John Deere Model M?

[To20Chris]

I saw a tractor for sale on the way to work today - I only had a moment to stop and look. The sign said it is a 1948 Model M. Vertical 2cyl gas engine. Forgot to look at the back for any hydraulics. It's a small tractor, with fairly small rear wheels and a low (and kind of wide) bench seat. I was curious what this thing is? Kind of looks like a competitor to a Farmall Cub, but without the offset. It appears to be in nice shape - they want $3700. I'm not buying, just curious.

 

[Soundguy]

Oem tires were 9-24 rear, and 5-15 front.. standard gear 4-1 tranny.. gas, 19ish hp, 1947-1952 years of manufacturer.

Info I have says open hyds.. Many of the early letter series had hyds.. I know my 1950 B does.

Soundguy

 

[Robert_in_NY]

The M did have hydraulics. Like all JD letter series tractors it utilized its own style lift setup which required you to buy JD M implements. They are fun little machines and are quite handy. I have two of them as well as a Allis Chalmers B which is the same class of machine. They are fun and small which is great when you put them in a building as they don't take up much room.

 

[Ledgemere Farm]

My brother has a '48. Mounting and dismounting takes a little getting used to. It has a hydraulic drawbar that raises and lowers, or can be locked into the raised position for towing an implement. I think it was the first model JD built at the Dubuque plant. The standard M has one hydraulic lever and the M tricycle had two for raising and lowering RH and LH cultivators.

 

[RonR]

I had a 49 M. They made an MT (tricycle) and an MC (crawler).

They didn't have the pop-pop like their bigger brothers, but they will pull their hearts out.

I had a spring shank cultivator/chisel plow, a 1x16 rollover plow (never could get it to work right), and a 7 ft sickle mower with mine. It had weights front and rear PLUS had calcium front and rear, so it was a heavy little thing.

6 volt (obviously) electric start, thermosiphen water flow (no water pump). Mine had a belt pulley behind/under the seat, but the paper wheel on it had fallen apart over the years. No external hydraulics on mine; only the implement lift mechanism.

I bought mine in 1975 for about $800 (ran, but rusted), used it until 1985 (painted, decals, new wire harness, welded up gas tank leak), and sold it for $2K. At times I wish I had it back, but oh well.

When it was pulling hard in the evening, you could see the muffle glow RED! You knew you were pushing it too hard when antifreeze bubbled out the overflow.......

Ah, the memories...................
ron