My old John Deere 730.

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MercuryMac

Builder Junky!
Joined
Jan 18, 2013
Messages
4,919
Location
Northern Alberta, Canada.
Remember how I like to brag that these two workaholic friends that I have will sometimes call me up and see if I'm planning a tractor project. I always say yes, and then try and make a plan. Well, I went to their shop on Friday, with a plan, and to catch up on the gossip and I was again invited to bring a project, [there was a rider this time]. They were going to be bored by Monday so I had to be there with a tractor, but this time they dictated what tractor I was to bring in. My 730 John Deere. This was not my plan but the 730 was on the 'future' list, so, what the hey. The tractor was crammed in my machine shed and it was still cold out. [You'll see in picture four, the 730 way back in the corner.] Well, I dragged quite a few items out of that shed and then weaseled the 730 out. Everything was so cold it would not start. I bladed off a big area so I could turn the truck and trailer around and got it lined up with the tractor. then I hooked my gin pole up between the big JD and the little one and pushed it up the ramps onto the trailer. The two hotrod trucks that I skidded out of the shed are still outside and will stay outside until they will start.
The first three pictures are from the late '70's or 1980. This was my only farm tractor for about seven years.
 

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Yes, Snopro, it's good to have good friends. The owner of the farm shop hauled logs for us in the late '70's and has remained friends ever since. The bad part of this relationship, [shop workaholics to preferred client] is that I have to work like mad to keep ahead of them getting projects to them and parts gathered up.
Bama, the plan is to remove the cab because it is not original and replace the fenders and original floor. They also will have to fix the starter of the put-motor as it doesn't turn any more, change one diesel injector in the big motor, and replace the PTO clutch.
Today I took the tractor to the north west side of town and pushed it into their shop. I started planning the fenders, [no easy task]. You see, I had removed the fenders in the '70's when I installed the cab and they got lost over the years. A few years ago, my brother found them with his backhoe under the dirt and junk in his dump. I have been collecting some bits and pieces of fenders and so I have to 'plan' my fenders. [pic 1] is the tractor in the shop near town. Pic two is the original fender eeuck. pic three is a pretty nice partial fender, and pic four is a fixed up fender from a different model of JD that will be made to work.
The fifth picture is one I just found of me plowing snow in October of about 2002.
 

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I got a phone call at about lunch time, telling me that the cab was off. Now they are going to take the starter off the little motor and get it running right.
I dragged a few more yuccy fenders into the shop and kept straightening, cutting and measuring tin, but took no pictures.
A guy from British Columbia returned my call today and he said he was wrecking a 730 and I could get some stuff off of it, so I'll probably go over there on Thursday with wrenches.
 
Well the cab is off. [pic one.] The pony motor starter is out. [pic two, the starter should be just above the trouble light].
On Thursday one of the guys, Jack, and I went almost to Fort St. John, British Columbia and took quite a few parts off a parts tractor. There's a picture of our harvest in the back of my truck.

Now today I went back in to their shop and the starter has been rebuilt and put back in. The pony motor then started up. That was nice. The diesel motor injectors were removed and given to our resident JD guru and he thinks he has the parts to fix the weak one. The other injector tested fine.
Some cracks were welded up in the tin parts that we brought home the other day.
 

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OI, I put those tires on there in '79. They've stood up well, but I think it has always been shedded. I had traded the tractor in on a bigger newer one in '83 and lost track of it for many years. I happened to see it many years later, out baling a hay field when I was hauling gravel on the east side of town. Then many years after that I put the word out that I was looking for a 730 JD because I'd had one before. Lo and behold, the very first one I went to look at, in a new guy's yard, was my old tractor. I bought it back, right there.
Coup, yes that's me, -------- what handsome guy?
 
Yesterday I roared around town collecting things for the tractor. I even went to the John Deere dealership and got some stuff. When I got home I went on line and ordered a bunch of other things, so they are coming in soon. My friend who likes fiddling with injectors, traded me a good one for my bad one, and delivered them back to the shop.
Today, I got a text about three o'clock with a movie of my 730 running. So that means that the pony motor runs nicely and has the power to start the big motor. Cool.
Meanwhile, I stayed home and worked on the fenders that I'm making. My son-in-law, Rodney was at an auction a while ago and some mystery fenders in reasonable shape were being sold. There were no takers, so Rodney almost stole them. I'm using one of these fenders, but it has a different mounting system. I cut the mounting bracket off and then cut another butchered fender bracket off and I'm going to weld the good bracket to the good fender, [after sliding it closer by an inch and a half; last picture].
 

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Both, OI. It's been doing light work for 35 of the last 45 years and then it has languished in a shed for 8 or ten. I knew about a few little things that needed fixing so they fixed them. The big time consuming thing was, most people didn't like the cab on the tractor because it wasn't original. So when we took the cab off, we had to find all of the pieces that I threw off to the side or modified too much. Also, the cab floor and back hid some of my earlier engineering and that has to be 'cleaned up'.
And those guys work like mad. Luckily for me one guy brought in a wrecked plow that he paid a way too much for and the guys work on it sometimes so it gives me time to get some more parts in.
 
I've gained a little on my fender project. By the time I welded one side of my bracket on I had run out of CO2 so that was the end. [pic one].
There is a little 'bump style', headlight mounting 'pedestal' in the original fenders that has to be moved over to the new mystery one. So I cut the welds on the back side of the 'bump'. [pic's 2&3].
 

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The fender mount is welded on, inside and out, now. I cut a hole in the upper fender to accept that 'bump' light pedestal and it's welded in. So I only have to run a wire up through a hidden fender brace and that fender will be done.
The boys at the other shop have rebuilt the generator, ignition / light switch, the PTO clutch pack, the air cleaner system and the power steering.
 

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