I still had no brakes and the only way I had to kill the engine was a piece of wire on the choke, but I was going to give it a try. Orville Wright was probably less nervous when he took the controls at Kitty Hawk. ![]() Neither was mounting the pedals so that they could be reached properly and their linkages could be hooked up.Īt any rate, on September 1, 2018, it was time to take the vehicle on its maiden voyage around the yard. Figuring out where to mount the steering column so that the drag link reaches the front axle and the column clears the hood and makes it to the seat wasn’t easy. I also installed box seats from a late “A.” This was all a lot more difficult than it sounds. I installed a brake and clutch pedal, which are both brake pedals from a late “A.” The accelerator pedal is from a Power Lift. I mounted a steering column from an “L.” To my pleasant surprise, the balls on the drag links of a Ford “A” and John Deere “L” are the same size. Finally, in the summer of 2018, mostly inspired by the thought of driving it around at the Classic Green Reunion, I began to work on it again. Fortunately, a wine bottle cork fits perfectly.Īs is often the case, life got in the way and the speedster moved from my machine shed to my shop, where I would work on it for a few hours and then move it back to the shed again to get it out of the way. To my chagrin I found that the threads were stripped on the front radiator plug. All I needed to do now was hook up the steering, brake clutch and accelerator pedals, replace the brakes on the rear axle, fabricate seats, a body and a few hundred other things and I would be done. After a few months of work in his spare time, I got the project back with an adapter built that connected the clutch and the transmission. Fortunately, my friend, Lyle, worked at a machine shop at the time and is a very good weldor, so I conned him into working on the project. Only problem was the engine was not connected to the transmission. I installed the Ford “A” parts on the “T” frame, which was actually pretty easy and hung the “LUC” engine and a “GP” radiator on the front. This decision would come back to haunt me a bit later, but I eagerly plunged forward. So I bought a model “A” Ford front and rear axle and three speed transmission. ![]() I think they are actually called “cross steering.” I didn’t see how I was going to make that work for what I had planned. The front axle-well, have you ever looked at the steering system on a model “T” front axle? They are kind of a rack and pinion system without the rack or pinion. I can’t imagine how that could work with an “LUC.” I’m not sure that you could hook one up to any non-T transmission and I couldn’t use a “T” transmission because the “T” engines and transmission share the same oil. Even so, there was no way a model “T” rear axle was going to work. The rear differential had been hacked up some and you know model “Ts” only had a parking brake in the rear axle regular braking was done in the transmission. I was a little worried about the horsepower, but since a Ford “T” only had about 20 horsepower, I figured I was pretty close.Īfter some inspection, I realized that the old Ford “T” axles weren’t going to do it. They are small, a flathead and use a magneto. I considered a four cylinder engine from a 45 combine, but it’s a little too new for what I’m going for and adapting a clutch to it was going to be a problem, so I ultimately chose an “LUC” engine. ![]() Of course, a “D” or “GP” engine wasn’t going to work. Since I wanted as much of the machine to be Deere parts as possible and I wanted it to be technology from about the 1920s or ’30s, I was limited in my engine choices. The starting point was going to be a Ford model “T” chassis that had once been my grandfather’s but had spent about the last 70 years being used as a running gear for various trailers. ![]() As you can see, I had a lot of work to do to get it done by June 13th. This photo was taken on March 5th of 2019. I have no training in welding, metal working, machining, body work or engineering, but since I have a welder, cutting torch and coffee can full of dull drill bits, I decided to give it a try anyway. Let’s face it-doing this with almost any brand other than John Deere would have been much easier. The design went through several variations in my head before I settled on it being something like a model “T” Ford Speedster. I also remember seeing a photo of a car-like thing built by an IHC fan with a four cylinder engine off an old combine. I know that Colin Johnson stopping in at our office with pieces of a Case car on his trailer had something to do with it. I don’t know when exactly the idea was hatched for this project, but it had to be at least 15 years ago.
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