Farmer Turned Antique Tractors Into Monuments

Farmer Turned Antique Tractors Into Monuments TRACTORS Antiques 20-1-21 Loyal Johnson loves his old tractors so much he decided to turn them into eye-catching monuments. In the last two years, the Beloit, Wis., farmer has placed two antique tractors on steel poles high above his farmyard. The first was a 1936 Deere B that his grandfather, Conrad, originally farmed with. The second was a 1936 Farmall F12. "I'd been thinking of doing this for 10 or 15 years, but never had the time or re-sources," Johnson explains. "I did every-thing myself, from cleaning them up to re-painting them, except actually lifting them onto the poles. I had a friend with a crane do that. "Our place is kind of down in a valley so the tractors are visible for at least a half mile from the road above." Johnson got the two 12-ft., 6-in. steel poles for nothing and set them in 6 ft. deep footings filled with concrete. He bolted the poles into the concrete with 1 in. dia. bolts. To find their perfect balance points for mounting on the poles, Johnson raised them up on a hydraulic jack in his shop. He then made plates that bolt to the belly of each tractor. The tractors were then lifted into place with the crane. Each bolts in place with four bolts. The Deere is solid-mounted on a stationary pedestal. There's a wagon axle bearing at the top of the pole the Farmall mounts on so it turns in the breeze like a big weathervane. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Loyal Johnson, 10243 S. Cty. K, Beloit, Wis. 53511 (ph 608 879-2560).

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