Old Tractor's "Roots" Lead To Restoration

Old Tractor's "Roots" Lead To Restoration AG WORLD 27-5-22 In 1947, Sam Root and his son Sam Jr. decided they needed a tractor to mow hay on their small farm near Pleasant Hill, Missouri, so they bought a used 1939 John Deere H. "I can't remember for sure, but I think we paid $800 for it and a No. 5 mowing machine," Root says. "It had rubber tires, but no hydraulics or electric starter. It had to be hand cranked and it was always difficult to start." Despite its faults, the old H was the only tractor Sam Jr. had for nearly two decades. He and his son Sam III continued to use the H for raking hay and hauling logs until 1979 or 1980. Then, an untimely freeze and a radiator full of water teamed up against the old H, cracked the head, and forced it out of use. "A couple of years later, I asked my son to take it apart to see if it could be fixed," the elder Root says. "He decided it couldn't, and never put it back together." Now fast forward to 2002. Sam Root III's son Sam IV needed a project for his mechanics class in high school. He mentioned the old tractor to John Ferguson, the vo-ag instructor and FFA advisor, who said to bring it in. "The tractor had never been reassembled, so they carried it in pieces, most of them in baskets," Ferguson says. Sam Jr. says the local Deere dealer was able to locate many new parts for the restoration, and Sam III located an antique tractor parts dealer near St. Joseph, Missouri, who had most of the rest. When the school year ended and Sam IV graduated, progress had been made, but the H was still a basket case. While Sam IV joined his father and grandfather on the farm, a friend, Brent Barker, who was a year younger, took over the tractor restoration project, and several other students in the mechanics class pitched in, too. By the end of the 2002-2003 school year, the tractor was finished. Ferguson has entered it in the Johnson County Fair and the Missouri State Fair FFA tractor restoration competitions where it'll go up against other similar projects. Sam Root III says they're all glad to have the old tractor back together and running. They now consider it a family heirloom, having been used by four generations of Sam Roots. "We'll continue taking it to tractor shows and fairs," he says. "So it'll get used, even if we don't put it back to work on the farm." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Sam Root III, 40001 East 171st St., Pleasant Hill, Mo. 64080 (ph 816 865-3321).

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