John Deere 320 Restoration

Photo Diary of the 320's Restoration

This is what the 320 looked like the day I brought her home in April of 1996

June/July 1997

In June of 1997, I finally began to tear the tractor down to begin the restoration

This picture shows the engine mostly torn down and
almost ready to send off to have the block bored
(to .090 over) and the crank turned.

Here is the tractor with the engine and front-end gone
and the front 2/3 of the tractor stripped for cleaning
and painting of individual parts.

I seem to be more proud of the following two pictures than my wife.
They show my daughter Hannah (a little over 1-1/2 yrs old at the time) helping me work on the tractor

As you can see, she's not afraid to get greasy.

August/September 1997

The front-end parts primed then painted

Many individual pieces primed then painted

Sheet metal finished. The work was done by a local
prison trade school body shop

Engine machined and partially reassembled

Here is the partially reassembled block - bored to
.090 over with new pistons and turned crank.

October/November/December 1997

After an extended break through October and part of November, I got back on track in mid-November

After getting the drawbar hitch frame removed and the final drives and axles off, I got the centerframe and block cleaned up and primed

And shortly after that, I got the centerframe and block painted

January/February/March 1998

Over the winter months, I was able to reassemble much of the front half of the tractor and rebuild the rear end and final drives

April/May 1998

During April I was able to mount the final drive assemblies, paint and mount all four hubs and the front wheels, and do all the wiring. On Sunday May 3, I started her up for the first time since tearing the engine down in June last year.

My proud helper

Summer/Fall 1998

Despite the major differences in the pictures above and below, with getting the house ready to sell and then moving, I haven't had a lot time to do much with the tractor. I was able to get it where it can be driven, but it's still not quite finished to the point of being usable.

Spring 2000

It's been a while since I was able to do any work on the tractor due to the work on the house and other real world things. But I was asked to bring it to a small local tractor show with 2 weeks notice, so I decided to try and get some more done. The decals, seat and grill screens are now on. There is still a problem with the hydraulics that I need to fix (the reason the 3-point arms aren't on), as well as cleaning, painting and mounting the weights and a few minor touch-ups before calling it done.

See the John Deere 320 Information page

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