I suppose you are wondering what a model "C"
John Deere tractor is, since we don't see any around. There are
a couple still in existance but they never went into producton
to the public as a finished tractor.
There was enough made to test, rebuild, test, change,
test and so it went for a few years prior to 1927. In 1927 John
Deere introduced 24 to the public and in 1928, 75 more, all for
demonstrating testing and to see if the public would accept them
as a needed tractor.
John Deere was behind the eight ball now because
Farmall had come out with the "row crop" version back
in 1924. The row crop style was a significant new concept that
the farmers of that era needed to be able to straggle the rows
of corn, vegies and soy beans. International Harvestorl saw the
need for this and introduced (The "F"series.) tractors.
Now John Deere had to play catch up and find a tractor that would
not only equal Farmall but exceed it's quality but out perform
it.
The Model"C" was called a row crop, because
it was made to straddle the rows with a higher stance, but it
was still a small version of the Model "D". with the
four wheel design. (wide front axle)
The model "C" served as a building platform
for all future John Deere row crop tractors. It helped engineers
to learn something about what was actually needed out there in
the fields, in a fast changing enviorment of farming, and also
to learn by building something that didn't work in order to make
something that did. All this took place on the drawing boards,
the plant floors and in the fields accross the nation. Build a
tractor nobody had seen before. Well, John Deere just didn't have
the time to do that, so, they made one that looked like the Model
"D", in a little package, sad to say.
This would be the most modern tractor to be produced
thus far in the tractor industry. It would have four power outlets.
Drawbar, pulley, front and reas PTO and mechanicl power lift.
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The model "C" had a flat head engine design instead
of the overhead head valve design of the Waterloo Boys and the
Model "D". As with the "D". the engine, transmission
and rear axle were all built together to make up the whole support
and no outer frame was needed. The rear axle was of a fixed width
and no adjustments of the width was attainable, except for the
changing of the wheel mounting where a 3-4 inch spacer was made
to widen the spacing a few inches. No tractor company had yet
come out with a adjustaable rear axle, where the wheel would slide
in and out on the axle, so this kind of thinking was something
still in the future. Wonder who would think of it first? The "F"
Model Farmalls hadn't. Fordson, Case, and all the rest hadn't.
The model "C" was only made for two years, 1927 up
to August of 1928. In it's design it was a three row tractor that
would straddle one row and another row on either side of the wheels.
John Deere made a three row corn planter that mounted onto the
back of the tractor and a three row cultivator also. No mounted
mowing machine. You still had to shorten the tongue in the horse
drawn John Deere model "3" and pull it around the field.
Worked great for just one pin to hook it up.
If you were looking at an old tractor and didn't know if it were
a model "C" or the later tractor that this one evolved
into, the "GP", the spark plugs on the "C"
were slanted or angled upward and the "GP"s were straight
foreward. The slanting was due to the air cleaner being placed
in front of the cylinder head, on the "C", therefore
clearence was the reason.
Bore and stroke = 5.75 x 6 inches
RPM = 750
Displacement = 312
HP =
Drawbar------17.24
Pulley / PTO- 24.97
Note: for the truly new design, wait for the model "A"
in 1934.
Who was the first to have a siding rear axle? Yep ! John Deere--model
"A" in 1934. Farmall copied it in 1939 with the new
model "H".
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