Similar to my stories. It was a big emergency getting our 4030 out of park till someone showed us. My grandpa brought it home in 1972 while I was in kindergarten. And all the looks from people when you crank the wheel back and forth on a cold day starting it. My only day I was allowed off school was my senior year in 85 when we traded in the 4020. Sad day. I was the last one to drive it to the dealership. We still have the 4030, a 4430 and a 4630. They continue to bail out the newer tractors when they won't run and John Deere can't fix em. ?????
I started farming on my own in 1979 with a rented 3020 (Damn am I old). In fall of 1980 I purchased a used John Deere 4000. No cab and would wear my snowmobile suit, gloves and face mask and pulled a New Idea picker all day and would plow all night. I felt on top of the world! May not have been brand new but it was new to mean the best I ever had. Thanks for shring your stories and please share more as you remember them, Bill
my uncle Steve rebuilds burnt smashed up high hours 30 40 50 series Jhone deere tractors and newer. I've grown up around them and ran them all my life. I've had fun helping build 4455 from the ground up start to finish.
I grew up on a 4430. I miss that tractor my Grandad let me drive and plant soybeans. We also had a 5220 that I would nap in the floor when I was 5 while my Grandad was working the fields.
I loved skipping school to do stuff with my Dad, especially when it was farmers week at Michigan State university. I tried to get my kids to skip school to do what I felt were educational things with me, they opted for school. Sad face.
Wes, I had graduated two years before you got your new 4430. I spent a helluva lot of time on the back of a John Deere G with my legs hangin' thru the seat with a baler twine tied from the oil fill plug up to the seat rail for SAFETY reasons. The driver? My mom, of course. I watched a LOT of hay fall, a LOT of weeds get plowed under, and a LOT of corn get laid by from that point. The good old days..... 57
My Granddad died when I was 12... I had been shredding cotton stalks in the fall and running the hipper building up the ridges (rows) during the winter, but that following spring after he died in February I was on "full time". Dad was working at the nuke plant by then full time, and so he did all the setup and had the machinery ready for me and turned me loose in the fields. By the time I was 15 I pretty much took over all the farming, with Dad jumping on a tractor now and then as needed when we'd run both tractors at the same time, like when I was fertilizing and he'd run the hipper behind me, or disking down Trifluralin and he'd be hipping the rows back up behind me to incorporate it, stuff like that. Otherwise it was pretty much just me (and later my little brother would take over doing most of what Dad had done). We were running the farms for my Grandmother-- she had to drive the first couple years most of the time because I didn't even have my license yet... soon as I got my permit I was hauling loads of cotton, grain, hay, calves, and fertilizer... I missed a LOT of school... my ag teacher in high school told me one time, "I know when it's dry enough to work in the fields when you and Tad miss school on the same day"... That was true. I typically missed about 20-30 days a year, and this was back before the 180 day school year they have now... ours was like 140-160 days, something like that. We always started school after Labor Day and were out like a week before Memorial Day, and still had 2 weeks Christmas break and a week for Spring Break... This was back in the day before "mandatory attendance" when they didn't penalize you for missing school. So long as your grades were passing, you went on to the next grade regardless of how many days you missed. I always had passing grades, so it wasn't an issue. That's how it still SHOULD be IMHO; but the school wants the kids there warming a seat with their butt so they get counted as "present" and thus the school gets paid more money by the state... so now they have this "mandatory attendance" policy where if you miss more than five days of school a year without doctor's requirement then they flunk you for the year... REALLY stupid... Heck I figured it up one time and by the time I graduated high school, I had missed about a year of school... I'd typically miss about 20-25 days a year, sometimes less, one year I only missed about 15 days. I did just fine, without even really trying. Course my teachers always pushed me harder to 'do better' but I only wanted to farm; I wasn't interested in going to college or any of that other crap. Heck if I was in school now, I'd never make it. I couldn't stand going to school THAT much... I needed to get out of school and be away from all that garbage and out working on a tractor... it recharged me enough to PUT UP with going to school the rest of the time! If I could only miss 5 days of school a year like they do now, I'd just quit school altogether... They squall and make a lot of noise because SO many kids quit school now, but the schools bring a LOT of that crap on themselves... they don't make ANYTHING easier for the kids nowdays... It's all a bunch of conformist gubmint-mandated testing garbage and nonsense, not real learning like it USED to be. I had a buddy in high school that tried 3 times to pass the state-mandated exam to graduate and couldn't pass it-- he was smart, he just never tested well and never could pass it, so halfway through his senior year he just quit school, got his GED, and went to work at Walmart-- he's a department manager now and doing very well, plus he works for the county as well. One of my nephews has bad ADHD and the school put the "mods" in place for him, but the teachers were too lazy to follow their own "rules" and do the mods for him, and were constantly ragging on him and giving him trouble, so he dropped out and got his GED and went to work driving a truck for the Ag Co-Op... he's a big equipment operator and truck driver now. For a lot of kids, the schools FORCE them out because of the way they do business... it's just EASIER for kids that "don't fit the mold" to just drop out of school and all the nonsense, get the GED, and get on with their lives... Basically you can wipe your butt with a high school diploma anymore when it comes to getting a job, so there's really NO disadvantage to just having a GED anyway-- they count about the same in employer's eyes when it comes time to apply for a job anyway... But the gubmint and schools act like a diploma is made out of gold or something-- heck even the colleges are having to put the first year into making up for all the stuff that the schools aren't teaching and get the kids ready for college-level work and material... All those state-mandated graduation exams do is deprive the kids of a diploma who NEED THEM THE MOST-- the ones going straight out to get a job after graduation who aren't going to college... Oh well... glad I grew up in simpler times... Later! OL J R :)
Loved your story Wes,My grandfathers JD 60 came from IG Sales of silverdale also.He was its second owner.Its sad they can only sell up to a 100hp tractor these days.I have bin told they were a large dealer back in the heyday of farming. The Dealer sticker on the 60,says they had another location in Philadelphia?I live in Perkasie,just up the road from them. Your grandmother sounds like she is a hard working woman you don't want to piss off ! Thanks again for sharing with us.
Good story - I thought you were going to say that either you or grandmother was going to get the tractor off the truck!! -That would have been a truly great story. Looking forward very much to seeing you overhaul this tractor this winter.
Can't put a price on that we still have my grandfathers diamond reo oil truck first new truck he ever bought for his company a lot good memories in that truck
Dad grew up on a farm and also mined coal. He thought nothing about taking us out of school several times a year to visit relatives in Ohio. Only one teacher ever objected and he told her off. I guess that is why she seemed to hate me. She was an old battle axe Rosie O'Donnell clone back in the 60's.
Hey there OLF, great story and congrats on the good bean harvest this year! I'm going to school for diesel mechanics(Heavy-meduim duty truck technician) and boy do i love your wrenchin videos! me and my dad want to be farmers. Keep up the god videos.
I like the two 4430 we have they had to be one of the best engineered tractors to come out of JD in my opinion. They just keep on working all day every day.
Hi Wes thanks for the great story,you do realize if you bring us OLF story time this quick from the last one, we are just going to want more quicker L.O.L. Your grandmother sounds like quite the character as well. Now we know where you get it from. That darn Deere and all those hours with her corrupted you. My favorite trick was when the custom guys came to the farm with backhoes or a silage crew for the corn, I was sick and couldn't go to school. Some days I got away with it others I didn't L.O.L. I hated school and used to get crap from teachers for looking out the window at the guys cutting the school sports field grass, with a bright yellow industrial spec MF 2135 tractor and a set of gang mowers. Regards Robert
i was the same :) only difference is i figured out the dog had a temp of 101.. that made being sick really easy because the dog would sleep with me in my bed lol..
When my dad had his dairy farm he had a 4430. I think it was pretty special. It was around an 1980 and he only had the exhaust pipe coming out of the hood instead of that and the air cleaner like most had. He also had the powershift transmission, which was great for pushing silage. He also got tired of breaking axles and put a 4630 front end on it with oversized tires. Looked like this media.sandhills.com/img.axd?id=1001343623&wid=0&p=&ext=&w=1200&h=630&t=&lp=TH&c=True&wt=False&sz=Max&checksum=V%2B0Dd%2FkTbXpUlWRHIQxQqu2tbcXipCCg except his did not have the intake pipe. He did have the same steps. The oem ones were a pain if you got on and off all the time. I spent many hrs in the buddy seat.
WOW, 1977 and in kindergarden! You're a youngster. I was a whopping high school graduate LOL! and, driving a lettuce truck in fields. Oh well, I still feel young
Power assisted park? Tractors have park? Shazzam! Quite a change from the 9N I operated in my youth. Hell, it only had one brake because the left axle seal leaked and soaked the drum.
yep we had a 4230 blew the motor and put a 4430 motor in, that motor ran so smooth my brother went to Iowa and picked up the motor it came out of a tractor that had burned in a barn fire. you could barely here the tractor run, so smooth so powerful
I'm just about addicted to your channel. As a fellow youtuber (I have 1.2m subs) I appreciate the value of a compelling personality. I wonder if you could make a video about the economics of farming. I'm not sure how to ask while still remaining polite but every farmer I know of seems to be simultaneously rich and poor. I watched an older vid of yours where you mentioned that paying $8k would be no trouble and I see you bring in very expensive equipment. It makes you look like Bill Gates. On the other hand, I just know that isn't the case all the time. I'm not sure how to ask this politely but what kind of cash flows in and out for a farming operation. Do you pay to work the land that isn't yours? Do they pay you? What areas of your operation would you say are the most profitable? I'm your age and I've had my own boom and bust times. I recognize that this can be a sensitive topic. However, I suspect all your viewers would be just as interested so if you can find a way to address it without telling more than you want to I'd be super interested.
The way i see it is: you can have money one year after a good crop, then years in poverty after a bad one. In the UK they thrive of subsidising by field size, set asides where fields grow grass instead of food.
Cool I am looking to buy a tractor here now in Chile. Either a ford 3500 ish or a comparable John Deere. Old tractors are ok if they were never over heated.
I think the old quad range through everyone for a loop first time they drove one. Especially if they were use to parking it on flat ground then put it in park on a hill.
Delivery boy musta been a newbie. Quad ranges had been out since 1973. By 1977, he shoulda been a professional on the QR. I got 2 4430 QR's - one a 1977 cab tractor, and the other a 1974 open station. The power release is about the first thing you teach a new driver.
If you want to see a beautifully restored 4430 then go to the website "fastline dot comm" and click on the link on the upper left for "Online Editions" or something like that. Then look for the "Kentucky" issue and click on it. Then you can blow it up to mega-huge size and check out a great restoration job on a 1977 4430 John Deere tractor. You're welcome.
Too bad the new stuff is being setup so you can't service your own machine anymore. Tractors have turned into software. Company owns the product, you just buy a license to use it. So stupid.
Similar to my stories. It was a big emergency getting our 4030 out of park till someone showed us. My grandpa brought it home in 1972 while I was in kindergarten.
And all the looks from people when you crank the wheel back and forth on a cold day starting it.
My only day I was allowed off school was my senior year in 85 when we traded in the 4020. Sad day. I was the last one to drive it to the dealership.
We still have the 4030, a 4430 and a 4630. They continue to bail out the newer tractors when they won't run and John Deere can't fix em. ?????
I started farming on my own in 1979 with a rented 3020 (Damn am I old). In fall of 1980 I purchased a used John Deere 4000. No cab and would wear my snowmobile suit, gloves and face mask and pulled a New Idea picker all day and would plow all night. I felt on top of the world! May not have been brand new but it was new to mean the best I ever had.
Thanks for shring your stories and please share more as you remember them,
Bill
i spent many days in a snowmobile suit on top of the world on a 4020..:)
my uncle Steve rebuilds burnt smashed up high hours 30 40 50 series Jhone deere tractors and newer. I've grown up around them and ran them all my life. I've had fun helping build 4455 from the ground up start to finish.
I grew up on a 4430. I miss that tractor my Grandad let me drive and plant soybeans. We also had a 5220 that I would nap in the floor when I was 5 while my Grandad was working the fields.
I loved skipping school to do stuff with my Dad, especially when it was farmers week at Michigan State university. I tried to get my kids to skip school to do what I felt were educational things with me, they opted for school. Sad face.
Wes, I had graduated two years before you got your new 4430. I spent a helluva lot of time on the back of a John Deere G with my legs hangin' thru the seat with a baler twine tied from the oil fill plug up to the seat rail for SAFETY reasons. The driver? My mom, of course. I watched a LOT of hay fall, a LOT of weeds get plowed under, and a LOT of corn get laid by from that point. The good old days..... 57
My Granddad died when I was 12... I had been shredding cotton stalks in the fall and running the hipper building up the ridges (rows) during the winter, but that following spring after he died in February I was on "full time". Dad was working at the nuke plant by then full time, and so he did all the setup and had the machinery ready for me and turned me loose in the fields. By the time I was 15 I pretty much took over all the farming, with Dad jumping on a tractor now and then as needed when we'd run both tractors at the same time, like when I was fertilizing and he'd run the hipper behind me, or disking down Trifluralin and he'd be hipping the rows back up behind me to incorporate it, stuff like that. Otherwise it was pretty much just me (and later my little brother would take over doing most of what Dad had done). We were running the farms for my Grandmother-- she had to drive the first couple years most of the time because I didn't even have my license yet... soon as I got my permit I was hauling loads of cotton, grain, hay, calves, and fertilizer...
I missed a LOT of school... my ag teacher in high school told me one time, "I know when it's dry enough to work in the fields when you and Tad miss school on the same day"... That was true. I typically missed about 20-30 days a year, and this was back before the 180 day school year they have now... ours was like 140-160 days, something like that. We always started school after Labor Day and were out like a week before Memorial Day, and still had 2 weeks Christmas break and a week for Spring Break... This was back in the day before "mandatory attendance" when they didn't penalize you for missing school. So long as your grades were passing, you went on to the next grade regardless of how many days you missed. I always had passing grades, so it wasn't an issue. That's how it still SHOULD be IMHO; but the school wants the kids there warming a seat with their butt so they get counted as "present" and thus the school gets paid more money by the state... so now they have this "mandatory attendance" policy where if you miss more than five days of school a year without doctor's requirement then they flunk you for the year... REALLY stupid...
Heck I figured it up one time and by the time I graduated high school, I had missed about a year of school... I'd typically miss about 20-25 days a year, sometimes less, one year I only missed about 15 days. I did just fine, without even really trying. Course my teachers always pushed me harder to 'do better' but I only wanted to farm; I wasn't interested in going to college or any of that other crap. Heck if I was in school now, I'd never make it. I couldn't stand going to school THAT much... I needed to get out of school and be away from all that garbage and out working on a tractor... it recharged me enough to PUT UP with going to school the rest of the time! If I could only miss 5 days of school a year like they do now, I'd just quit school altogether...
They squall and make a lot of noise because SO many kids quit school now, but the schools bring a LOT of that crap on themselves... they don't make ANYTHING easier for the kids nowdays... It's all a bunch of conformist gubmint-mandated testing garbage and nonsense, not real learning like it USED to be. I had a buddy in high school that tried 3 times to pass the state-mandated exam to graduate and couldn't pass it-- he was smart, he just never tested well and never could pass it, so halfway through his senior year he just quit school, got his GED, and went to work at Walmart-- he's a department manager now and doing very well, plus he works for the county as well. One of my nephews has bad ADHD and the school put the "mods" in place for him, but the teachers were too lazy to follow their own "rules" and do the mods for him, and were constantly ragging on him and giving him trouble, so he dropped out and got his GED and went to work driving a truck for the Ag Co-Op... he's a big equipment operator and truck driver now.
For a lot of kids, the schools FORCE them out because of the way they do business... it's just EASIER for kids that "don't fit the mold" to just drop out of school and all the nonsense, get the GED, and get on with their lives... Basically you can wipe your butt with a high school diploma anymore when it comes to getting a job, so there's really NO disadvantage to just having a GED anyway-- they count about the same in employer's eyes when it comes time to apply for a job anyway... But the gubmint and schools act like a diploma is made out of gold or something-- heck even the colleges are having to put the first year into making up for all the stuff that the schools aren't teaching and get the kids ready for college-level work and material... All those state-mandated graduation exams do is deprive the kids of a diploma who NEED THEM THE MOST-- the ones going straight out to get a job after graduation who aren't going to college...
Oh well... glad I grew up in simpler times...
Later! OL J R :)
Similar story in our family, our tractors were sold off after a death in the family, so we've had to start over.
Love all your old stories Wes!!
Loved your story Wes,My grandfathers JD 60 came from IG Sales of silverdale also.He was its second owner.Its sad
they can only sell up to a 100hp tractor these days.I have bin told they were a large dealer back in the heyday of farming.
The Dealer sticker on the 60,says they had another location in Philadelphia?I live in Perkasie,just up the road from them.
Your grandmother sounds like she is a hard working woman you don't want to piss off ! Thanks again for sharing with us.
no she is a tough old gal...
Good story - I thought you were going to say that either you or grandmother was going to get the tractor off the truck!! -That would have been a truly great story.
Looking forward very much to seeing you overhaul this tractor this winter.
That's what I thought to!!
Great story Wes!! Thanks for sharing. You've got great stories.
Great story Wes,
Cool you got the day off from kindergarten to hang out with your grandmother and the "new" 4430 !
Can't put a price on that we still have my grandfathers diamond reo oil truck first new truck he ever bought for his company a lot good memories in that truck
Dad grew up on a farm and also mined coal. He thought nothing about taking us out of school several times a year to visit relatives in Ohio. Only one teacher ever objected and he told her off. I guess that is why she seemed to hate me. She was an old battle axe Rosie O'Donnell clone back in the 60's.
Hey there OLF, great story and congrats on the good bean harvest this year! I'm going to school for diesel mechanics(Heavy-meduim duty truck technician) and boy do i love your wrenchin videos! me and my dad want to be farmers. Keep up the god videos.
I like the two 4430 we have they had to be one of the best engineered tractors to come out of JD in my opinion. They just keep on working all day every day.
Hi Wes thanks for the great story,you do realize if you bring us OLF story time this quick from the last one, we are just going to want more quicker L.O.L. Your grandmother sounds like quite the character as well. Now we know where you get it from. That darn Deere and all those hours with her corrupted you.
My favorite trick was when the custom guys came to the farm with backhoes or a silage crew for the corn, I was sick and couldn't go to school. Some days I got away with it others I didn't L.O.L. I hated school and used to get crap from teachers for looking out the window at the guys cutting the school sports field grass, with a bright yellow industrial spec MF 2135 tractor and a set of gang mowers.
Regards Robert
i was the same :) only difference is i figured out the dog had a temp of 101.. that made being sick really easy because the dog would sleep with me in my bed lol..
When my dad had his dairy farm he had a 4430. I think it was pretty special. It was around an 1980 and he only had the exhaust pipe coming out of the hood instead of that and the air cleaner like most had. He also had the powershift transmission, which was great for pushing silage. He also got tired of breaking axles and put a 4630 front end on it with oversized tires. Looked like this media.sandhills.com/img.axd?id=1001343623&wid=0&p=&ext=&w=1200&h=630&t=&lp=TH&c=True&wt=False&sz=Max&checksum=V%2B0Dd%2FkTbXpUlWRHIQxQqu2tbcXipCCg except his did not have the intake pipe. He did have the same steps. The oem ones were a pain if you got on and off all the time. I spent many hrs in the buddy seat.
Buddy seat dont you mean the armrest? i spent hundreds of house riding armrests with dad and friends
ya you are right. That small it was a buddy sear to me.
WOW, 1977 and in kindergarden! You're a youngster. I was a whopping high school graduate LOL! and, driving a lettuce truck in fields. Oh well, I still feel young
Good story I like it. Gota love Grandma!
yet another great story thanks for that. hope there are a lot more to come.
Power assisted park? Tractors have park? Shazzam! Quite a change from the 9N I operated in my youth. Hell, it only had one brake because the left axle seal leaked and soaked the drum.
Deeres had a park pawl since 1960 with the introduction of the 10 series New Generation of Power. Some utilities didn't, but the 3010 and 4010 did.
yep we had a 4230 blew the motor and put a 4430 motor in, that motor ran so smooth my brother went to Iowa and picked up the motor it came out of a tractor that had burned in a barn fire. you could barely here the tractor run, so smooth so powerful
Good Story, I Can comprehend as I'm A Retired Farmer.
I'm just about addicted to your channel. As a fellow youtuber (I have 1.2m subs) I appreciate the value of a compelling personality. I wonder if you could make a video about the economics of farming. I'm not sure how to ask while still remaining polite but every farmer I know of seems to be simultaneously rich and poor. I watched an older vid of yours where you mentioned that paying $8k would be no trouble and I see you bring in very expensive equipment. It makes you look like Bill Gates.
On the other hand, I just know that isn't the case all the time. I'm not sure how to ask this politely but what kind of cash flows in and out for a farming operation. Do you pay to work the land that isn't yours? Do they pay you? What areas of your operation would you say are the most profitable?
I'm your age and I've had my own boom and bust times. I recognize that this can be a sensitive topic. However, I suspect all your viewers would be just as interested so if you can find a way to address it without telling more than you want to I'd be super interested.
well i didn't mean it the way it sounded!! it wouldn't be a problem but i wouldn't like it... and you have a shit ton of subs!!!! i want some lol
The way i see it is: you can have money one year after a good crop, then years in poverty after a bad one.
In the UK they thrive of subsidising by field size, set asides where fields grow grass instead of food.
Woody, you should give OLF a shoutout on your next PKA or something. If you haven't already. ;)
Great story
Great video Wes
Put a Crome streight pipe on the exhaust of your ol 4430 Awsome story
I love your videos and your antics, lol...
That's funny...the first 5 years of my life, my mom & dad's house was near Silverdale...
Cool I am looking to buy a tractor here now in Chile. Either a ford 3500 ish or a comparable John Deere. Old tractors are ok if they were never over heated.
Great Story, Thanks
Make “ok so” great again, AND story time!!!!
I think the old quad range through everyone for a loop first time they drove one. Especially if they were use to parking it on flat ground then put it in park on a hill.
i enjoy all your videos
I like story time format!
wow in December who would have thought... lol. in 77 i was still answering when asked about my draft number.
very good story wish i could have skipped school over a new piece of equipment
awesome story
I also have the John Deere I grew up with :)
Great video Wes,think you were grandmas favorite or her shadow. :)
Aww that is neat :) Thanks for sharing!
good story l especially liked the part where your grandma let you skip school
Delivery boy musta been a newbie. Quad ranges had been out since 1973. By 1977, he shoulda been a professional on the QR. I got 2 4430 QR's - one a 1977 cab tractor, and the other a 1974 open station. The power release is about the first thing you teach a new driver.
sweet!
Wow two story times a n a row thanks keep thinking of em and for your store you should get some carhart jackets with your logo in it
cool story man
You missed the muscle car era young one.
my studebaker had a hill holder,
Nice 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Exactly how many tractors do you have? Farm tractors that is not including the little skid steer and all I've seen
By the way Wes, I have been wondering if you are going to plant any corn next year.
how is reject doing wes haven't seen him for quite some time???
If all else fails read the instructions.LOL
there's no link in the description. LOL
Shit
Best one word answer, that had me laughing lol
it is now
buy a tractor and keep her forever wish i could do that
yep,no link pmsl.
How in the hell do I find where your clothing is for sale
gary stanford www.onelonleyfarmer.com
If you want to see a beautifully restored 4430 then go to the website "fastline dot comm" and click on the link on the upper left for "Online Editions" or something like that. Then look for the "Kentucky" issue and click on it. Then you can blow it up to mega-huge size and check out a great restoration job on a 1977 4430 John Deere tractor.
You're welcome.
lol
Great story Wes! Just think of the Dumb Ass'es that get sent to deliver new products & know nothing about it? It amazes me!
Kurt
Were u born in 72
Yes I was 😜
Lucky ges
He said in running tractor tour
Wes put onelonelyfarmer.com on face book
Too bad the new stuff is being setup so you can't service your own machine anymore. Tractors have turned into software. Company owns the product, you just buy a license to use it. So stupid.
As is our Pickup Trucks and Cars.
Great video Wes