#Smallest john deere dozer full

That was easily enough to do the work of a two-horse team. It may have been that John Deere didn’t have enough capacity to make the engine itself but, either way, the water-cooled twin proved successful, delivering 10.42hp at the belt when tested at Nebraska, the following year. Like the 62, it was powered by a small, vertical twin, designed in-house but built for the company by engine manufacturer, Hercules.

#Smallest john deere dozer full

Later that year, the full production Model L was launched. Twenty-four Model Ys were built and must have been judged a success as, in the summer of 1937, John Deere followed it with the updated Model 62, though even this one was still limited to a small production run, to test the market. It was a simple machine with a two-bar chassis and no hydraulics or PTO. It broke with tradition by featuring a vertical, twin-cylinder engine (not JD’s traditional horizontal layout), possibly to keep the overall length down. A prototype – the Model Y – was built at Deere’s Wagon Works factory in 1936. John Deere responded but, being the conservative company it was, didn’t rush straight into production. From livestock farms which needed a second tractor for yard-scraping, to smaller arable farmers, market gardeners and landscapers, there was a demand for a small, lightweight tractor which would do the work of two horses, but at a higher speed. But back in the mid-1930s, JD realised it was missing out on a growing market for smaller machines than its traditional big twins. Then the New Generation of four- and six-cylinder tractors which propelled the company through the 1960s, ‘70s and beyond. We all know about the first Waterloo Boy, and the generations of Johnny Poppers which followed. The original L is a strong contender for John Deere’s most forgotten tractor. The latter was built from a kit, complete with distilled water that’s dripped on to a hot plate, to produce authentic steam. Smaller projects include a JD stationary engine, and a mobility scooter that’s been converted into a miniature steam lorry.

We all know what happened to outside events this year! Not that he’s only interested in tractors. He’s always taken an active part in rallies, and has been on the committee for Somerset’s long-running Abbey Hill Steam Rally for 38 years – 2020 would have been Abbey Hill’s 40th. Getting his tractors to shows is especially important. “It’s small enough to fit in a small box trailer, towed behind my pick-up, so storage and transport are easier.” “I’d always fancied the Model L, so when this one came up, I had to have it,” he said. To someone living in a bungalow, that meant moving to smaller tractors and, for someone with so much John Deere experience, there was an obvious choice. The bigger problem was that leaving the farm meant he would have nowhere to keep his tractors, nor access to an HGV to take them to shows. However, he already had a Class I HGV licence for hauling his own old tractors around, so quickly found a job delivering milk to supermarkets, which he’s been doing ever since. Unfortunately, when the boss’s son came back to work on the family farm, it meant redundancy for Andy. A snapshot of working life from 1959 to ‘73 adds to the tractor’s provenance.