953 or 963 Running Gear

[cjenk88]

A couple of days ago, my dad bought a John Deere wagon gear from a friend, that we plan to restore. We drug it out of the weeds and to the house. On the frame it has a 953 decal and opposite to that it has a 1956 four legged deer logo. It looks like the frame was repainted at one time, so this could be the wrong decal. Does anyone know how to distinguish a 953 from a 963? There are no leaf springs on this wagon, and the hub centers are plain looking, and appear to be a press in type. I quickly skimmed over it looking for a tag, but I can't find one. If there is a tag, where should it be located? Are there any definitive differences between a 953 and a 963, like frame structure or something of that nature?

Thanks,

Curtis

 

[buickanddeere]

Right rear axle or the brace, the tag is missing from my 953. Using the parts book I was able to narrow down the model year.
If the bearing caps are plain, without the stylized JD cast piece.It's a 1955 or later.
Never seen one with springs around here.

 

[spacechem]

Certainly there will be some difference between 953 and 963- why else would there be two models? This is taking me back some 15-20 years, but, if memory serves, 963 had spring bolsters and 953 did not. B&D's parts manual should have that answer.
Of course, if cjenk88 can find that plate, he will have his answer...

 

[tim s]

I agree there must be a difference between the two modles, but I have a 1-963 and 10-953's,,I can't see any diference in them, none of them have brakes or springs, some have the early hub caps, I have not pulled the hub on the 963 yet but I was wondering if it had heaveyer bearings since it looked the same on the outside,,I have just been chalking it up as one more thing that I don't understand...and sometimes this list seems long

 

[Anonymous-0]

I have both manuals for 953 and 963 farm wagons.
Looks like the 963 had springs and 953 did not

 

[tim s]

My 963 don't have springs and it don't appear to ever have had them on it, I think you could have got springs on 953's also,I know they had rocking bolsters and brake options on both...

 

[JD8020]

From my memory as a JD parts man 35 years ago. I think the only difference between a 953 and a 963 running gear. The 963 had a plate welded to the underside of the tongue to make a stronger tongue. Roger

 

[Anonymous-0]

You are right. I guess I don't see the differents
in the two.

 

[msb]

JD 8020 is coorect. The 963 tongue was inclosed on the bottom side. The 953 tongue was an open piece of channel iron.A quick way to tell thwem apart. Not sure, but think the 963 spindles were a bit larger as well.

 

[rmcky2]

The rear axel is different. The 963 rear axel has 4 oval welds, on the rectangular beam, each weld is about 3" or 4" in from the hub, front and rear of the rear axel.

RMC

 

[jd-tom]

I was at a farm sale a little over a month ago that had over 30 wagons (yes, 30!) on it. There were several that had JD gears under them so I took the opportunity to compare a 953 to a 963 (I had this same question myself). I verified the models by finding ones that still had a serial tag on them. The only visible difference I could see between the 2 was that the 963 had 2 half-moon pieces of heavy strap steel welded on top of both the front and rear axles. Each piece was welded about 12 inches in from the hub. I never looked under the tongue on the 963 to see if it was enclosed as stated in another post, so this may also be another clue. Someone correct me if I'm wrong!

 

[cjenk88]

I have another question regarding this wagon. On what remains of the old floor, there are 3 brackets across the back of the wagon that appear to be a hinge. It looks like it would take a 2" pipe. Does anybody know what type of set up this could have been used for, or maybe have some pictures if you have a wagon with this same arrangement?

 

[tim s]

It was probably set up to dump with a jack placed over the tongue, like an "A" frame, we had 3-953's set up like that to dump into a drag elevator, about the best thing offered back then.