Caterpillar Twenty-Two

The newest addition to our collection is a 1936 Caterpillar Twenty Two Crawler Tractor. This tractor was made in Peoria Illinois USA, has a 4.1 L four cylinder petrol engine and produces just under 24HP. The tractor was found years ago on a friends relatives property, however it was only recently that the owner agreed to selling it. 

Mag and spark plug leads on the RH side of engine

Oil pressure!

After transporting it to our shed, the tractor was steam cleaned and I began the repairs to get it running. Firstly, I removed the magneto to check the reason for the tractor not having any spark. With the help of a friend, we got it throwing a good spark by cleaning dirty points. New ignition leads were made, the old terminals from the brittle original leads removed and the terminals soldered to new pieces of HT lead. Next I concentrated on the carburettor. When I turned the engine over (using the hand crank as there is no starter motor) I noticed the carbie had a fuel leak from the bottom intake pipe. As this is updraft carburettor it would be difficult to flood it, however I removed the carburettor to check that it was clean and that the needle and seat was serviceable. Finally I set about cranking it over to no avail, so with the help of my Dad, we used the 4wd to tow start the 1936 Caterpillar until it fired up.

I forward to one day restoring this tidy original machine.

John Deere Fall Fest 2012 (part three)

This is part three of the Fall Fest photos
A John Deere 530 with a mounted two row corn picker, this would drive between rows of corn picking two rows at a time and dropping it in the wagon being towed by the tractor.

Model A high crop tractor

A Model D with plow

A rare 720 standard tread petrol tractor

 

model 430 Industrial Tractors, yellow was the standard colour of the 430 industrial, a municipal (or shire council as we know it in Austrlalia), made a request to John Deere to have there tractors painted red to match there trucks.

 

 a New Generaton 4020 Diesel Tractor

John Deere Fall Fest 2012 (part two)

Here are some more photos of the tractors at the fall fest. info about the a tractor is at bottom of photo.

John Deere 520 narrow front, LP gas fueled.

John Deere 1938 BI (model B industrial) these tractors were made for off farm industrial use such as roadwork and other council tasks. Although they look similar to the on farm BR they had different wheel options, a down swept exhaust pipe and the front axle was set back to allow clearance at the front for front mounted implements such as a loader. Only 180 Bi's were made.

Swap meet and parts sale stores

Some of the tractors listed for the tractor auction

A demonstration of a corn thresher in operation, it removes the corn off the corn cob and sorts them into different wagons. a good array of John Deere equipment. a model G tractor is powering the thresher.

A New Generation 4010 tractor with a nicely restored plow attached. behind it in on the right is a Next Generation tractor, the Next Generation 40^th year anniversary was celebrated at Fall Fest.

A late model A Tractor

420 high crop tractor, these tractors with an upright inline two cylinder engine were made in Dubuque Iowa

A line up of tractors ready for the parade.

John Deere Fall Fest 2012 (part one)

We attended the John Deere 2012 Fall Fest on the 6th - 8th of September, the 2nd by-annual event was held in Waterloo Iowa. Waterloo has been the home of John Deere tractor manufacturing since 1918, when John Deere (Deere and company) purchased the Waterloo Boy Gasoline Tractor Company. This Fall Fest celebrated three anniversaries, the 175th year of the existence of the John Deere company, 100 years of the Waterloo Boy Tractor and 40 years of the Next generation tractor. The festival was open to John Deere employees current and retired, John Deere dealers, farmers, collectors, enthusiasts and John Deere owners. 

The Fall Fest program included tractor displays, parade and demonstrations, seminars, factory tours, memorabilia and tractor auctions, swap meet and tractor parts sales, stalls selling memorabilia, new parts, old owners manuals, brochures and books. A banquets dinner with the head of John Deere Ag and Turf division David Everitt delivering the keynote address and the mayor of the city of Waterloo also speaking. The tractors on display presented a wide range from the Waterloo boy, to all types of models of two cylinders, new and next generations tractors, brought by collectors and farmers from all over the midwest. As well as brand new tractors John Deere had on display. I have shared some photos of a few tractors there including some rare ones.

Waterloo Boy model N, one of the anniverarys that was celibrated at this years Fall Fest was the 100th anniversary of the Waterloo boy, the Waterloo Boy Gasoline Tractors Company was purchaed by Deere and Company in 1918, the model N continued in production until it was replaced by John Deere's model D tractor in 1923.

A replica of the steel plow John Deere invented in 1837, this is the plow made John Deere successful, his steel Plow was know as self scouring, meaning it would self clean as it was pulled through sticky prairie soil.

1938 John Deere BWH-40 only 20 of these configuation model B's were made, they had special narrow axle housings for 40 inch bed crops.

1926 John Deere Model D, this early Model D tractor is known to have a nickle hole flywheel as the two small holes in the flywheel are about the size of a nickle coin. There were only 200 of this type of model D built and lees than ten known to be in existence.

A John Deere Model 60 Orchard tractor, these had special guards, low mounted lights and other slim line features were design to allow tractor to pass orchard tree branches with out damaging fruit as well as protecting the driver. The model 60 tractors were produced between 1952 and 1956

Yellow Medicine County Agricultural and Transportation Museum, Hanley Falls Minnisota

We are staying in Big Lake MN with my wife's cousin. We took a drive to Hanley Falls MN to the Yellow Medicine County Agricultural and Transportation Museum, which was built in an old school house and grounds. Here are a few photos of the two cylinder John Deere tractors at the museum. Tractors include a model H, model AR unstyled, model AR styled, model GP and model A with mounted cultivator.