Any members Deere Model L or LA owners?

[ultrarunner]

Have the chance to pick up a 1938 crank start Deere Model L tractor... it's been in a barn for many years and the motor cranks over freely... don't see and freeze damage... then again, the tractor is in California where it seldom freezes.

Just curious if anyone owns a Deer Model L and what to you use it for?

 

[bcp]

Long ago had an LA. It was used to pull a hay rake or utility trailer, spray weeds, weed the bottom of irrigation ditches, and general transportation around the farm. Hand cranked. It would cross soft sand with no problem, but wouldn't go up a short gravel grade of about 30%, just spin. Loaded tires and wheel weights, too.

Bruce

 

[ultrarunner]

Thinking it might be a conversation piece or for parades?

Always like old machinery...

Thank you for your reply!

 

[bcp]

Good for that, too, but also just as good for useful work now as when it was new.

If I had flatter land, I would be looking for one to use like an ATV. I like their sound, too.

Bruce

 

[bcp]

Good for that, too, but also just as good for useful work now as when it was new.

If I had flatter land, I would be looking for one to use like an ATV. I like their sound, too.

Bruce

 

[ultrarunner]

Nice Video...

I read an old Ad that touted the L as the modern day replacement for a team of horses and more economical too.

 

[hslogger]

I have an Lx 178. Not a big deck, only a 38inch. I use it in some orchard ground and around the place which has pasture grass and weeds for turf. No super lawn for me. Anyway these machines will clog up underneath. I have run commercial machines once for the gov't. After a day of working one we would hose out the underneaths every day. Depending on conditions, I putty knife it first and then run a hose up there. It helps to use ramp under one side of the mower. I like to BACK up on it for access. I just figure hosing and scraping are part of my preventative maintenance program.

 

[bcp]

The new John Deere L... 's are a riding mower, not a farm tractor, like the old ones.





Bruce

 

[wolftree]

If the price is right, go for it. There will be a ready market should you change your mind later. If there are any implements (moldboard plow, cultivators) with it, by all means try to obtain them as well.

 

[beenthere]

bcp
Thanks for that video. As a small boy of 4, our neighbor had an L or LA, and I would follow him in the plow furrow whenever I could get the chance. That was 1942.
In the early 60's, I spotted an LA at the local International dealer and bought it for use on my new 15 acres. Pulled trees, pulled rocks on a stoneboat, pulled out rocks, and cultivated sweet corn with it. Also did some plowing with it.
Most important, it was my snow plow with a front blade mounted for 6 years.
The hand cranking can be an experience. One good up-pull, and then pray it doesn't fire before tdc. That crank back spins at a good clip if it does.

Still love that little tractor and wish I still had it. But while it would pull an 8' tandem disc among my walnut plantation, I felt it was unnecessary overload for it, so traded it in for a TO-30 Ferguson.