Nice looking and sweet running tractor. It's so cool that these old girls are still out there doing the jobs for which they were designed - after 70 years or more. Compare that to the productive lifespan of a cell phone or a computer
My father started at John Deere Waterloo factory as an Engineer in 1936. He was assigned the task to design and develop a diesel tractor for Deere. As a young boy, he never once mentioned any work with Caterpillar on the pony motor, and am sure he would have. Thirteen years later the Deere model R came out in 1949. Dad was told by many that Deere would never produce a diesel tractor.. couldn't be more wrong. And I blew a lot of cans off the exhaust pipe :)
One of the best workhorses of its day. I remember as a child working the fields with this machine day after day in the spring and fall seasons. If anything happened to the engine my dad and I would tare the engine down at the end of the day, rebuild it and we were back in the field the next morning. Thanks for the memories!
Thank you! Diesel Dave for showing everyone the proper way to start a John Deere 2 cylinder diesel with a Cranking Engine!!! 90% of the ones that start them seem they have to open the diesels throttle before they even start cranking the diesel over !!! The "WRONG" way to start them !!! YOU showed the "CORRECT" way to start them. By turning the diesel over with the decompresser lever pulled tell you get oil pressure. Then let the decompresser lever go and let the diesel turn under compression for a few turns "AND THEN" push the diesels throttle ahead to start the diesel ! I THANK YOU AGAIN !!! 👍
Marvelous sounding ol' diesel. I'm not so sure how the ears felt after a day of working with this old Tractor, though ! Those were the days, indeed,, some would probably say , "Thank god those days are gone." Great video, 'dieseldave71' thanks for the run down memory lane.
todd Brewer That surely is a beautiful tractor ,to me they sound like the engine is missing though. Back in the day I farmed with an IHC super wd9 ,easy to start ,very powerful in its day and smooth running ,there is no way in hell I would swap it for a John Deere R.
@@interman7715 Agreed. The super WD9 was so nimble on the headlands, whip that huge steering wheel and tap the wheel brake just as the front tires start to push dirt and she came around 180 degrees in a 9 foot circle. And when you couldn't afford a battery a 90 lb kid could start that big diesel with the hand crank (on gasoline).
What a wonderful machine. I grew up in Kingston Ontario Canada and when I got old enough I worked on a farm. They didn't have andy J D's but I remember the men starting a old steel wheel Case the same way you started the R. A farmer across from my house had a jd R and I do remember the sound you could hear it from a long way off. thanks for the video it sure brings back memories for me back in the 40's and 50's when I was a very young lad.
I used to run one of these on a Farm mostly pulling hay wagons in 1976 when I was 16 years old .. I was never taught nor never though to roll of the big motor to pre lube it .. I know this much the pony motor is liquid cooled so on a cold Winter day you could run the gasoline powered pony motor for a while and get the block of the diesel warmed up .. Only problem with the R I drove was about three turns of slop in the steering wheel keeping it in the agitation lane in road gear . Many years later a john Deere expert told me that was easy to adjust .. Now some day if I can start and Drive a Model T Ford as my Grandfather always told me about his first car ..
Thanks for the comment about Henry Dreyfuss input on the design. I looked him up on Wikipedia and saw the wide extent of his attractive yet practical industrial designs. Your tractor is a great example!
Thanks Jon, Dreyfuss And Raymond Loewy were the big two in industrial design back in the day. I believe that Loewy was responsible for International's look back in the '50's, and of course the beautiful GG1 electric locomotive.
It’s nice to see somebody turn the diesel engine over, while decompressed, for a sufficient time to build oil pressure before compressing the diesel engine and opening the throttle. So many of these guys on UA-cam don’t do that, and are causing a lot more wear and tear than is necessary! I spent my formative years running a 720 Diesel and an 820 on our Montana cattle ranch. Other than minor differences in the controls, the tractors are very similar to the R.
That’s the way I was taught to do it when starting the old Cats. I still think it’s a superior system for that reason - the ability to crank the engine with no load on the bearings. I know I cringe every time my Duramax starts, waiting those couple of seconds for the oil gauge to come up. We have a 730 Diesel so your pair is very similar to ours. They’re a little clumsy with the hand clutch and the 730 has too high of a reverse gear but overall they are well made for their intended job, and I don’t think that anything puts out more work for less fuel
Just use a warm spark plug and warm gasoline. Boiling tea kettle poured over the carburetor. Pull the plug and warm it nicely with a soldering blow torch.
One small criticism though... I don't know any farm boy who used any of these old JD twins in Saskatchewan that didn't pride himself on how high he could launch the old tomato can that was used to keep the rain out of the exhaust pipe. We either used the long tomato juice cans or the short tobacco cans for exhaust covers. Part of the trick was squashing the can a bit so it held on a bit and built up a bit of pressure, and the timing of when you released the de-compression lever. We had D's, R's, an 80, and an 820. Maybe another 'can launching' video is needed?
I have a 70 and I remember when my grandfather was still alive a squirrel managed to shove some acorns up into the pipe through the coffee tin, so when he cranked it was raining burning acorns
I dearly loved to blow smoke rings out of an old D-6 and an 8-H as well! Nothing like watching the flap go up and the smoke roll till the turbo wound up!
Got a 77 Allis Chalmers, left the exhaust uncovered las winter. Went to start it up this spring and got covered in nasty water from the exhaust manifold.
I can remember lying in bed at night listening to the two lungers on our farm and the farmalls across the way on our neighbors can remember also the 60s and 70s engines pulling 5 bottom breaking plows and lugging down then picking back up. And neighbors Hs and Ms lugging down and stalling then restarting and laughing about it
Man listening to that sound reminds me of the good old days when America was the greatest place on earth and all this nonsense that is going on today didn't exist and men were men and women were women was a great time to live here I miss it
You said a mouthful there! Men were men and married a woman. After a full day of sweaty work, you could fall asleep immediately. Then get up the next day and do it again!
The D6600, D8800, D13000, D17000 all shared the 5 3/4 x 8 dimensions, just a different number of cylinders, and yes I it was from this series that I believe JD took their influence. But there were differences as well, for example the Cat was a precup engine while the JD had direct injection so the fuel systems were very different
Hey thanks so very much for the start/ride along. So very kewl! I’d always wondered how the pony motor interaction was was, I didn’t see it get cut off, was zoomed in on the motor start. ❤🎉
I agree with dieseldave71. It is not good to rush starting the diesel for a number of reasons. The owners manual says you can "motor" the diesel indefinitely with it de-compressed if needed. Try that with a electric starter! Pre-warming and pre-lubrication is one of the many advantages of pony start tractors.
At -40 degrees it took 3 tanks of pup fuel to get the temperature gauge to move- with the main engine motoring to provide a load after the first tank. At the same time that day the engine oil from a Minneapolis U special warmed at the back of the kitchen wood & coal range and it's cooling system was run through the heater hoses of a v-8 pickup truck. The two batteries warmed behind the stove and still needed booster cables to get the U going. (The Deere pup was hand cranked- hadn't had a battery that fall apparently)
I grew up on a Model R fuel up the night before and you have fuel for all next day. We pulled an IH plow 4-16" mostly in 3rd gear. I looked forward to every day I could run the R for many reasons ( also because you couldn't cultivate with it)
@@ivordavies2976 it was not a row crop tractor. The wheel widths were in a fixed position. It was designed to be a tillage tractor primarily so it was big and didn't have good visibility like the A and B. Also there is no place to mount a cultivator.
I have a beautiful R and just broke about 8 acres of old pasture with a Case 4x14 plough. Tough plowing with roots and set for 8 inches deep., sometimes roots would cause the tractor furrow wheel to lift out of the furrow lol. Great old tractor..
One of our neighbors had an R. I put in a LOT of hours on a 70 and a 730 that started pretty much the same way. They did have throttles on the pony motor.
My not-so-fondest memory of those days was, because the tractor had no cab, if you got in a cross wind on a hot, windy day, the wind would sand-blast you with dirt off of the tires. :(
I started and ran a R at a tractor show a couple of years. Unfortunately towner died and after a few years the family sold many tractors with the R being one of them.
These old 2 cyls are fun to watch, and I own one myself, but seriously, those pony motors were a big headache. The best thing John Deere ever did ( other than quit making 2 cyls ) was to put a 24v starting system on the late ones.
Pony motor sure looks like a Cat and It'd kill me to have something go from zero to 4k in a snap. I'd have to try and rig a throttle on it. But you did a good job holding it down.
@Just a person I cranked pony motors on idle and let them warm up that way. My generators have throttles and start running slow. The Cat equipment I operated started with 800 r p.m. idle. I never bent a rod or wrecked things because of cold cranking wide open. I helped rig throttles on things so it wouldn't start hammered. Usually big generators are heated so they start warmed up. The Cats had pre-lube pumps. I ran a 980 Cat loader that had 24000 hours, yes THOUSAND and had never been touched as far as mechanically. None of my mowers nd small engines start wide open, just the new throw away junk does. And I've been driving and operating a little over 50 years and have a sound record to back it up. I think it matters how you treat things. My Sea Bee Uncle always said that you might treat something today so you might need to make a living with it tomorrow.
@Just a person I watch videos and shudder every time something starts hammered. I look for rods to start going through walls after they've already gone through the block. And a lot of stuff HAS to be warmed up gradually. I ran a 245 Cat ex shovel fitted with a hydraulic hammer at a quarry. It had a 3406 engine and if you didn't baby it in cold weather it'd strip the whole pump drive unit out. And a high rev cold start can't be good on older stuff which I was around a lot. If someone else wants to hammer something, fine. Just as long as it isn't mine!
@@dieseldave71 The old 980 had a 3406. Square hood job. The 980G had a newer one. The4 'H' model newer still and the current 'J' has def. I quit on the 'G' with 24K hours. No rebuilds.
@@lewiemcneely9143 Ok, I was thinking 3406 but something clicked in my head about maybe one having a 336, if I remember right that would have had to be back in the ‘60’s or ‘70’s. BTW, I always enjoy reading your comments, you seem like someone I would like to sit down with over a pot of coffee or a couple of beers and talk old iron for a couple of hours
@@RJ1999x Wasn't this 80 hp on the drawbar? I don't think there was another farm tractor with higher horsepower in 1949 unless you were looking at crawlers. IH big tractor at the time was the W-9 and it was only in the 65 horse power range. It's nothing compared to what came a decade later, but for its day it was THE big tractor to have.
Used to rake hay with one, I was about 11 years old, started it, ran it, 2 days on 1 tank of fuel. My father used to pull a 5 bottom 14" plow with it. Dependable.
My experience with pony motors is only with Cats and no electric start. It was much harder work to start the pony with either rope or crank than the diesel.
Yeah, I have some Cat pony motors like that lol. But that's more a maintenance issue than anything else. Cat designed those ponys to be easy to start, and when they're right they fire right up. Unfortunately, especially with a limited use machine, points get dirty, gas gets old, batteries go dead, etc, and they can be a real hassle.
Use to drive a 620 on a fruit farm in the mid-Hudson Valley in upstate New York back in the early 1960's. Loved the power of that "Johnny Popper". Only complaint, could not match speed of the big Internationals and MF's on the open highway. I was a kid then and wanted to go fast . Embarrassed when those other tractors passed me.
I did, you can hear the “clank” at 7.36 as I re engage the clutch while coasting to a stop. And it’s difficult to make out but you can see the belt pulley is turning
While I was growing up, there were two families in our immediate neighborhood that didn't run John Deere. Dad favored Farmall and the other non-compliant neighbor ran Allis Chalmers. Both men refused to have anything to do with those green things because of the pop-pop-pop sound. Dad said "dont want anything to with a company that sells you half the engine"
"Non-compliant", that's good! Lmao My neighbor has an AC WD, the farmer across the road has an eclectic mix of Farmalls, Cases, MF's, and JD's. He seems to like his Case the best, and praises the MF's as well. I like 'em all, each seems to have their strong and weak points and everyone had their standout models and their dogs. We run mostly Deeres because that's what we started off with, beginning with my great grandfather's M, on which we recently completed a complete overhaul - engine, trans, rear, hydraulics, everything, as well as cosmetics. We also have a Massey Harris Colt which belonged to my grandfather, we did the mechanical restoration and are getting ready to do the tin and paint. The M is fun to run for a little while and it pulls like a son of a gun but if we have to spend a day in the seat we always seem to gravitate to the MH- smoother, quieter, rides better and plenty of power after we installed a 162 Continental in place of the 124 it came with.
You are indeed helpful! lol the reason that I keep choking it is that I'm using the choke as a substitute throttle to keep the rpm down until the little motor has a chance to at least get some oil circulating. For whatever reason JD designed this pony with no throttle. It just runs wide open on the governor at 4000rpm from the instant it starts. Later JD pony's had throttles, all my Cat pony's have throttles- I believe that this was a mistake on Deere's part, but they probably had their reasons at the time
You didn't then, either. You could buy a Cockshutt 50, a Massey-Harris 55, or an Oliver 99 and not have to go through any of that. Even a McCormick WD9 didn't have half that nuisance.
He rolled it on de-compression for a ---long time--shouldn't take that long to get the oil pressure up, but any way, it's a nice video and congrats for making it.
Thanks. I sometimes like to run the pony for awhile, especially if a machine has been sitting for awhile. The oil pressure comes up pretty quick, but it still takes awhile for the oil to get around to the whole engine- rocker arms and such. Also, since the pony warms the diesel as well as spins it, it's good to let it produce a bit of heat. Plus, it's good for the pony itself to warm up before being put under full load- no engine thrives on a diet of being started, run for 10 seconds, and shut down.
Yup. In the winter we used to start the old R or 80 pup engine and let it turn the diesel over on de-compression while we milked the cows. Then go over and kick off the de-compressor lever. Great tractors. And the sound of them starting still is music.
1949 wow what an antique! it's a wounder John Deere sold ANY tractors while Oliver Farmall MM and others had far more modern tractors during that time.
Do these things have keys? Not really needed since nobody but the owner could start it. Same as my 72 HD chopper. If you can figure out how to start it, enjoy.
I don't think that department existed back then lol Just make it bigger and heavier to handle the vibration. We used to brush hog with our smaller M two cylinder, and you could count on breaking at least one shear bolt a day, and that was just cutting grass, no stumps or obstructions to hit. We since switched the brush hog to a larger four cylinder tractor and have never broken a shear bolt with it in the same conditions. The two cylinders sound and feel great for an hour or two, but by the end of the day you just want to get off the thing.Those power pulses are tough on things, both human and mechanical.
Right around 50, give or take. Doesn't sound like much, does it? Sure feels like a lot more! IMO horsepower is a lousy way to measure the performance of a tractor and the lack of "hp at the brochure" was a big factor in the demise of the 2 cylinder JD. One example of how misleading hp numbers can be is the performance of the big 150hp Case steamer that fellow rebuilt out in the Midwest. On the dyno it made 5000+ ft/lbs of torque but since the rpm was so low it calculated out to "only" 170hp or so. Yet there is a video of it pulling a 36 bottom plow, and at a pretty good pace too. I heard guys saying that they doubted their 500+hp articulated modern machines would do as well. On a personal note we have a JD M that is rated at 18hp and a little Japanese 3 cylinder diesel tractor also rated at 18hp. We tried hooking the disc we run behind the M (which it pulls in 3rd gear) to the little tractor and it would not pull it at all under any condition. Wasn't a matter of gearing or weight, just didn't have the power. Yet if you hooked them to a dyno they would both make 18hp. So, even though this R "only" makes 50hp, they are very, very big horses lol
Nebraska tested it in 1949 at 17.63 hp hours per gallon at rated belt load. This was by far the most fuel efficient tractor tested up until that time, and was only surpassed by the 720 diesel in 1956 at 18.33 hp hours per gallon, and that record stood for decades.
Yeah, starting was a big issue with early diesels. Even at this date 24v systems were still in their infancy. I don't believe that making a 24v starter was much of a problem, I think the issue was more in the charging system. We have a 730 Deere that is 24v, and Dad wanted to keep it original so we spent a lot of time and effort on the generator and regulator but to no avail. In order to get 24 volts out of that Delco generator the wiring was hair thin and we had no end of problems with open circuits. It has an alternator on it now.
Pardon my ignorance, please!?! WHAT, exactly does the pony motor do? Does it run a generator, to provide electricity, to roll the main engine over? Or, is it connected mechanically (like an electric starter motor) to the main engine? In this video, it appears that the pony motor was started electrically... I guess I'm wondering why that same electricity couldn't be used to spin the diesel motor (decompressed) to warm it up, and lite it off?
The pony is connected to the main engine via a clutch and bendix drive. The pony was started electrically, but the 6v battery and starting system that starts the 25ci pony has no chance of spinning the 417ci diesel. As I was saying in a comment a couple of days ago, we have a slightly newer JD diesel with a 24v direct electric starting system, and our experience with that is that the charging systems of the day, which would be a generator and regulator, were just not up to the task. That tractor could have been equipped with a pony start system as well instead of the 24v and many were set up that way. Hope this answers your question.
Thank you sir! I drive truck for a living. I owned a 2000 IHC 9400i Eagle, with an N14 Cummins. It was an 855cid motor rated at 460hp/1600lb/ft of torque. From the factory; it had 3, Group 31, 12v batteries (in parallel) to roll that motor over. For the most part, unless she sat for an extended period of time in sub freezing temps, that was enough to lite her off. I didn't realize that that old J-D was a 6v/generator system...
Everybody had their own system back in the day to get the diesels started. Of course the big stationary engines had (and still have) compressed air through starting valves but this isn't convenient for a mobile application. Cat always liked their pony motors and used them right through the '60's. IH had the start on gas, run on diesel system which was clever in its own way but added a lot of complexity to the engine. I've seen some Detroits with hydro-starts which was a hydraulic accumulator system, nice thing about those is that they could be pumped up manually if need be, and of course some old OTR trucks were air start which was ok if your rig would hold air. Remember the old Macks with the 24/12v systems? Good times... lol Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when reliable 12 and 24 volt systems finally showed up.
That gas tank had us confused for a little while when we first got the tractor. It's not exactly an intuitive thing, and we had to trace out the fuel lines to get it figured out. Not the easiest thing to manipulate when you have a camera in the other hand either lol. I do appreciate the idea, though- when you are on the tractor looking down that long hood everything is perfectly symmetrical, kinda neat.
+meister djanget >Had you listened to his introduction, he does that to keep the pony from running at full speed for a time, as it has no throttle control.
Nice looking and sweet running tractor. It's so cool that these old girls are still out there doing the jobs for which they were designed - after 70 years or more. Compare that to the productive lifespan of a cell phone or a computer
My father started at John Deere Waterloo factory as an Engineer in 1936. He was assigned the task to design and develop a diesel tractor for Deere. As a young boy, he never once mentioned any work with Caterpillar on the pony motor, and am sure he would have. Thirteen years later the Deere model R came out in 1949.
Dad was told by many that Deere would never produce a diesel tractor.. couldn't be more wrong.
And I blew a lot of cans off the exhaust pipe :)
One of the best workhorses of its day. I remember as a child working the fields with this machine day after day in the spring and fall seasons. If anything happened to the engine my dad and I would tare the engine down at the end of the day, rebuild it and we were back in the field the next morning. Thanks for the memories!
This is a good video; a cool tractor,.straightforward and easy to understand explanations, no annoying music to ruin the sounds of the machinery. 👍
I plowed many fields with the amazing John Deere R in Illinois 50+ years ago. Literally unstoppable.
Thanks for allowing me to revisit some sights and SOUNDS from my youth! And, now I know why I so liked the visual design of the "R".
Really love hearing them old 2 cylinder John Deere diesel engines starting up and run!!!
Thank you! Diesel Dave for showing everyone the proper way to start a John Deere 2 cylinder diesel with a Cranking Engine!!! 90% of the ones that start them seem they have to open the diesels throttle before they even start cranking the diesel over !!! The "WRONG" way to start them !!! YOU showed the "CORRECT" way to start them. By turning the diesel over with the decompresser lever pulled tell you get oil pressure. Then let the decompresser lever go and let the diesel turn under compression for a few turns "AND THEN" push the diesels throttle ahead to start the diesel ! I THANK YOU AGAIN !!! 👍
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Way too excessive on both engines. It’s not -20 people.
Marvelous sounding ol' diesel. I'm not so sure how the ears felt after a day of working with this old Tractor, though !
Those were the days, indeed,, some would probably say , "Thank god those days are gone."
Great video, 'dieseldave71' thanks for the run down memory lane.
Beautiful looking R! Thanks for the tutorial and awesome video!!! 👍😃
it is true nothing runs like a deere but also nothing sounds like an R. My personal favorite tractor ever.
todd Brewer That surely is a beautiful tractor ,to me they sound like the engine is missing though. Back in the day I farmed with an IHC super wd9 ,easy to start ,very powerful in its day and smooth running ,there is no way in hell I would swap it for a John Deere R.
@@interman7715 Agreed. The super WD9 was so nimble on the headlands, whip that huge steering wheel and tap the wheel brake just as the front tires start to push dirt and she came around 180 degrees in a 9 foot circle. And when you couldn't afford a battery a 90 lb kid could start that big diesel with the hand crank (on gasoline).
What a wonderful machine. I grew up in Kingston Ontario Canada and when I got old enough I worked on a farm. They didn't have andy J D's but I remember the men starting a old steel wheel Case the same way you started the R. A farmer across from my house had a jd R and I do remember the sound you could hear it from a long way off. thanks for the video it sure brings back memories for me back in the 40's and 50's when I was a very young lad.
One proud and stout looking piece of machinery 👍❤️❤️👍
I used to run one of these on a Farm mostly pulling hay wagons in 1976 when I was 16 years old .. I was never taught nor never though to roll of the big motor to pre lube it .. I know this much the pony motor is liquid cooled so on a cold Winter day you could run the gasoline powered pony motor for a while and get the block of the diesel warmed up ..
Only problem with the R I drove was about three turns of slop in the steering wheel keeping it in the agitation lane in road gear . Many years later a john Deere expert told me that was easy to adjust ..
Now some day if I can start and Drive a Model T Ford as my Grandfather always told me about his first car ..
Thanks for the comment about Henry Dreyfuss input on the design. I looked him up on Wikipedia and saw the wide extent of his attractive yet practical industrial designs. Your tractor is a great example!
Thanks Jon, Dreyfuss And Raymond Loewy were the big two in industrial design back in the day. I believe that Loewy was responsible for International's look back in the '50's, and of course the beautiful GG1 electric locomotive.
It’s nice to see somebody turn the diesel engine over, while decompressed, for a sufficient time to build oil pressure before compressing the diesel engine and opening the throttle. So many of these guys on UA-cam don’t do that, and are causing a lot more wear and tear than is necessary! I spent my formative years running a 720 Diesel and an 820 on our Montana cattle ranch. Other than minor differences in the controls, the tractors are very similar to the R.
That’s the way I was taught to do it when starting the old Cats. I still think it’s a superior system for that reason - the ability to crank the engine with no load on the bearings. I know I cringe every time my Duramax starts, waiting those couple of seconds for the oil gauge to come up. We have a 730 Diesel so your pair is very similar to ours. They’re a little clumsy with the hand clutch and the 730 has too high of a reverse gear but overall they are well made for their intended job, and I don’t think that anything puts out more work for less fuel
OMG!! Take me back to 1960! I remember this sequence!
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Very interesting and well done video. Thanks for doing it.
Neighbor had one of these.....when it was winter and cold, it would make a preacher cuss trying to start it.
Just use a warm spark plug and warm gasoline. Boiling tea kettle poured over the carburetor. Pull the plug and warm it nicely with a soldering blow torch.
@@wssides Haha.....sounds about right!
One small criticism though...
I don't know any farm boy who used any of these old JD twins in Saskatchewan that didn't pride himself on how high he could launch the old tomato can that was used to keep the rain out of the exhaust pipe.
We either used the long tomato juice cans or the short tobacco cans for exhaust covers.
Part of the trick was squashing the can a bit so it held on a bit and built up a bit of pressure, and the timing of when you released the de-compression lever.
We had D's, R's, an 80, and an 820.
Maybe another 'can launching' video is needed?
TheUberGopher lol I still launch it off our old 60
I have a 70 and I remember when my grandfather was still alive a squirrel managed to shove some acorns up into the pipe through the coffee tin, so when he cranked it was raining burning acorns
I dearly loved to blow smoke rings out of an old D-6 and an 8-H as well! Nothing like watching the flap go up and the smoke roll till the turbo wound up!
Got a 77 Allis Chalmers, left the exhaust uncovered las winter. Went to start it up this spring and got covered in nasty water from the exhaust manifold.
I can remember lying in bed at night listening to the two lungers on our farm and the farmalls across the way on our neighbors can remember also the 60s and 70s engines pulling 5 bottom breaking plows and lugging down then picking back up. And neighbors Hs and Ms lugging down and stalling then restarting and laughing about it
Good times. New tractors are awesome machines but these old twins had personalities.
What a great old tractor I did my time on a 60 and 720 when I was a kid
Man listening to that sound reminds me of the good old days when America was the greatest place on earth and all this nonsense that is going on today didn't exist and men were men and women were women was a great time to live here I miss it
You said a mouthful there! Men were men and married a woman. After a full day of sweaty work, you could fall asleep immediately. Then get up the next day and do it again!
Beautiful tractor I'd love to have it
Grew up around a 1530, such memories.
Great video.
Thanks for posting it.
What a beast of an engine compared to my little B.....super nice
Thank you for the nice video
Beautiful tractor
Nice! From the introductory comments, it sounds like Deere derived their engine from the 1930s Cat D6600; same bore X stroke, but in a 3 cylinder.
The D6600, D8800, D13000, D17000 all shared the 5 3/4 x 8 dimensions, just a different number of cylinders, and yes I it was from this series that I believe JD took their influence. But there were differences as well, for example the Cat was a precup engine while the JD had direct injection so the fuel systems were very different
Hey thanks so very much for the start/ride along. So very kewl! I’d always wondered how the pony motor interaction was was, I didn’t see it get cut off, was zoomed in on the motor start. ❤🎉
I agree with dieseldave71. It is not good to rush starting the diesel for a number of reasons. The owners manual says you can "motor" the diesel indefinitely with it de-compressed if needed. Try that with a electric starter! Pre-warming and pre-lubrication is one of the many advantages of pony start tractors.
deeredad
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At -40 degrees it took 3 tanks of pup fuel to get the temperature gauge to move- with the main engine motoring to provide a load after the first tank. At the same time that day the engine oil from a Minneapolis U special warmed at the back of the kitchen wood & coal range and it's cooling system was run through the heater hoses of a v-8 pickup truck. The two batteries warmed behind the stove and still needed booster cables to get the U going. (The Deere pup was hand cranked- hadn't had a battery that fall apparently)
I grew up on a Model R fuel up the night before and you have fuel for all next day. We pulled an IH plow 4-16" mostly in 3rd gear. I looked forward to every day I could run the R for many reasons ( also because you couldn't cultivate with it)
what is the reason why you couldn't cultivate with it?
@@ivordavies2976 it was not a row crop tractor. The wheel widths were in a fixed position. It was designed to be a tillage tractor primarily so it was big and didn't have good visibility like the A and B. Also there is no place to mount a cultivator.
That 2 cylinder engine was signature back in the day
Nice machine!
I have a beautiful R and just broke about 8 acres of old pasture with a Case 4x14 plough. Tough plowing with roots and set for 8 inches deep., sometimes roots would cause the tractor furrow wheel to lift out of the furrow lol. Great old tractor..
One of our neighbors had an R. I put in a LOT of hours on a 70 and a 730 that started pretty much the same way. They did have throttles on the pony motor.
My not-so-fondest memory of those days was, because the tractor had no cab, if you got in a cross wind on a hot, windy day, the wind would sand-blast you with dirt off of the tires. :(
Sure brings back memories.
I started and ran a R at a tractor show a couple of years. Unfortunately towner died and after a few years the family sold many tractors with the R being one of them.
I would love to have one I have watched them pull exhibition at a tractor pull it can't be stopped
Good John Deere video.
This is the tractor I want 😎one day I'll own one
6:46 I love that clutch dump. The slight delay when you put the lever forward made it seem like a wet-disc unless I'm mistaken.
It’s a dry clutch, I believe the reason it acts like that is because it’s a multi disc
@@dieseldave71 *Right!* I completely forgot about multi disc!
That was Cool .! THX!
Nice restoration job BTW, but you could re-dip the steering wheel and get some knobs machined.
Awesome
Beast!
I’ve wanted an R for years.
These old 2 cyls are fun to watch, and I own one myself, but seriously, those pony motors were a big headache. The best thing John Deere ever did ( other than quit making 2 cyls ) was to put a 24v starting system on the late ones.
Pete 913, pull starting is another way to start them.
We had one out here in Saskatchewan me and dad cut wood with it ran all day ran like clock
I remember spending summers on a R in northeast Montana as kid with a 16’ toolbar plowing fields
Cool tractor diesel dave
Also 2 cylinders are what makes it rare
Not really dumbass
Ryan Forst you may never know
I have a 1949 Model R I’m looking at restoring one day. Has low compression. Hoping it’s just a valve job.
cool rice special
😍😍😍
Pony motor sure looks like a Cat and It'd kill me to have something go from zero to 4k in a snap. I'd have to try and rig a throttle on it. But you did a good job holding it down.
@Just a person I cranked pony motors on idle and let them warm up that way. My generators have throttles and start running slow. The Cat equipment I operated started with 800 r p.m. idle. I never bent a rod or wrecked things because of cold cranking wide open. I helped rig throttles on things so it wouldn't start hammered. Usually big generators are heated so they start warmed up. The Cats had pre-lube pumps. I ran a 980 Cat loader that had 24000 hours, yes THOUSAND and had never been touched as far as mechanically. None of my mowers nd small engines start wide open, just the new throw away junk does. And I've been driving and operating a little over 50 years and have a sound record to back it up. I think it matters how you treat things. My Sea Bee Uncle always said that you might treat something today so you might need to make a living with it tomorrow.
@Just a person I watch videos and shudder every time something starts hammered. I look for rods to start going through walls after they've already gone through the block. And a lot of stuff HAS to be warmed up gradually. I ran a 245 Cat ex shovel fitted with a hydraulic hammer at a quarry. It had a 3406 engine and if you didn't baby it in cold weather it'd strip the whole pump drive unit out. And a high rev cold start can't be good on older stuff which I was around a lot. If someone else wants to hammer something, fine. Just as long as it isn't mine!
@@lewiemcneely9143 What engine did that 980 have in it?
@@dieseldave71 The old 980 had a 3406. Square hood job. The 980G had a newer one. The4 'H' model newer still and the current 'J' has def. I quit on the 'G' with 24K hours. No rebuilds.
@@lewiemcneely9143 Ok, I was thinking 3406 but something clicked in my head about maybe one having a 336, if I remember right that would have had to be back in the ‘60’s or ‘70’s. BTW, I always enjoy reading your comments, you seem like someone I would like to sit down with over a pot of coffee or a couple of beers and talk old iron for a couple of hours
I own a John Deere and I hope one day to have a larger can with a c and a heater
I came here just to hear the sound of that engine. I would run it a little faster (more RPMs) and gear down, I like to feel the engine working
Nice R! They're great powerful tractors. Yours looks to be a Rice Special since it has the wide cane tires.
MichaelTJD60 in reality they weren't very powerful more bark than bite
@@RJ1999x Wasn't this 80 hp on the drawbar? I don't think there was another farm tractor with higher horsepower in 1949 unless you were looking at crawlers. IH big tractor at the time was the W-9 and it was only in the 65 horse power range. It's nothing compared to what came a decade later, but for its day it was THE big tractor to have.
43 hp at the drawbar
Used to rake hay with one, I was about 11 years old, started it, ran it, 2 days on 1 tank of fuel. My father used to pull a 5 bottom 14" plow with it. Dependable.
Must have been a workout for an 11 year old, no power steering option on these old machines!
@@dieseldave71 yep Armstrong steering. But then most farm kids are actually in better physical shape than game box junkies.
My experience with pony motors is only with Cats and no electric start. It was much harder work to start the pony with either rope or crank than the diesel.
Yeah, I have some Cat pony motors like that lol. But that's more a maintenance issue than anything else. Cat designed those ponys to be easy to start, and when they're right they fire right up. Unfortunately, especially with a limited use machine, points get dirty, gas gets old, batteries go dead, etc, and they can be a real hassle.
❤️
that litle poney motor sounds absoloutly cute
kinda a lawn moeer sized beetle engine
makes sense though it kinda is a beetle engine
diesel Dave 71 I have a 53 r and the pony motor is governed it surges the rpms so it dosent run full 4000 rpm all the time
My dad has an old John Deere, I believe a 620 and so when I saw this I thought my god this thing has thick tires
Because the Road was a rice tractor
Use to drive a 620 on a fruit farm in the mid-Hudson Valley in upstate New York back in the early 1960's. Loved the power of that "Johnny Popper". Only complaint, could not match speed of the big Internationals and MF's on the open highway. I was a kid then and wanted to go fast . Embarrassed when those other tractors passed me.
Leaving up thing idle with the clutch disengaged is really hard on that clutch kick it out of gear and push the clutch back in
I did, you can hear the “clank” at 7.36 as I re engage the clutch while coasting to a stop. And it’s difficult to make out but you can see the belt pulley is turning
tractor and me made same time 52
While I was growing up, there were two families in our immediate neighborhood that didn't run John Deere. Dad favored Farmall and the other non-compliant neighbor ran Allis Chalmers. Both men refused to have anything to do with those green things because of the pop-pop-pop sound. Dad said "dont want anything to with a company that sells you half the engine"
"Non-compliant", that's good! Lmao My neighbor has an AC WD, the farmer across the road has an eclectic mix of Farmalls, Cases, MF's, and JD's. He seems to like his Case the best, and praises the MF's as well. I like 'em all, each seems to have their strong and weak points and everyone had their standout models and their dogs. We run mostly Deeres because that's what we started off with, beginning with my great grandfather's M, on which we recently completed a complete overhaul - engine, trans, rear, hydraulics, everything, as well as cosmetics. We also have a Massey Harris Colt which belonged to my grandfather, we did the mechanical restoration and are getting ready to do the tin and paint. The M is fun to run for a little while and it pulls like a son of a gun but if we have to spend a day in the seat we always seem to gravitate to the MH- smoother, quieter, rides better and plenty of power after we installed a 162 Continental in place of the 124 it came with.
You could tell that pushing in the choke made the starter motor run better, but you kept pulling it out. Right around 3:50.
Glad to help.
You are indeed helpful! lol the reason that I keep choking it is that I'm using the choke as a substitute throttle to keep the rpm down until the little motor has a chance to at least get some oil circulating. For whatever reason JD designed this pony with no throttle. It just runs wide open on the governor at 4000rpm from the instant it starts. Later JD pony's had throttles, all my Cat pony's have throttles- I believe that this was a mistake on Deere's part, but they probably had their reasons at the time
The R came out in 1949, my mistake.
É o funcionamento do john deere r
What are the size of your rear tires. I would like to put that size on my r. Thanks
On our farm we had an a and b and g and a 70 with a pony motor wish I still had them my dad sold them 😡
We went through D, G, 70, 730, 4020. I still have the 4020.
thank god we no longer have to start up tractors like that
You didn't then, either. You could buy a Cockshutt 50, a Massey-Harris 55, or an Oliver 99 and not have to go through any of that. Even a McCormick WD9 didn't have half that nuisance.
42lookc wd-9s are a total pile of shit
Nah, it should still be like that. Nothing better
He rolled it on de-compression for a ---long time--shouldn't take that long to get the oil pressure up, but any way, it's a nice video and congrats for making it.
Thanks. I sometimes like to run the pony for awhile, especially if a machine has been sitting for awhile. The oil pressure comes up pretty quick, but it still takes awhile for the oil to get around to the whole engine- rocker arms and such. Also, since the pony warms the diesel as well as spins it, it's good to let it produce a bit of heat. Plus, it's good for the pony itself to warm up before being put under full load- no engine thrives on a diet of being started, run for 10 seconds, and shut down.
Yup.
In the winter we used to start the old R or 80 pup engine and let it turn the diesel over on de-compression while we milked the cows.
Then go over and kick off the de-compressor lever.
Great tractors.
And the sound of them starting still is music.
Our 820 had a foot-actuated locking lever that would hold both the cranking clutch and decompression levers in the cranking position.
1949 wow what an antique! it's a wounder John Deere sold ANY tractors while Oliver Farmall MM and others had far more modern tractors during that time.
The tractor was modern enough for the time. Reliable, easy to maintain and repair, even rebuild.
I got that
Do these things have keys? Not really needed since nobody but the owner could start it. Same as my 72 HD chopper. If you can figure out how to start it, enjoy.
i fixed the pup motor on one .
This was before glow-plugs, manifold heaters or high-compression diesel engines.
not quite, glow plugs were used long before the R. John Deere just chose not to use them
All diesels are high compression. That's why the pony engine over the 6 volt starter.
Let it wom up a bit 🤔
Noise Vibration and Harshness (NVH) wasn't a thing back then. Look at the steering wheel shake. I wonder what the time constant is on the governor ?
I don't think that department existed back then lol Just make it bigger and heavier to handle the vibration. We used to brush hog with our smaller M two cylinder, and you could count on breaking at least one shear bolt a day, and that was just cutting grass, no stumps or obstructions to hit. We since switched the brush hog to a larger four cylinder tractor and have never broken a shear bolt with it in the same conditions. The two cylinders sound and feel great for an hour or two, but by the end of the day you just want to get off the thing.Those power pulses are tough on things, both human and mechanical.
What's the difference between a rice special and a normal r
Please forgive me if this offends anyone but what value would be put on the R? Maybe unrestored and restored
Must be what's called "green gold"
What were the horse power on these things? I want one.
Right around 50, give or take. Doesn't sound like much, does it? Sure feels like a lot more! IMO horsepower is a lousy way to measure the performance of a tractor and the lack of "hp at the brochure" was a big factor in the demise of the 2 cylinder JD. One example of how misleading hp numbers can be is the performance of the big 150hp Case steamer that fellow rebuilt out in the Midwest. On the dyno it made 5000+ ft/lbs of torque but since the rpm was so low it calculated out to "only" 170hp or so. Yet there is a video of it pulling a 36 bottom plow, and at a pretty good pace too. I heard guys saying that they doubted their 500+hp articulated modern machines would do as well. On a personal note we have a JD M that is rated at 18hp and a little Japanese 3 cylinder diesel tractor also rated at 18hp. We tried hooking the disc we run behind the M (which it pulls in 3rd gear) to the little tractor and it would not pull it at all under any condition. Wasn't a matter of gearing or weight, just didn't have the power. Yet if you hooked them to a dyno they would both make 18hp. So, even though this R "only" makes 50hp, they are very, very big horses lol
Trivia: What was the correct name for the pony motor?
Caterpillar calls them a pup motor.
We just called it the "starting engine".
The true name is. Cranking Engine
Pup
What was its fuel efficiency?
Nebraska tested it in 1949 at 17.63 hp hours per gallon at rated belt load. This was by far the most fuel efficient tractor tested up until that time, and was only surpassed by the 720 diesel in 1956 at 18.33 hp hours per gallon, and that record stood for decades.
Lol, when Deere finally decided to build a tractor, they bought a Case LA with a Detroit in it to see how a real one worked!
I never heard that one. Never heard of a Case LA with a Detroit in it either
Your dreaming
Save yourself twenty or thirty walk-throughs and skip to 3:50.
A lot of these old tractors where awkward to start I know coz on the fergi 20s it was
Yeah, starting was a big issue with early diesels. Even at this date 24v systems were still in their infancy. I don't believe that making a 24v starter was much of a problem, I think the issue was more in the charging system. We have a 730 Deere that is 24v, and Dad wanted to keep it original so we spent a lot of time and effort on the generator and regulator but to no avail. In order to get 24 volts out of that Delco generator the wiring was hair thin and we had no end of problems with open circuits. It has an alternator on it now.
It prob for the best if it was then
A tractor can have only two colors, I think, red and green. haha
The temperature gauge is showing 190? some it was just running
I believe that gauge is broken
I wonder how ,many John Deere R owners lost that fuel tank for the pony motor by not re-installing it properly.
Pardon my ignorance, please!?!
WHAT, exactly does the pony motor do?
Does it run a generator, to provide electricity, to roll the main engine over?
Or, is it connected mechanically (like an electric starter motor) to the main engine?
In this video, it appears that the pony motor was started electrically...
I guess I'm wondering why that same electricity couldn't be used to spin the diesel motor (decompressed) to warm it up, and lite it off?
The pony is connected to the main engine via a clutch and bendix drive. The pony was started electrically, but the 6v battery and starting system that starts the 25ci pony has no chance of spinning the 417ci diesel. As I was saying in a comment a couple of days ago, we have a slightly newer JD diesel with a 24v direct electric starting system, and our experience with that is that the charging systems of the day, which would be a generator and regulator, were just not up to the task. That tractor could have been equipped with a pony start system as well instead of the 24v and many were set up that way. Hope this answers your question.
Thank you sir!
I drive truck for a living. I owned a 2000 IHC 9400i Eagle, with an N14 Cummins. It was an 855cid motor rated at 460hp/1600lb/ft of torque. From the factory; it had 3, Group 31, 12v batteries (in parallel) to roll that motor over. For the most part, unless she sat for an extended period of time in sub freezing temps, that was enough to lite her off.
I didn't realize that that old J-D was a 6v/generator system...
Everybody had their own system back in the day to get the diesels started. Of course the big stationary engines had (and still have) compressed air through starting valves but this isn't convenient for a mobile application. Cat always liked their pony motors and used them right through the '60's. IH had the start on gas, run on diesel system which was clever in its own way but added a lot of complexity to the engine. I've seen some Detroits with hydro-starts which was a hydraulic accumulator system, nice thing about those is that they could be pumped up manually if need be, and of course some old OTR trucks were air start which was ok if your rig would hold air. Remember the old Macks with the 24/12v systems? Good times... lol Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when reliable 12 and 24 volt systems finally showed up.
I remember waking up to those old CF air start diesels! :D
You should make how to shut it off
..maybe... 😆😆
That gas tank had us confused for a little while when we first got the tractor. It's not exactly an intuitive thing, and we had to trace out the fuel lines to get it figured out. Not the easiest thing to manipulate when you have a camera in the other hand either lol. I do appreciate the idea, though- when you are on the tractor looking down that long hood everything is perfectly symmetrical, kinda neat.
What is a pirates favorite john deere?
RRRRRRR
If it's not green it not to be seen yall 😁🤗
why the pony motor runs so funny at the start ?
Sounds like the carburetor is out of adjustment. That, and it was cold, and he kept on adjusting the choke.
ok
+meister djanget >Had you listened to his introduction, he does that to keep the pony from running at full speed for a time, as it has no throttle control.
Because he likes it to not run wide open, So he messes with the choke to warm it up, Then he lets it run wide open to start the big engine.