I have enjoyed very few things over the past couple years more than restoring old farm implements. One such implement was a 1949+ John Deere JBA Disk Harrow. Shortly after purchasing our property I was having a conversation with my Dad, and my Father-in-law about the view from the back half of the property. Being we didn’t have a decent walking path to get back there, I suggested we use the neighbors drive to get back there and sleuth around.

After a few minute walk down the drive to the back corner of the property, I promptly walked into waist high weeds to gain a better view of things from the backside of a grove of trees. I ran the right shin of my leg directly into a large chunk of metal. Once the swearing calmed down and I was able to regain my composure, the investigation began. We quickly figured out I had walked into an old antique disk harrow that had probably been there for quite some time due to the abundance of weeds that had camouflaged it’s existence. At the time I didn’t think much about the old disk other than the cut on my leg, but that was about to change. 

Goodbye Horse, Hello Deere

When Sarah and I purchased our property in 2017, we never dreamt we would use as much land as we are to grow crops. The original plan was to build a 30 foot by 30 foot little garden area in the location of the original horse barn. The reason we picked the horse barn area was the fact the ground was bare soil. We liked the prospect of not having to remove any grass as that can be a ton of work without the proper equipment.

Hello Ford Horses

In March of 2018 I came across and ad on Craigslist for an old Ford 8N Tractor. I ended up buying it for a really good price. Once I had the tractor, the prospect of being able to have a substantially larger garden immediately became possible. I found an old antique Ferguson double bottom plow on Craigslist a few weeks later, and picked that up for a decent price too. I had the beginnings of a decent arsenal to start the garden, but I needed to do more research. Turning the ground over seemed simple enough, but how on earth was I going to break it up and grade it out. I remember back to the day I literally ran into the old disk out back, and wondered about the condition. I still had one issue to contend with.

Who owned it?

The disk was technically on my land, but it seemed to be placed in a spot that would make way more sense if it belonged to my neighbor originally. I got in contact with my neighbor to inquire about the old equipment, and he confirmed that it was his and had not been used in many years. He said it was all mine if I’d like to come dig it out of the weeds. That proved to be way easier said than done.

I Own A Piece Of Junk

I must admit, I was really excited to get up there and check it out further. All sorts of questions needed answered that were monopolizing my thoughts. What are the conditions? Will it need some work done before it is able to be used? How old is it? Are parts available? How in the heck is it used, and maybe the most important bit of knowledge, what brand, model is it? These answers actually took a bit of time to sort out.

Buried Treasure

I hurried up to the location and started removing some of the weeds to get a better understanding of what I was looking at. It was way bigger than I could have imagined, and from my uneducated perspective it appeared to have all of the parts. One minor issue persists. The disks had sunk into the ground about four inches or so, and the ground had froze all around it. They were stuck.

Agricultural Archaeology

I’m far to embarrassed to admit how I managed to get the disks out. But in hind sight I could have cut the time down substantially by using a torch. Remembering back, I believe it took me a couple of days to finally get it rolling. I needed to be very cautious as I didn’t want to break any parts that I didn’t even know if I’d be able to replace. Once rolling I was able to get it back to the garage to start assessing the restoration that needed to be done.

The Break Down

I decided I would take the time and completely restore as much as I could back to its original condition. It seems much of this old equipment used 7/16 carriage bolts. This is not much of a common size anymore and it took a few days to track some down out of state. I also started on cleaning off any of the surface rust that it had from sitting in the outdoor environment for the past 70 years. Oh yeah, I figured out it was a John Deere JBA Disk Harrow from sometime in the 1950’s.

Rust Removal

Once the surface rust was knocked off and I was able to clean everything up, I was able to begin repainting to the original design. I found an old parts manual that was able to provide enough information as to the color scheme and lettering it originally had.

Putting It All Together

One of the most important things I learned from the total restoration was how the disk was originally designed to function. Stripping parts off and putting them back on I was able to figure out all of the fine tuning adjustments that would come in handy down the road. It was really a work of art from a design standpoint. Breaking apart the ground seems like such a simple objective. It was really neat to see all the engineering that had gone into the design and function of these old disks.

Seventy Years In The Making

Only a couple of minor repairs were needed to fix it up, perfect in the end. A little weld here and there. Loose disks needed tightening. A good amount of grease, and it was ready. I remember spending quite a bit of time just enjoying the restoration. It truly looked amazing after many years of hiding in the weeds, and now I had my very own “brand new” John Deere JBA Disk Harrow.