Love my little H it's a 1945 completely restored. I use it for planting and drawing out my fire wood. Great tractor.

Great grandpa bought a model A in 1936 and a model H in 1940. A few months later the horses were gone.

Learned to drive a tractor on a model H in mode 1960’s , really liked that little tractor.

I have a 46 with all the options including dual hydraulic cylinders. It was my dad's and I have run it virtually all my life. I'm 67 yo.😊

Not all H's with hydraulics had the Duplex Control Valve. It was used to get two-way hydraulic control to run the H3 and H4 Two-Way plows. Otherwise you just lifted the lever on the hydraulic unit to raise and lowered the lever to drop the implement. Keep in mind this was also technically Deere's first "live" hydraulic pump, since it ran at all times off the left hand side of the governor. Not all Hs had the cast iron front rims with the 5 oval holes either. Front rims were changed to press steel beginning in 1945. Engines were 99.7 cubic inches, 3-9/16" bore x 5" stroke. Produced around 12 or 13 horsepower at a rated RPM of 1400. This would give a road speed of roughly 5.5 mph in 3rd gear. They all had a foot throttle that basically pulled directly on the governor spring and ran the engine up to 1800 RPM. This would give a road speed of about 7.5 mph, and was only to be used sparingly (for obvious reasons). PTO, Hydraulics, Electric Start, and Electric Lights were all options. I believe Radiator Shutters were standard (as all H's were All-Fuel tractors), however a lower cost Radiator Curtain was available (and is the reason for the hole in the top of all the right hand nose grilles). Another interesting note about the Hs is that the brakes were inside the axle housings, unlike all of the other Waterloo-built two-cylinders that have the drums exposed and easy to get to. The early fanshafts used two rubber bushings that would, in normal circumstances, have enough friction to turn the fan and would, whenever something was caught in the fan, also slip fairly easily. The later fanshafts (around mid-1945 production) utilized an actual fan clutch with clutch disks and a spring. Three easy ways to tell an H from a B are: if its an early one with the cast iron front rims then that's a dead giveaway. Otherwise, look at the hood. One exhaust pipe, no intake stack. On the Hs, the intake was in the side of the hood, with a rectangular mesh grille over the hole. Third extremely easy way is the brakes (if you can see the axles). Another is the hydraulic pump if it has one. Yet another is battery location if its electric start. Yet another are the hex head plugs on each side of the cylinder head that locate the rocker arm shaft. An easy way to tell the 1939 and 1940 models apart from other Hs is the shifter quadrant. In your pictures at 5:19 and 5:46, you'll notice that the shifter quadrant is taller than in the black and white print picture at 5:04. The '39 and '40 tractors both had that quadrant (someone can correct me on that, it may have been a 1939 only thing). Some of the early '39s also didn't have the smaller diameter muffler extension, they had a muffler that actually looked similar to an A, but much shorter obviously. Not sure if any are still around or not, but there are some pictures in the Two-Cylinder magazine article about the Hs.

I have a 1945 H I restored. It spent its life on a cabbage and tomato farm in southern iowa of 20 acres. It planted and cultivated and pull a small wagon. Back then it was right for this work

Cool little tractors

Thanks for another great viedo. Nothing Runs Like A Deere

@LocustMotorWorks

7 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching👍

We have a 1939 H. It's such a handy little guy. We have a cultivator on it. Ours is hand start. Grandpa bought it used it a general store along with a one bottom plow. He nicknamed it the Doodle Popper.

@LocustMotorWorks

7 ай бұрын

I like that nickname👍 Thanks for watching

@ramshackleshack751

7 ай бұрын

@@LocustMotorWorks grandpa had a nickname for almost every thing.

I remember my dad propping me up on the good ol model H! Love your videos l! 🤠 🌽

@LocustMotorWorks

7 ай бұрын

Yes Sir! Thanks for watching👍

I have a very old photo of Dad using his little H with John Deere 290 corn planter. The front wheels don't look like the ones in these seen here. I'm sure dad's was hand cranked and not electric start. It was sold in 1976. I recently located it half restored and ignored in a neighbors shed.

@LocustMotorWorks

7 ай бұрын

Thats cool that you found it back👍

First tractor I ever drove in our local town parade was our 1941 H. I felt like a milli9n bucks that day and still have the tractor and those memories today.

@LocustMotorWorks

7 ай бұрын

Thats awesome that you still have it. Thanks for watching👍

We had a John Seere model H on the farm and when I was about 6 years old we had string beans that we would use the the tractor to pull the implement trailer loaded with 2x4 bean stakes. My job was to drive but the hired man was getting tired so I jumped off the tractor and grabbed a stake and when I came back to the tractor I just grabbed the first thinking I could reach, the hand clutch! The tractor ran me over and the hired man thought I was dead. I wish I was after Dad got hold of me!

@LocustMotorWorks

7 ай бұрын

Wow! that could have been bad good thing you made it out alive👍

Thank you for the video. I didn't the story on the H John Deere. I remember sitting on dad's H while it was running. I was about 4 or 5. My older cousin was using it to cut slew hay. While I was sitting on the seat, I pushed on the hand clutch, and away I went. We still have the old H, but it has been sitting for years. My dad would never sell it, even after all these years. My dad passed away last February. I'm 62 now.

My grandfather was able to buy a new HWH during WWII. He just needed a tractor and was happy to have anything he could get. It was his main farming tractor for several years and the first tractor that my dad learned to drive. At first my dad’s older sister did most of the driving because my dad wasn’t big enough to disengage the clutch. Instead he had to help my grandfather hand tie hay bales. Unfortunately, it was traded in for a bigger tractor a few years after the war.

I have a 1943 H that I use frequently on my small farm, mostly for pulling wagons, cut trees, spreaders, etc. Great little tractor. Hand start - fires on first compression every time no matter the temp. My grandfather used a 1939 H on a Christmas Tree farm. Can never forget the sound of these tractors - so unique.

@LocustMotorWorks

5 ай бұрын

Awesome how good they can start👍 Thank you for watching

YES FINALLY

@LocustMotorWorks

7 ай бұрын

👍👍

@Thatsheepguy

7 ай бұрын

I am currently restoring a 1945 H and don’t know much about its history other that it was in a field in Texas.

I love your tractor and combine videos! I watch them all!

When I was about 12 my dad bought a John Deere H at a farm auction that was in tough shape but ran good. It had 4 mismatched tires and needed a carb rebuild. It was hand start with a three speed transmission, no hydraulics and no lights. We used it to rake hay, move hay wagons and plow snow in the winter. Dad built the snow plow using old bed frame for push arms, a 2 x 6 x 8 for the bottom edge and 1 x 10’s for the rest of the push blade, with hand lift. Moved a lot of snow and raked a lot of with that tractor. Was sad to see it replaced by a John Deere A.

Thank you for the information on the John Deere H. My grandfather was one of the first to purchase a John Deere H in his county here in southeastern Virginia when it come out. It is great to get detailed information on it.

@LocustMotorWorks

7 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching👍

I grew up on two-cylinders, primarily a 53-60 & a 58 720D ES. Bought an H less than a year ago, pretty good shape overall, but still needs some work. The carburetor & starter are both in the shop right now, left rear axle seals & brake need work yet.

I would love to hear about the John Deer(-Lanz) 710!

@LocustMotorWorks

7 ай бұрын

Defiantly can look into it and see what i can come up with for a video👍

@97Lukas90

7 ай бұрын

@@LocustMotorWorks Thank you, love your videos! Keep it up 😍

My father’s first tractor was an H, he is a retired teacher. It is still original, the screen printed badging is still in good condition.

@nytechteacher7432

7 ай бұрын

Raising a plow and stopping is quite a challenge.

Thanks for making the video not a lot of info out there on the H. We have a HN that we use regularly on the farm that my grandfather restored. Definitely a lot of power for all the bigger it is. There’s actually a guy on KZread that was running a 24T John Deere bailer with his

@LocustMotorWorks

7 ай бұрын

Im going to have to check that video out👍 Thanks for watching

My grandpa has one and once we were in a parade and he told me to press the clutch lever forward I shoved it forward and made it do a wheelie

I think also important to note is that the H had the best fuel economy of any tractor of that day.

@LocustMotorWorks

5 ай бұрын

True, that is a good point. Thanks for watching

wow the trans taking torque from the cam is wild but I guess gear driven and at half engine speed makes sense

@LocustMotorWorks

7 ай бұрын

I agree, when i was researching it and discovered that it really surprised me. Thanks for watching👍

I have an H myself that is in aweful shape, but interesting little tractor. Mine doesnt run, be cool if it did tho. Hand start 1939 model

The other job for our H was to pull the hay rake. When the neighbor asked me how to shut the tractor off, isaid just turn the gas off and run it out of gas. He told me i was just a dumb stupid kid and didnt know a damn thing. I turned the gas off and low and behold the tractor shut off after about 2 minutes.

That's one two cylinder I have seen many of but never owned one or farmed with one

@LocustMotorWorks

7 ай бұрын

Me too, Thanks for watching 👍

I have an early 1939 H.

Great video! Enjoy following your channel. I have 1952 JD60 myself. Love the H, might pick one up someday. Did the engine and transmission share the same oil sump/ reservoir?

@ronaldgodden4490

7 ай бұрын

No they are seperate

have you ever done a video about the history of the roll o matic front end ? quite interesting on how farmall was offered it first and rejected it.

@LocustMotorWorks

7 ай бұрын

I did a youtube short about it not to long ago, but yes you are correct definitly a cool story👍

Got a HN believe it's a 1940, has the optional power lift and mudguards fitted.

No JD tractor had a battery, starter & lights until 1943.

@LocustMotorWorks

6 ай бұрын

The H received lights as an option at serial number 27000 which happen in 1941. Light's would become standard equipment in 1947

@NEAFarmKid4010

6 ай бұрын

All of the two-cylinders (except maybe the G) had factory option battery, starter and lights in "41. I believe it was 1942 when the GM came out, (early styled G) and it also had the option of lights and electric start.

How about talking about JD 2840 from Manheim Germany as that is what I have.

The smallest ag tractor Deere built was the L, which also had probably the smallest 2 cylinder engine that Deere made. The earlier Ls and the preceding 62 had Hercules engines, but Deere switch over to their own engine around 1940-1941 or there about. The LA was a bit larger and heavier than the L and it's confused with the L but there are subtle differences like heavier frame, larger wheels and tires, etc.

@LovelyLead

6 ай бұрын

ya but it was not as 2 cylinder horizontal engine

what about the model L, LA, 62

I have a 1945 H

@LocustMotorWorks

2 ай бұрын

Nice tractors! Thanks for watching

Why would JD build something smaller than the B? Lawn mowers today have more power

@randybrion3853

2 ай бұрын

Maximum pull at Iowa test was 1800 lbs. Let me see you do that with your lawn mower.😂

Many mistakes here. I owned one for years and used it almost daily in the summer. First, they went to steel pressed front wheels in the later years, the pic you show with the mounted cultivators has pressed wheels. Second you have the hydraulics all wrong. The long horizontal lever is the standard lift, You lifted it up and it jumped out of your hands and raised the cylinder. Then you pushed all the way down till it locked and the cylinder retracted down.The second valve on your picture is for a two way plow using two cylinders you lifted the right plow, as you turned around you shifted the lever and then when you were back in the furrow you dropped the other bottom with the main valve. I can post pictures but don't know how on youtube

@ronaldgodden4490

7 ай бұрын

I have the two way plow the valve was kind of bad so I mounted dual open center spools on the steering pedestal. It works but I wish that lift had a little more g.p.m. flow.

@dvdosterloh

7 ай бұрын

@@ronaldgodden4490 My granddad had 2 H's and a D, farmed 120 acres with them. He had 5 boys and they'd take turns running the one H with the two way plow at least 18 hours straight, that one had lights. Dad told me that once you had it down pat you'd "Slap up the lift lever pull the throttle back, feet on the brakes and made your little figure eight and slap the selector valve lever with one foot, hit the throttle slap the lift lever and go" Claimed his older brother timed him at 7 seconds from plow lift to drop. I still have an extra set of bell housings and axles in my shop. Grandpa would jack the plow tractor up and slide the wheels off and exchange the axles for a set of cut off ones because set for plowing the standard axles stuck out so far the they constantly get hooked in the fence lines.

@ronaldgodden4490

7 ай бұрын

Interesting thanks for the reply.

@ronaldgodden4490

6 ай бұрын

How long would an h run on a tank of fuel plowing all day ?

@dvdosterloh

6 ай бұрын

@@ronaldgodden4490 according to the lit I have it only held 7 1/2 gallon to begin with Dad always said when they walked out to switch off they carried gas but he never said how much. I used to run a hay conditioner with my old one and I could do 25 acres and not use more than 4 or 5 gallon. Used to love using it to rake hay, rake all day on less than 5 gallon of gas and it couldn't go fast enough for the help to ruin the rakes, used to pull two rolobars in tandem, handled it just great. One of my hired hands dad sold kobota lawn and garden, one day in front of his dad and I he said15 horse hell dad you have lawn tractors bigger than that and his dad replied that thing could drag any of them around the lot, you don't understand torque son.