Here's the story of my JD Bs restoration up to this poi

I had been sending my Great Great Uncle Norris letters asking if I could buy a John Deere tractor (he owns at least 50 tractors of various makes, mostly International Harvester. He also has 4 or 5 sheds packed with all sorts of antiques) from him for four or five years . We (My father, mother, sister and brother) went to the annual family picnic held at a church that borders Norris property on July 16, 2022. We had two hayrides, (he lives in the country) one pulled by an Allis Chalmers C and the other with an Oliver 1850T. When we got back to the church I was standing next to the C, talking about tractors with Norris and Ted Ryden. I had been listing off tractors I'd driven, including a John Deere 4620. I had just said that I had yet to drive any two-cylinder tractors when Norris asked "Were you the one asking about buying a John Deere?" I said, " Yeah, that was me." Then he said "Well, you can have one, for nothing." I said in disbelief, "Seriously, I can have one for free?" He nodded. Ted said, "Well, you better go see what he s got." I said, "Yeah, I should." I thanked Norris several times and set out to find a tractor. As I mentioned above he has a lot of tractors so I had a few choices. I settled on a John Deere B with good sheet metal and that looked to be in overall good condition, except for the fact it was missing its mag. (It actually was the one I had my eye on the whole time. Back 4 or 5 years before this took place my family and I had walked around his property and I had set my heart on that tractor since the first time I saw it.) I looked for a serial number plate but couldn t find any. When inspecting it, I saw that it had flat spoke rear wheels and round spoke front, all on rubber. I showed it to Norris and he said, "If you want it, take it." He also explained that the guy he bought the tractor had taken off the mag and put it in a shed, which burnt down. That explained why the mag was gone. I thanked him many times before we headed home.
About a month later, August 6 to be exact, Dad, Uncle Daniel, and I went out to collect the tractor. Uncle Daniel brought a trailer and a Suburban, as well as some boards to use as a ramp, even though they didn t have to be used. I brought a tool box stuffed with tools. Dad came to assist in any way he could and to bring me. Dad and I arrived at Norris at eight and readied the B, as well as discovered the serial number plate which at the time was unreadable because of the grease and rust, not to mention that it looked like somebody beat it with a hammer. We then wandered around his tractors until about nine when we went in to tell him we were there. Maybe 10 minutes later Uncle Daniel arrived. We went out to hook up the Suburban to the tractor. Norris said that we could use his Farmall M to pull it out of the row of tractors. We hooked up the M and tried to pull it out, but the B was stuck in gear and both brakes were locked up, so the M just slipped. After two more failed attempts we hooked the Suburban up as well and it jerked forward, and I was able to slam the B out of gear and bang the left brake loose with a hammer. The right brake was still locked up, so the wheel didn t turn. I steered the tractor and used the clutch as a brake since the engine was seized up. Mark Syverson came by to see if he could help get the brake unlocked. Unfortunately we couldn t figure out how to get the brake loose. So Norris used the M to load the B on the trailer. We hung around and talked for a while, and Norris said he was glad to give a tractor to somebody he knew would value it. I thanked him again and said I'd see him at Rollag (Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion in Rollag, MN) and we left. We unloaded the tractor at our house and then talked for a while. I ran out of patience for the brake and took a hammer and WD-40 under the tractor and hosed it down and banged several times. It worked, the wheel turned. Uncle Daniel left and that ended that part of the adventure.
The first thing I took off was the carburetor. After I removed it, dismantled it and removed the rust. In reassembly I discovered that it had the wrong bowl for that type of carb. It is a DLTX-34, but it had a DLT-7 bowl instead of the DLT-13 bowl that a DLTX-34 should have. So I ordered a DLT-13 bowl.
I then got a propane torch, a scotch brite scrubber, WD-40, and a wet rag and polished the serial number plate. It turns out that heat is very good for removing grease and some of the rust on serial number plates just so long you are careful not to apply too much heat and just make two or three passes with the torch. I sprayed a light mist of WD-40 and scrubbed until it was shiny, and then wiped off with the wet rag. Now I could read the number, it was B 138090. I originally thought that the number was 138630. I asked Mr.Thinker of Green Magazine what year it was and he said if it had a steel frame it was 42 or 44 and if it had a cast iron frame, which it does, it was 42 or 43. Not one serial number list matches another one so I didn t know what to think.
I bought a gallon of WD-40 and removed the spark plugs and filled the bores with it. My father and I bolted a threaded rod to both of the flywheel holes. Then we hooked a chain to one of the rods and a comelong to the other. The idea was to put a lot of pulling force on the flywheel, which would break the pistons loose. Unfortunately that idea didn t work.
We removed everything in front of the block. I discovered that mice had made nests in the radiator. We removed the head and put an empty Tidy Cats cat sand container under to catch the WD-40.
It was a big fight to get the block off. I removed the connecting rod cap on the right side since it was at the top. I got the bottom connecting rod bolt off but the other one refused to move. I couldn't get to the other connecting rod cap because of the oil filter housing. I started to worm it off when the upper connecting rod bolt hit the camshaft and jammed the block. I spent the next three days carefully trying to remove the bolt. WD-40 and a channel lock solved the problem. Dad and I pulled it off and sat it on a couple of cement blocks. We then filled the bores with the WD-40 that I saved. I heated the pistons and drove one of them out. The other is still stuck.
I removed the bottom of the filter case and discovered that the filter element was gone. The crankcase had about two inches of oil in it, which would explain why the engine was in such horrible shape. The babbitt connecting rod bearings were almost completely worn off. Also the crankshaft s connecting rod bearing surfaces were worn and gouged. For the first time I spun the flywheel, it felt good except for a little roughness in the main bearings.

So that's the story, my hope is to see it running for the John Deere Expo at Rollag, MN. Come and see her if she is. If I have my way she'll be one of the only Bs on steel. She originally was on steel and is now on cutoffs. Do any of you know were to get 12 spline reear steel wheels and round spoke front wheels?

This post was edited by jd2cyl1943 on 12/13/2022 at 03:04 pm.

This post was edited by jd2cyl1943 on 12/13/2022 at 03:06 pm.

It's neat. Enjoy the adventure of
getting her running!

I LIKE the look of it in it's 'work
clothes'... or are you planning to paint
it?

Being that I'm 14 and can barely afford to get her running, paint is the "maybe sometime in the future" thing.

Mighty fine acquisition!!! Two suggestions at this point: There are penetrants that work much better than WD-40: Liquid Wrench, PB Blaster, CRC Penetrant, And ZEP products. WD-40 is actually a good product for water displacement (WD stands for that). It has market penetration, but actually isn't a lubricant at all. It evaporates to nothing over a short time unless in a container. Try another real product.
Take images of everything and put the photos in a Text document with explanations under each that actually describe what you are, will be, or did, do. Clean all parts as they are removed and bag small parts/bolts/nuts with labels for where they are used. Jim

I enjoy reading your updates on your progress. Glad to see a young feller excited about fixing old tractors, and I'm excited for you! They do cost a lot of time and money when they are in the condition yours is in, but don't let that discourage you. I have done several that most people told me it wasn't worth fixing. I bought my first when I was 15 and the motor was stuck too, I now have around 13 antique tractors. Keep up the good progress, and with the knowledge of people here you'll always have help.

(quoted from post at 17:10:38 12/13/22) Mighty fine acquisition!!! Two suggestions at this point: There are penetrants that work much better than WD-40: Liquid Wrench, PB Blaster, CRC Penetrant, And ZEP products. WD-40 is actually a good product for water displacement (WD stands for that). It has market penetration, but actually isn't a lubricant at all. It evaporates to nothing over a short time unless in a container. Try another real product.
Take images of everything and put the photos in a Text document with explanations under each that actually describe what you are, will be, or did, do. Clean all parts as they are removed and bag small parts/bolts/nuts with labels for where they are used. Jim

Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip about WD-40. I'm already organizing parts in bags, but I never thought of taking pics and recording my work.

Here is a picture of one still at work. This is a 1941. The wheels are different but otherwise they look the same.

Some time while you are waiting for parts and
nothing to do, fix the back tires, or if beyond repair,
take them off so you can roll it around on the rims.
This will make it much more convenient if you have
to make multiple moves during the course of your
restore. You could roll it by yourself if you had to, if
you were on concrete.

Great story & congratulations for your new(old) tractor
acquisition. The folks on this forum have a wealth of
knowledge that can be shared with you for the cost of a
question. If you run into any dead ends just ask, here & the
JD pages, 99.9% you will get the answer. Keep posting
updates as you progress forward. Good luck.

I'll keep on updating. I hope that those of you who can will come see her in future years at WMSTR, Rollag, MN.

Don't feel bad about not painting it. It's
only original once and if you can't take
the time to paint it right, not worth
doing a second time.

Just remember, $2000 paint over 2 hour
prep will look just as bad as $200 paint
over 80 hour prep.

I can't wait to see the progress. You
started out just like me, same age and
everything!

Enjoyed the story. I started out much the same at 14 with
a given project tractor. Many tractors later, here I am at
28 with a couple antiques still earning their place in the
barn. That first tractor given to me means the world and
will always have a special place in my heart. Keep up the
good work and continue to do what you can with what
you have. These old girls have plenty of life skills to teach
still.

Congratulations on your tractor. It's great
that you are restoring that tractor. I'm
still newish to fixing mine but it's very
enjoyable. Be patient and enjoy the process.

Looks good for a young guy just getting into the hobby. It will give you a great sense of pride to do this and then to hear it pop off when you have it all back together right. You will have great fun and a good learning curve doing this. Don't get overwhelmed by it just take it one step at the time. The Chinese philosopher Confucius said, ''to eat an elephant, just take one bite at a time''.<br
>That tractor probably came with a Wico ''C'' magneto when new. However the later series''X'' is a better unit and interchangeable. Just be aware that there are long impulse lugs and short lugs plus many different impulse lag adjustment/settings for different tractors.

I grew up around the 2 cylinder Deeres as my father ran a dealership shop and I worked with him until I went in the Army right out of high school in 1957. Now my tractor collection is 3- Earthmaster tractors, 1- 650 John Deere compact diesel and one Dig-It TLB unit plus a John Deere LT 150 lawn mower. Keep up the good work!

Thanks everybody!

Your developing skills with your tractor restoration is admirable, your ability to create a story for us is even more impressive. We often make comments here on the site about the things that our young people CANNOT do and too often forget the things they CAN do .... in your case our writing skills. One word of caution is to be careful with your spending. A lot of individuals in our country have found that out the hard way.

Fantastic, just remember it took years for
this tractor to get in this bad of shape,
and it will be a slow process to get it
usable. The most enjoyable tractor I own
still has its original work clothes on. I
don't have to worry about getting it dirty.

Some of the new parts I bought are painted. will it look do weird with a couple of nice painted parts and the rest in original condition?

What's your opinion on buying a junk B for parts?

If it looks like it has good useable parts that you may need and the price is right, I would get it if it were me

Thanks for your opinion. Mine has no drawbar, which I found to be obsolete, so I may go for it.

Reading and seeing all of this makes me want to get my 44B going again.

Here's what she looks like now.

















Here's what she would of looked like new.






Here's what I her to look like in the future. I've seen another one (beside this one and mine) at tractor shows.

I got a few new parts the other day as well.

(quoted from post at 19:57:42 12/14/22) What's your opinion on buying a junk B for parts?

Click to expand...

I'd make a spreadsheet of every part you are going to need for your B and the price of each of those parts.

Then whenever you look at a parts tractor - see how many parts on it match your list and add them up. If the price of the parts tractor is lower than the parts list - you are coming out ahead.

Don't be afraid to shift strategy either. It's not uncommon to find a parts tractor that is nicer than they one you are fixing.

Okay, thanks for the help.