1957 John Deere Pulling Tractor 820 Diesel 800 Cubic Inch Approx. 200 HP
1957 JOHN DEERE PULLING TRACTOR 820 DIESEL 800 CUBIC INCH APPROX. MAKE SURE YOU READ AND UNDERSTAND MY SALE TERMS LISTED AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS DESCRIPTION… !! 1957 John deer 820 diesel with pony start. The pictures of the tractor in the grass are shots I took yesterday. Several of the other shots are from when I was building it. I figured it’s easier to see some of the goodies and modifications that were made by showing your the entrails of the thing. I have a bunch more pictures but 12 appears to be the limit for this page? If you want any pictures of any specific areas or parts, send me a message and I’ll send them to you. If several happen to ask for the same thing I’ll swap out a picture for any that might be “high demand” pictures… So where to begin in the description.. We’ll start at the beginning I suppose. I’m long winded so you might want to skip down to the list of details… Or grab a coffee before you read on. I’m not a farmer and really have no business owning a farm tractor, but I’m an engineer and I love machinery. My neighbor was a gentleman farmer that I’d help out when I was a kid, and I have farmer friends that I’d throw bails for etc. So I’ve been around these things a good bit. One day my neighbor was running his old A up the road and when he got on the steep hill and it started lugging down, the hairs on my arms stood up and I got a little rush. I had some extra cabbage at the time and decided maybe I’d like to try my hand at restoring a two-lunger to play around with. I got on the johnny-popper site and fell in love with the model R. So first one I got was a 52 R. I pulled it some but with the weight of it and the limited number of pullers in our local club, I was usually pulling against farm stockers that were out of my league. I discussed building the R with older guys that knew these better than me, and they all suggested that with no center bearing on those R’s, if I got too carried away I’d snap the crank. So I went shopping for an 820. Why the 820 and not the 830?? Because there’s a “dead sled” or “stone boat” style pull up the road from me called “The King of the Mountain” that takes place every year in the fall, and I decided that if I was going to go all out building one of these two cylinder diesels, it was going to be with the sole purpose of winning that pull. The pull only allowed 1957 and older tractors at the time so 820 it had to be. That pull is an unlimited weight pull, and was pretty much anything goes, with exception of appearance. The tractors that were winning were… To one degree or another, but you couldn’t slap a V-8 in them or anything like that. They need to appear stock-ish? So I snag up an ugly 820 with this dorky looking cab on it and banged up fenders and tore it down. I spent about 3 years or so working on it off and on, and pumped well over 30 grand into it by the end of the game. It became somewhat of an obsession. I honestly think I had the most fun with the discussions and figuring everything out that I wanted to do with it than pulling it when I was done. Don’t get me wrong… It was awesome to win my first attempt at the KOTM pull, and it’s certainly a rush when the beast is barking and seems to be unstoppable, but the fun that was had B. Ing about the progress with my buddies was a long fun adventure. Most thought I was pretty stupid or crazy I suppose, but my friends always wanted an update when we’d get together after work. So I won my first go at the big pull and again two years later. The year in between I lost… It poured and the track was a thick layer of creamy muck and my fatties couldn’t get down in there for any bite. Hindsight I should’ve probably tried pulling in third to maybe sling some of that crap off and inch my way along? The weight on the sled was minimal so didn’t need much power… A little tractor with skinny’s on it pulled about three feet for the win… ! After my second win, the folks in charge of the pull made some rule changes that didn’t sit particularly well with me so I haven’t bothered going back since. Had my fun and was busy with new projects at work. Add to that the weights were getting too much for me to deal with. From the ground up. Those are 32 combine tires on the back. I bought two new sets of rims and cut the centers out of the plate style 32’s so I could insert the rims for the small hubs I had. Was out there with plumb bobs and straight edges etc. Figuring fender clearance etc. Hindsight I could’ve sucked them in about an inch or so more, but I wanted to play it safe because once welded up that was it. The tires I got from a nice guy up in Wilkes-Barre, PA. They were already cut and heavier than he wanted for his serious pulling tractors, but I was after weight so they suited me just fine. I bought an electric planer and sharpened them up some, and added tubes, so I could fill them with water. Each tire will take a little shy of four drums. Each year I pulled I’d fill them, then after the pull I’d drain them, by getting the stem lined up at the bottom then pulling the stems and let it blow. Once they stopped blowing and were pretty much flattened I’d take a little hose and syphon out the last of the water so I wouldn’t get ice wedges in there over winter. There are four weights inboard of the wheels on each side. And pretty sure there are four on the outsides too. Maybe 5, so let’s call it four? So with double rims… Each wheel probably weighs roughly a ton. Add water and looking at roughly 3,600 per wheel of weight sitting on the ground. Since the dead sled pulls are slow motion, any loss of hp is next to nothing, especially when you figure the tire can just swim around the water. It was a way to weigh it up without putting a big load on the tractor itself. The rear draw bar is a long story, but I’ll try to make it quick. Was told that the end of the axle housing was the weak link on these so I encapsulated it with steel that is a tight fit to the machined top and bottom of the housing, and that all ties to a bar across the belly and a big wonker of a bar and plate across the back. I was after weight so thicker was better. Spent a lot of evenings here after work milling and drilling, on an old school milling machine. There are some unused tapped holes in the plates that I put there for an idea for adding more weight, but I found it wasn’t necessary. Loaded up it was about 19,000 I believe… ? Maybe it was 16,000… ? Last time I weighed it loaded up was 2013. I do have the original draw bar arrangement that will go with this if you want it. The front rubber is a pair of urethane filled skid steer tires, mounted via adapters I made, and had a shop make me up a set of shouldered lug nuts. The bolt patters were the same just needed to fill the bigger holes in the skid rims. I also added the removable tubes you see on it. Those hold Six 150 lb. Wheel weights each side. I made up two piece lock collars that fit in a wide groove machined in the ends of the tubes to keep them on. The whole weight rig adds about 1,000 per side up front. At that KOTM pull you used to be able to put your hook up as high as you dared… (not any more though) and with the high hook for down pull I was a scaredy-cat about it coming up too high for my liking. That was my first practice pull to see if what I’d made would work. Pulled it fine and the fronts never touched the ground until I backed off and let it down. Are those front weights necessary? Probably not since the chain acts sort of like a stop anyway, but it made me feel safer.. The front pan is from an industrial tractor. Got that stuff from a guy out in Minnesota I believe it was… Also snagged a bunch of weights from him. This tractor is not an industrial… I wouldn’t have done what I did to this to such a rare tractor, but this was available so on it went. Much sturdier than the regular pans. It’s been too long for me to recall what this thing weighs as it sits, but I’m pretty sure it’s about 12,000 +/- as it sits. It could be lightened up considerably by removing all the steel, big meats, etc. If you wanted to pull this transfer style. I’ve pulled it a few times transfer but never tried it in first gear. I’ve tried 2nd and 3rd and it can’t keep up with the turbo diesels I pulled against. It did very well but once the teeth under the front of the pan dropped that was all she wrote. It’d run out of snot. Always wondered if it’s grip would allow it to chug it out in 1st, but the crowd would fall asleep by the time I would’ve got half way up the track. This has the creeper gears in it, and they’re very high torque and slow as molasses. I’m pretty sure I still have the regular first gears but don’t etch that in stone. If I do indeed have them they’ll go with this too. Stock is about 470 ci with 6.125 pistons and 8 stroke. Now same stroke with 8 holes… 830 head with old intake valves now serving as exhaust valves and big whopping 3-1/16 diameter intake valves. Aluminum stepped down pistons. Don’t recall the exact bore but you can just about stick your head in the holes… !! Block has been pulled and re-bored after seasoned, and put new wrist-pins, and rings at that time. Polished crank and new bearings from a place in Wisconsin… Manitowac or something like that. Have the old bearings and their literature. Had them make me custom center bearings for the crank. The only factory ones that are out there now are for 700 series and they are narrower and would sit offset in the casting and cap which would’ve further reduced the area of full wrap on the center main crank journal. The installed center cap from factory twanged or warped to an out of round hole. A common occurrence I’ve been told. After heat cycles they had a tendency to move like that. Once “seasoned” they could become out of round. Oo adjustable shell reamer with a long straight shank and slowly reamed the bore, about a half a thousandth at a time, for circularity. The long shank ensured alignment to the outer mains. I sized the new aluminum center bearings for about. 0015 interference fit in cast, with about. Clearance at the bore. Same clearance as book calls for the outer mains. I pinged the bearings at the notches so they wouldn’t slip or rotate, then took a bearing knife and scraped them in. Rebuilt transfer pump, modified injection pumps, new fancy injector tips with I think about twelve holes in them but they’re so small you can’t see the things without a good loupe. Makes about 100 psi oil pressure at start up then backs down to about 60 after warmed up… Put a better oil pressure gauge on it to know the actual numbers. It is bolted to the side of the pony distributor. The other big gauge was a mistake that I didn’t bother pulling off… Removed, flattened and reinstalled the oil filter thingy inside of the belly. This is fuzzy in my memory banks but I did what I was advised to do by an expert. They said I needed to do that to prevent blowing the seal out at the elevated oil pressure. Had to put a breather at the oil fill cap to deal with the extra displacement. The pony motor vent wasn’t enough by itself. Removed the screen from the original oil bath filter and put the dust bowl on top to catch bugs. This isn’t a farming tractor, and definitely not suitable for that by the way… Not by any stretch of the imagination. It’s an old guys toy. This thing sat under a tarp for about 7 years. When I decided it was time to see if it can find a new home, and get back out to have some fun, I had to pull the pony carburetor and tank and clean them up. The points grew fuzz as well. The thing still didn’t want to fire up and my buddy was there and discovered that I’d forgotten to fill the pony tank after re-installing it. So the pony runs good, but does smoke some. It’s not 100% but enough to get this thing lit. Ideal thing would be to convert to electric, but I like the pony start. Fun to watch unknowing observers watch the start up… They grin a little when the pony lights up and screams, and then they get a curious look when the main motor starts wiggling the tractor a bit and that suck sound starts out the stack…. Then flop that decompression lever and they usually pull back a little then really grin. I still do every time I light it up. So now let’d do what I like to call call The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.. Runs very strong and is a major contender in ANY dead sled pull. I WAS TOLD BY THE FELLOW WHO SUPPLIED THE BLOCK AND PISTONS THAT THIS SET-UP WOULD MAKE APPROXIMATELY 200 hp. I CAN NOT VERIFY THIS… I’ve only pulled it once since re-dusting the bores and replacing pins and bearings, and beyond that it’s just run to load and unload and move it up into my yard. That is to say the engine is fresh.. I replaced all the clutch guts. Plates toggles, dog-bones, studs, the works. It is currently set very tight. Probably tighter than it really needs to be. It has it’s original tag on it, but I don’t have the number on it here at work where I’m typing this stuff in. If anyone wants to know it’s serial number I can add it when I check it. Have all the books to go with this as well as most all receipts for everything I dumped into it. Have a bunch of extra stuff that’ll go with it. Some new gaskets and stuff. There could be some R stuff mixed in there but some of the R stuff swaps. Part numbers will tell you the tale. Power steering works by the way. Has to if you use the front weights… ! I’d replaced the complete wiring harness when it was tore down. Nice stainless stacks.. There has never been any welding or brazing done on any of the cast components. That is a question I ALWAYS ask when considering these old things… I increased the rpm to a level that I felt was safe, according to flywheel bursting formulas found in Machinery’s Handbook. It produces good power up there with it’s new lungs etc. I don’t recall right off, but thinking I bumped the max up to 1,300 rpm. Factory is about 1,125 rpm. You might want to tone it back a bit. Pony motor isn’t top shelf. I have two, possibly three others that I bought that may or may not be any good. They said they were but who knows. They aren’t complete or all there either from what I recall. Like maybe no carb or distributor on one or the other and maybe no transmission on one or the other… I don’t recall. Those are in room here at our shop and been sitting there for years. I’ll throw those in too. I’d bought them with an idea to build a little mini modified with multiple little pony motors. Thought it’d be neat to put three or four of those little screamers on an old round fender Deere garden tractor that I would’ve stretched etc. But I don’t have time for that anymore. The generator doesn’t work. Never figured that one out.. Think the rear light doesn’t work now either? Not sure but figure that it doesn’t work. The fender lights did work but let’s say they don;t work either and if they do then that’s a win for you. The diesel fuel tank gauge is wired wrong, and I didn’t bother pulling the panel to try to figure that out. Instead of reading fuel level when the button is pushed, it reads without being pushed and shuts off when pushed. You have to pull off the battery cable when you’re done playing with it or the gauge will drain the battery. It still has hydraulics and pto but you can’t use them with the rig I put on the back. Once the tractor is warmed up, you can’t pull the throttle back real fast after being run full throttle under load. The governor doesn’t react fast enough so If you have it run up full throttle and yank it back it seems to flood the cylinders and then won’t roll over well enough to start until the bores drain. At least that’s my theory… Just don’t yank it back like bam… Instead of a half second yank go a two second pull, and it’s fine. You can slap it up… Just not back like that. The paint job is getting old so it’s chalking out a little. I did use Deere paint and added hardener so it’d probably buff up pretty nice if you want to make it prettier. I had put a new grill screen in it and it’s nice and straight, but it’s starting to rust. There are bolt heads and such that are rusting a little. The seat cushions are needing a scrubbing, and there are spider webs here and there. The hood and cowl don’t line up exactly right? Not sure how to jockey that around cause it’s been a long time since messing with the sheet metal. Thinking there are washer / shims that adjust the tip of the cowl for alignment to the hood? And it needs a general scrubbing.. There are patches welded on the fenders where there were holes for the cab that was on it. I didn’t fuss much on the tire side of the fenders because I figured the tires would hide it. It wasn’t some of my finest work there… Tire side you can see the little patch plates. I know I can’t expect to get what I have in this thing from this sale, but I’m not giving things away, and don’t need to sell. I knew when I built this that I’d take a beating when I decided to part with it. Just figured that’s worth mentioning. It was a labor of love and I had my fun with it.. Don’t bother asking me what the reserve is. There are always a few that will, and I’m sure there will still be even though I put this in here. Can’t say that I’d blame anyone for not reading this whole novel… If this tractor interests you, you might also find interest in another that I’m listing today too. It’s a Deere 1959 or 1960 435 turbo diesel, that I sort of bought by accident. I always liked them and wanted one so when a guy had one listed a couple years ago or so I made him a reasonable offer, and he took it. It’s been in storage ever since and I haven’t had time to do anything with it. I had it stored where I work and needed to get it out of there to make more room for work stuff… I don’t have time to mess with it so figured I stick it on here and see what happens. Once I’m paid and it leaves my property that’s it… Not taking it back if you take it and break it… Deposit can be paid via Pay-Pal, but I’d rather the balance be paid by cash or check etc. THIS MUST BE PAID FOR IN FULL BEFORE IT LEAVES MY PROPERTY. IF PAYING BY ANYTHING OTHER THAN CASH… THE CHECK WILL HAVE TO CLEAR BEFORE YOU CAN HAUL THIS AWAY. That means the check will need to be sent to me well in advance of picking this up. Had somebody try to rip me off once that way. Must be paid in full within two weeks. Oo deposit required within forty eight 48 hrs. THE DEPOSIT IS NON-REFUNDABLE… !!! My back can’t take much anymore. SPARE PARTS ARE WHAT THEY ARE AND NO MORE THAN WHAT I MENTIONED ABOVE. You will get the tractor and the weights that are currently bolted on it. All the books I have for it go with it. You can also have the extra hub, and some other miscellaneous parts and pieces. If the winner wants… They can have the extra pony motor stuff I have but again… I’m not sure exactly what that amounts to. Bird in hand is worth two in the bush.. I appreciate your interest and feel free to ask any questions you might have, and I’ll try to respond quickly. Here’s a link to a you tube video somebody post 7 years ago at the King of the Mountain pull. The sled was only about 19,000… Wasn’t working the thing much at all. I have another video of a pull with an estimated 28,000 lb. Dead sled but I don’t know how to get it on here. Tried to do you tube but would have to create an account and I don’t want to do that. The item “1957 JOHN DEERE PULLING TRACTOR 820 DIESEL 800 CUBIC INCH APPROX. 200 HP” is in sale since Wednesday, September 30, 2020. This item is in the category “Business & Industrial\Heavy Equipment, Parts & Attachments\Heavy Equipment\Tractors”. The seller is “rwolfejr” and is located in Rochester, Pennsylvania. This item can’t be shipped, the buyer must pick up the item.
- Model Year: 1957
- Make: John Deere
- Equipment Type: Farm Tractor
- Fuel Type: Diesel
- Engine Cylinders: 2
- Model: JOHN DEERE 820
- Engine HP: 200
- Transmission: Manual
- Drive: 2WD
- Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
