Meet the newest member of the family: "Pappy"..
 

The kids have named our newest family member "Pappy" which is a 1969 John Deere Model 820.

I was quite pleased with the condition of this tractor. This is a 32HP three cylinder diesel tractor. The engine sounded great and maintained consistent RPMs from idle on up. PTO had no rust and was well lubricated. The hydraulics operated smoothly.

To be honest, I was quite surprised with the condition of this tractor considering it is 40 years old. Even the seat is original with no cracks.

Everything works great and was well maintained. Thank you to all of those who helped in this process.

Here "he" is:

http://www.cxp.com/username/jd820-01.jpg

Dave

Re: Meet the newest member of the family: "Pappy"..
 

Pappy needs some bling. What attachments do you have for him?

Re: Meet the newest member of the family: "Pappy"..
 

Bush hog and Disc to start..... I am sure many more to follow...

Apparently, there is a front loader attachment for this tractor but I am on the fence... I think I will just get another one down the road when I can afford something along those lines..

Dave

Re: Meet the newest member of the family: "Pappy"..
 

He's a beaut!

That's amazing that it's 40 years old. Built in USA?

Re: Meet the newest member of the family: "Pappy"..
 

Actually was built in Mannheim Germany but obviously for a US company.

Dave

Re: Meet the newest member of the family: "Pappy"..
 

Yes we used to build shit that was built to last forever believe it or not .:bawling:

Re: Meet the newest member of the family: "Pappy"..
 

Exactly, that is why I decided to go with an older tractor... I figured if the bones were good I could keep it running for quite some time considering I take care of it.

Dave

Re: Meet the newest member of the family: "Pappy"..
 

What did "Pappy" cost?

Re: Meet the newest member of the family: "Pappy"..
 

Thats a good buy.
A 3 point hitch and front end loader are very worth it.
There will be "little" things you need to know about the machine that only a farmer can tell you about.Visit an agricutural chat room or two to find out the problem points.

Re: Meet the newest member of the family: "Pappy"..
 

I paid $3,900.00 for it.

Dave

Re: Meet the newest member of the family: "Pappy"..
 

Two wheel drive? Don't get him stuck out dere in da brambles...
I had a 67 Ford. Wasn't as purty as Pappy. I almost toppled it in a Gopher hole, along side an old pile of weed choked sand. That big rear tire dropped down into the hole, just as the front tire rolled up on the mound and next thing I know I was stuck dangling. Also that same day, a rattle snake struck at the front tire as I was bush hogging. Love those old tractors. Congrats.

Re: Meet the newest member of the family: "Pappy"..
 

OH OH..... You need some hot pink flames and orange 60's flowers on it! Then you be rockin! :RockOn:

Re: Meet the newest member of the family: "Pappy"..
 

LOL, That is some story RealJack, unfortunately I have gopher holes all over the property and here is a picture I took of one on the land:

http://www.cxp.com/username/Picture 031.jpg

I was bush hogging with a 4WD previously so I will have to get use to the 2WD but I don't have too much terrain on my property outside of a few of those holes to concern about.

Thanks for sharing the story, being a fellow Floridian, it made me laugh :)

Dave

Re: Meet the newest member of the family: "Pappy"..
 

Here are more pictures that I was too tired to upload last night...

Now that is a cool front view, the lights looks like eyes..
http://www.cxp.com/username/jd820-06.jpg

I have never seen an instrument panel in this good of shape without restoration:
http://www.cxp.com/username/jd820-03.jpg
http://www.cxp.com/username/jd820-04.jpg

Hard to find any rust.. Nothing but wearing of the paint from usage...
http://www.cxp.com/username/jd820-05.jpg
http://www.cxp.com/username/jd820-02.jpg

Dave

Re: Meet the newest member of the family: "Pappy"..
 

Glad to hear you found a tractor. You will wonder how you ever did without it.

I front loader does not work well on a 2 wheel drive tractor, but since you mostly have sand you might be OK.

Enjoy your tractor, its a beauty.

Re: Meet the newest member of the family: "Pappy"..
 

Thank you Armed.peasant.

I am looking forward to getting the tractor home likely this weekend. I will do a full maintenance on it before I put it to work on the property. When I was testing it out everything sounded great (smooth like a sewing machine) and it seemed to be very well taken care of by the owner.

Looks like he stored the tractor in the garage next to his vintage wood planked speed boat. When I saw that I felt that he probably took care of his things thus explaining the great condition of the tractor considering it is in Florida with our humidity.

I am back in forth on whether or not I will install a front loader on this tractor. To be honest, since I was able to pick this up relatively inexpensively, I might try and find a 4WD model with a loader already on it down the road. It all depends on how much modification is required to add the loader. For now, Pappy will be mostly for field work which is what I need the most.

Dave

Re: Meet the newest member of the family: "Pappy"..
 

Dave - what kind of gorgeous fantasy land setting you live in anyway ?!

The pic with the head-on shot of the tractor with the house in the background you see this emerald green lawn with weeping willows draping over this amazing aquamarine body of water... wow!

Is that salt water? What state is this in?

Re: Meet the newest member of the family: "Pappy"..
 

40yrs is actually a great age for a tractor and a Deere should be in fine shape at that age if well cared for.
For reference, on our farm we ran a Massey-Ferguson built in 1959 that runs as good today as it did then, a Farmall built in 1957 that still runs good but can cost a pretty penny to repair and the crown jewel not only in terms of being the most used but the best running and cheapest to repair; an Allis Chalmer's D14 made in 1958.

Re: Meet the newest member of the family: "Pappy"..
 

Awe, come on now... that's just yer basic junkie ole redneck "crap" for Florida. Barely a step up from trailer trash. And those photo's don't even show the semi nude dancing nymphs on the other side of the house. :504:

Re: Meet the newest member of the family: "Pappy"..
 

That there is North Central Florida not far from Tallahassee. Unfortunately, my homestead is not so refined, but it is a taste of what the tractor did in it's previous home. We have quite a bit of work ahead of us but with a little care I know we will get there.

By the way, the pond is fresh water. The previous owner was filling the pond since they have been experiencing relatively low rainfall recently.

It was gorgeous property, almost too pretty.

Dave

Re: Meet the newest member of the family: "Pappy"..
 

SLV>GLD,

I agree fully. When I first started looking for tractors, like in cars, I was looking for deals on newer equipment. The more and more I looked around I was finding that the deals were best on the well maintained older/less complicated equipment. I know full well, if I take care of the equipment and don't push it beyond it's designed levels it should have a long life besides being EMP proof :)

The only trick it seems in buying older tractors is accurately evaluating how well it was maintained previously and how hard it was pushed.

Dave

Re: Meet the newest member of the family: "Pappy"..
 

First that's a FINE tractor ya got there, and the price was a STEAL!<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
Second, that's not a Gopher hole, it's a "Gopher Turtle" hole and Gopher turtles are protected in Florida. The state can and will keep you from developing any property that has these turtles living on them. So if it were me I'd not tell anyone about the "Holes".

Re: Meet the newest member of the family: "Pappy"..
 

Thats not gopher hole, thats a turtle hole. Box or Gopher Turtle most likley.

Love the tractor though! Im getting jealous. When we going hog hunting?!?!?!

Ill be in tampa for an extended vacation over the fourth :tongue_ma:

Re: Meet the newest member of the family: "Pappy"..
 

Damn, MtMan beat me to the turtle punch, all well.

Re: Meet the newest member of the family: "Pappy"..
 

Mtnman,

You are right, and for some reason I left the word turtle out. I meant to say gopher tortoise. So far, mostly what is on our property doesn't appear to be active since the tracks coming in and out of the burrows appear to be a mixture of snakes and rabbits. I will surely follow your advice and keep my mouth shut about their potential but not confirmed existence ;)

Heim,

No reason to be jealous brother, these deals are popping up all over on Craigs list!

Dave

Re: Meet the newest member of the family: "Pappy"..
 

Congrats! Yes those old diesels with lots of steel run forever! I had an old farmall that was wonderful, but so old it was from before PTO, bet it's still running, but you could only use drag type tools with it. They were the step between mules and modern tractors. I paid $300 for it. (everybody, for good reason, wants PTO)

That is one great machine. I'm happy for you.

Re: Meet the newest member of the family: "Pappy"..
 

What a beauty. THanks for the nice pics; may you have many hours of enjoyment from it!

Re: Meet the newest member of the family: "Pappy"..
 

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the well wishes. I promise I will post some more pictures once I get Pappy in service.

I will be picking him up this Saturday, bringing him home and doing a good look over and maintenance before I put Pappy to work.

More updates to come..

Dave