1950 John Deere BN "High Clearance" and State of the Collection

The tractor situation is pretty normal. A week goes by and Yet Another Tractor (YAT) shows up at my doorstep. Ok so this one isn't exactly here yet but I have paid for it and the place that has it will deliver it in a few days. Incoming is a 1950 John Deere BN. The "N" in BN signifies a narrow front, also called High Clearance because it sits a little higher than a normal John Deere B. JD accomplished that by putting on larger wheels/tires. The regular B had 38 inch wheels in the back and the BN got 42 inch wheels (although 38 inch wheels were an option). The BN also got a single front wheel rather than the normal tricycle front with two close-together wheels.

The story goes that a previous owner bought this tractor as a 4H project for their family but then they had to move out of state. They gave the tractor to a guy who owned a small, local heavy equipment business, so he put the tractor out front to try and sell. Well, he actually told me that he wanted someone to donate what they thought the tractor was worth, say 300-500 dollars (his suggestion), to the local 4H club and he'd then give the person the tractor. I didn't feel right low-balling the guy like I might have a habit of doing with derelict machinery, so I donated $500. We will see how much of a "project" this tractor turns out to be once it arrives. The only thing I know about the tractor is what the owner told me, that the engine isn't stuck. Yep, a big unknown..... Of course, it might just need the points cleaned and it'll fire right up. That's the hope.

I measured the rear tire width and it was two inches wider than my little dump trailer's box. I mentioned to the guy that I'd have to try and slide the rear wheels in to fit the trailer but he offered to deliver the tractor to me on his roll-back truck, as he was heading my direction several days from now. I offered a couple times to pay him for delivery but he declined. Wow.

The sheet metal on the tractor is fairly complete and straight, so there won't be a lot of body work necessary. The engine is 190 cubic inches and is electric start. It's still a two-cylinder engine with a large flywheel on the side, but the flywheel is enclosed because of the electric start feature (standard equipment starting in 1947). A flywheel-start engine would have an exposed flywheel for the operator to grab and spin, like my 1936 BO.

It looks like someone did start to do some body work on the tractor, seeing the primer paint. The photo below shows the stamped steel frame rail that distinguishes the "late styled" tractors from "early styled" and "unstyled" tractors that had cast steel frames.

That funky 3-point hitch on the back of the tractor (see below) is what I believe to be a Saginaw. John Deere (and most other tractor companies) couldn't manufacture an in-house 3-point hitch until Harry Ferguson's 3-point hitch patents expired in 1952. Harry invented the hitch and it was used exclusively on Ford tractors, and was such a successful system that when the patents expired, all tractor companies started putting 3-point hitches on purt-near everything.

From what I read on the net, Saginaw hitches were manufactured and sold by a guy who restored tractors near Saginaw, MI, and made these hitches on the side. They could have been bought for most old tractors that didn't have a 3-point, but the Saginaw hitches are no longer being produced.

This tractor came from the factory with a hydraulic rock shaft on the back and the Saginaw hitch connects to the rock shaft to provide the lifting action.

BN tractors had longer rear axle shafts so the rear wheels could be adjusted out further than a regular B. The BN also came with a slightly wider differential housing casting, and they say the best way to tell if your tractor was born a BN is to look at that casting number. The BN number is B2406R (seen on mine below), whereas a regular B number is B2405R.

It's not obvious in the below photo but someone in the distant past cut the axles shorter. I can somewhat understand, as 30+ years ago I owned another 1950 BN and its rear axles weren't cut off. It was very difficult to maneuver the tractor around tight spaces (like through my small shed door at the time) with those things poking out so far into space. Wouldn't it have been a trip if this tractor was the same one as the other 1950 BN I owned way back when, but it isn't.

My new tractor is fairly complete, still with its original lights and Wico X magneto. JD switched to distributor ignition as standard equipment shortly after this tractor was made. One thing missing on the tractor is the radiator shutters. That's a small bummer but not a show stopper. The pervasive problem with shutters was that if they were to sit for a period of time, they would rust up and not be able to be opened, so a lot of farmers just removed the rusted shutters so air could get to the radiator.

This tractor came standard with a six speed transmission. Low speed was around 1-1/2 mph and top speed was around 11.

Yep, even the light on the back is still there. Things like this are usually missing or broken.

Now the only question is, where is this tractor going to go once it arrives here? *sigh*

I threw the below collage of currently-owned tractors together tonight, going from upper left to lower right in order of when they were bought, most recent first. 1950 John Deere BN, 1951 Massey Harris Pony, 1941 Ford 9N, 1948 Farmall C "kit", 1941 John Deere LA, 1936 John Deere BO, 1949 Ferguson TO-20, 1965 International 140 Industrial, 1951 Baird Beaver, 1955 Ferguson TO-35. I'm not counting my Kubota, as it's more of a tool than a collectible...