John Deere M and John Deere Wagon

I’m David, a 12-year-old boy who loves anything John Deere. A couple of years ago, I restored a John Deere wagon that a neighbor gave to me. I painted it, got new tires, and made a wooden flat rack. While looking for my next big project, I found this 1949 Model M for sale online.

When we got home, it was pretty rough: we knew the engine was seized, but there were a lot of other problems with it. So we tried our best to get it unseized by towing it around. Well, we failed, so I started taking apart the engine. I started with the engine head, then went down to the pistons and connecting rods. Those gave us the hardest time when we tried to get them out! After we got those out, I started cleaning everything up. We bought some new connecting rods, piston rings, and connecting rod bearings, and then I honed the cylinders. I started putting everything back together. This whole process took me about nine months. In April, I got it running!

It is the most rewarding thing to hear the putt-putt sound it makes, and driving around our farm, I think it is the best sound in the world! I hope this story encourages other young kids to do projects like this. It’s been so rewarding and educational taking this apart, putting it back together, and getting it to run again. I still have a lot of work to do getting all the gauges to work, getting the engine to run perfectly, and getting a good paint job up on it, but for now, I think I came pretty far, and I’m pretty happy with the results!

David Campbell
Ontario, Canada

If you would like to submit a story with photo(s) about an experience with your tractor, interesting facts about its history, or a restoration project,  please go to Tractor Story Submissions. If your story is picked to appear on the blog you will receive a FREE Steiner hat. Some stories will also go on to be published in our quarterly magazine. We look forward to hearing your story!