1954 John Deere 70LP Standard Vintage Tractor Restoration | Cade C. 2023 Chevron TRC Entry

My junior year of high school was the first year my school offered Ag Mechanics, so I restored my 1937 John Deere Unstyled B. Shortly after completing the restoration a salesperson at our local John Deere store, Hurst Farm Supply, saw my tractor and put me in touch with the Smith family from Stephenville, TX because they have a massive collection of old John Deere’s. When my dad and I arrived at their place I fell in love with the big tires and round fenders on my 1954 John Deere 70LP Standard.

Jack Finley Smith and Shirley Smith bought the tractor with intentions to restore and named it Mable in honor of the original owner, however they were unable to restore the tractor due to Jack getting up in age, so they let me buy it. When me and my dad loaded the tractor on the trailer Shirley was crying and I knew then that the pressure was on to restore this tractor to its former glory and I was willing to take on the challenge.

When I dove into the tractor, I discovered that the splines were worn off the crankshaft and the flywheel was very worn, the block was severely pitted and had already been bored .090 over. The cylinder head was warped .003 and had to be taken to the machine shop to be decked and while it was there, they Magni fluxed it and installed new valves and guides.

I could not find a machine shop to bore the block and ended up finding a new old stock block while easter egg hunting on easter Sunday. The countershaft gear in the transmission was severely pitted and needed to be replaced. Jack Finley Smith sold me a new flywheel, crankshaft, and powr-trol since the hydraulics had been taken off the tractor.