Making a turn as soon as possible I went back to the bright green John Deeres, to find that they were, indeed, sporting very new coats of John Deere green paint. While walking around the pair and examining them closely, the owner came out to gab. It transpired that he had fairly recently restored the two and now proudly displays them beside the street in front of his house.
The first year of production of the 40 coincided with the last year of the famous
Johnny Popper, the John Deere D. While the D used a large, 465 cubic inch (7.6 Litre) horizontal two cylinder engine running at a mere 800 RPM, the 40 was powered by a much smaller 100.5 cubic inch (1.6 Litre) upright two cylinder engine turning over at well over twice the speed, 1850 RPM.
The John Deere 40 was manufactured from just 1953 to 1955, as a small utility tractor for use on small farms, orchards, market gardens, etc. In those three years a total of 18,000 John Deere 40s came off the production line. This was the replacement tractor of the John Deere M, an example of which stands beside it. The John Deere 40 was manufactured in seven flavours: 40C: tracked tractor, 40H: high-crop, 40S: standard, 40T: tricycle, 40V: special, 40U: utility, and 40W: two-row utility. This unit, a utility (U) model sporting serial number 65960, was built in 1955, the final year of production. A 3 point hitch was standard equipment, as it was on all 40 tractors. Note the adjustable width front axle, also standard on the Utility model.
Following are some of the specs. on the John Deere 40 series.
- Weight: 2900 to 3220 pounds
- Length: 130.625 inches - 331 cm.
- Width: 89.75 inches - 227 cm.
- Height: 58.75 inches - 149 cm.
- Power: Drawbar (tested): 21.71 hp - Belt (tested): 24.25 hp
- Chassis: 4x2 2WD
- Steering: Manual
- Cab: Open operator station.
- Transmission: 4-speed gear
- Speeds (mph): 1.6, 3.1, 4.3, 12
- Reverse: 2.5
- Engine: John Deere 1.6L 2-cyl gasoline
- Displacement: 100.5 ci - 1.6 L
- Bore/Stroke: 4.00x4.00 inches - 102 x 102 mm
- Air cleaner: oil bath
- Compression: 6.5:1
- Rated RPM: 1850
- Firing order: 1-2
- Starter volts: 6
From Tractordata