Family 1950 John Deere B running after 30 years

In April of 2024, I was standing, talking with my papa in front of my great-great grandfather’s 1948 John Deere A, I wanted to restore it, but at the time felt it was too far gone for me. Later my papa got a call from his brother-in-law, asking if I wanted to buy his John Deere B. Of course I said yes in extreme excitement. After a few days I had enough money to make a down payment, the deal was at least $50 a month until the $1,000 sale price was paid off. 

The day we went to get the tractor was a very anxious day for me. I hadn’t seen it at all, didn’t know the year or anything, the tractor was my great uncle Johns, and his father before that. That was as far as I know to date. It had sat for a long time. The story I’ve heard was: sometime in 1992 my grandfather and his brother in law had the tractor torn down and they restored it. When I got to my Uncle Johns (the brother-in-law) I saw the tractor for the first time. Covered in dust, front tires flat. It was a sad sight. We decided there wasn’t any way it was going to drive itself on the trailer, as it sat for 30 years. So, we went back home and got our Kubota L175 to push it on the trailer. 

April 6th, 2024 was the day I brought home MY 1950 John Deere B. We rolled it off the trailer, into the driveway. First thing we did was put a new battery and fuel into it, along with cleaning out the mouse house in the grills. It rolled over. We tried and tried and nothing. After a bit of trying, this dark, black liquid started pouring out of where the muffler connects to the exhaust pipe, and we could not figure out what it was. It didn’t smell like anything other than rusty water. We ended up taking the spark plugs out, and rolled it without them. Immediately, a stream of fuel shot out both sides, the left side right onto my grandfather, who had a cigarette in his mouth. Nobody was hurt, but he put a rag over the sparkplug hole. After a little thinking, we realized the liquid was fuel. Dark, carbon filled fuel was pouring out of the exhaust. We removed the carb and cleaned it thoroughly, and put it back on. The tractor fired off. I was sitting there in complete shock, I hadn’t heard a B run before. Only my grandpa’s John Deere M. It was such an amazing event for me, within 45 minutes of rolling off the trailer, I had it running. I took it for a little ride around the property. The tractor ran horribly, but it ran. 

I’ve worked with it for a long time, got it running better, and got it running good enough to pull my grandfather’s 127 rotary cutter, and mow the field down. Since I’ve gotten the John Deere B I have done a bit of work to it, but nothing major. It is now Spring of 2026, and the tractor runs beautifully. Starts every single time, even in negative temperatures. Hopefully this summer I’ll get some engine work done on it. The piston rings are bad, and I believe the connecting rod bearings. That tractor has never let me down, I’ve put loads behind it and it never quit. She’s old and tired, but still puts up a fight. One day she’s gonna be like new. 

Bryce Curry
Michigan

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