For a long time, John Deere's advertising slogan was "Nothing runs like a Deere." When this tractor was built, that was an indisputable truth! ☺

That field's not short of rocks to hit. My Dad and I deliberately used antique equipment to grow soybeans in it for a couple of years in the '70s. I plowed it with what we had available: A 1937 Farmall F-30, a 1936 Oliver Hart-Parr Row Crop 70, and a 1930s Allis Chalmers #2-216 "long landslide" trailer plow on steel with a spring latch to d-ring clevis hitch. ...The spring latch hitch worked exactly as it was supposed to. ...And if I had a bushel of soybeans for every time I hit a rock and the plow was suddenly unhitched from the tractor? ....We'd probably have made enough money that we'd still be at it back there. ;)

By not long afterward, this plow's long-rusting shares & moldboards were well polished by the soil, and the old plow was working great again. ...It's just that at the time, I wasn't well enough to stay to record that.

Agreed, but even slight calcium chloride leaks have always been "hell on wheels." 10-15 years ago I loaded a pair of tubeless garden tractor tires (on flawless, restored rims) with Prestone LowTox antifreeze. Since then only drops of it have wept from the beads, and at that, only in recent years and after months between uses. Each time, what wept looked as clean and green as the day I put it in, so apparently, nothing is rusting so, ..."so far so good." I gather there are other non-corrosive fluids being deliberately marketed as alternatives to calcium chloride (and "experiments" like mine.) If they're kind to metal and rubber, adequately freeze-proof and not especially toxic, I might load our Farmall F-30s tires again someday. (I don't want to risk further corroding those irreplaceable French - Hecht spoked wheels.) ...Last time I talked about this with my uncle (owner of this JD G,) I recall him saying he wants to have its tires loaded, but he didn't commit to what with, and also mentioned perhaps wanting to get larger tires first. ;)

You're welcome, and thank you Rick. My uncle had just purchased this plow. It was evident that it hadn't been used or sheltered in years and, at first, it wanted to go anywhere but into the ground. My uncle stood shoveling the wet soil off of the rusted moldboards at the start of every pass, but in no time they'd plug up and climb out to mostly just pull up grass again. ;) Over time, as the rust was slowly scrubbed off, the plow did work better and draw down as it should. Unfortunately, yours truly was recovering from possible COVID; very glad to be able to go out with my camera, but keeping my distance and not up to staying until they were getting best results. (...And as others noticed, this G could certainly use some added weight (and bigger tires.)) Hopefully we'll soon be able to better showcase these machines but, if not or until then, I'm glad you enjoyed this video. :)

You prolly dont care at all but does any of you know a trick to log back into an Instagram account..? I was stupid forgot my password. I would love any tricks you can offer me!

@Houston Bodie instablaster ;)

@Dean Jerome thanks so much for your reply. I found the site thru google and I'm in the hacking process now. Looks like it's gonna take a while so I will reply here later when my account password hopefully is recovered.

@Dean Jerome It did the trick and I finally got access to my account again. I am so happy:D Thank you so much you saved my ass!

I wouldn't mind owning it myself. ;) It's my uncle's, and he has an A as well. Great old machines! :)

"i have too many tractors..." said no man ever....

@@wilymcgee I couldn't agree more with you Wilford.

Thanks! When I recorded this I was finally recovering from a long illness. I was glad to still be alive, and quietly excited to be outside taking this video to share. My uncle and his grandson were sharing a great day, and the tractor was obviously running great. ...And I could see that the new/old plow was working better and better, and I'm only slightly sorry that I had to get back inside before it was working perfectly. ...I've come to love this video because it refreshes the gratitude and hope I felt on that day, and it's a pleasant bonus for me when for any reason, others say they enjoy it too! Take care!

The aim was for about 7 inches, but it wasn't going very well yet. The plow was just purchased, not yet set up quite right and the moldboards were very rusty when this job was begun. The first few passes were little more than scratches on the sod. I wasn't able to stay, but gather that they got it working better and better through the day.

He tried at first to plow both ways, but didn't have enough traction to pull the plow up the hill. The plow was very rusty, the field was wet and full of roots, and the tractor didn't have any weight added -- not even any fluid in the tires.

A beneficial machine.

@@DoJoRa3 And the two cylinder John Deere diesel tractors were about 20% more fuel efficient than other diesel tractors at the time.

A necessary evil

@@CharlesWT-TX The 720 diesel set a record in 1957 at the Nebraska tractor tests that stood until 1984. The fuel economy was impressive, to say the least. The bigger gas tractors on the other hand were quite thirsty.

@@thegreenerthemeaner : Another uncle of mine farmed with a 720 Diesel in the mid 1960s. Narrow front, pony start -- an awesome machine! He passed on in 1990, but if he were here he'd give this comment a thumbs up. Although I found it hard to believe at the time, he had once told me that his 720 was easier on fuel than anything else in its class. :)

That was remedied in the field and explained in the thread below. As the wet, sticky soil scrubbed the heavy rust off the long-unused plowshares and moldboards, the plow became more and more responsive to its settings, which did virtually nothing at the outset. Abrasives simply need time and pressure to work, and they dragged that old plow around until it was polished into full functionality again. Around here, we call that a success.

😄 Funny how smart most Dads look when we're looking over our shoulders.