOO BOY ‘N’

1917

10000

1918

10221

1919

13461

1920

18924

1921

27026

1922

27812

1923

28119

1924

29590

‘D’

1924

30401

1925

31280

1926

35309

1927

43410

1928

54554

1929

71561

1930

95367

1931

109944

1932

115477

1933

115665

1934

116273

1935

119100

1936

125430

1937

130700

1938

138413

1939

143800

1940

146566

1941

149500

1942

152840

1943

155005

1944

155426

1945

159888

1946

162598

1947

167250

1948

174879

1949

183516

1950

188420

1951

189701

1952

191180

1953

191439

‘GP’ WIDE TREAD

1929

400000

1930

400936

1931

402741

1932

404770

1933

405110

‘GP’ STANDARD

1928

200111

1929

202566

1930

216139

1931

224321

1932

228666

1933

229051

1934

229216

1935

230515

‘A’

1934

410000

1935

412866

1936

424025

1937

442151

1938

466787

1939

477000

1940

488000

1941

499000

1942

514127

1943

523133

1944

528778

1945

548352

1946

588817

1947

578516

1948

594433

1949

620843

1950

648000

1951

667390

1952

689880

‘AC’ & ‘AR’

1936

250000

1937

253521

1938

255416

1939

257004

1940

258045

1941

260000

1942

261558

1943

262243

1944

263223

1945

264738

1946

265870

1947

267082

1948

268877

1949

270646

1950

272985

1951

276078

1959

279770

1953

282551

‘AC’ (STYLED)

1937

AO-1000

1938

AO-1539

1939

AO-1725

1940

AO-1801

‘B’

1935

1000

1936

12012

1937

27389

1938

46175

1939

60000

1940

81600

1941

96000

1942

126345

1943

143420

1944

152862

1945

173179

1946

183673

1947

199744

1948

216055

1949

237346

1950

258205

1951

276557

1952

299175

‘BO’ & ‘BR’

1936

325000

1937

326655

1938

328111

1939

329000

1940

330633

1941

332039

1942

332427

1943

332780

1944

333156

1945

334219

1946

335641

1947

336746

‘BO’ (LINDEMAN) CRAWLER

1943

332901

1944

333110

1945

333666

1946

335361

1947

336441

‘G’

1938

1000

1939

7734

1940

9321

1941

10489

1942

12069

1943

—-

1944

13748

1945

13905

1946

16694

1947

20527

1948

28127

1949

34587

1950

40761

1951

47194

1952

56510

1953

63489

‘L’

1937

621000

1938

621079

1939

626265

1940

630160

1941

634191

1942

640000

1943

640738

1944

641038

1945

641538

1946

641958

‘LA’

1941

. 1001

1942

. 5361

1943

6029

1944

. 6159

1945

. 9732

1946

11529

‘H’

1939

1000

1940

10780

1941

23654

1942

40995

1943

44755

1944

47796

1945

48392

1946

55956

1947

60107

‘M’

1947

10001

1948

13734

1949

25604

1950

35659

1951

43525

1952

50580

‘MT’

1949 .

10001

1950 .

18544

1951 .

26203

1952 .

35845

‘MC’ CRAWLER

1949

10001

1950

11630

1951

13630

1952

16309

‘R’

1949

1000

1950

3541

1951

6505

1952

10745

1953

15720

1954

19485

Online Store Logo
Need Help? Call 1-866-624-9388