John Deere H Shutters

[Lieu]

I just started restoring a 1940 John Deere H. When I took apart the radiator assembly, there was remnants of an old shutter curtain. Here are my questions:

1. Did the older models have the fabric curtains? If so, were they manually controlled or what was the purpose for the hole in the dash for the shutter control knob?

2. What year did they start using the steel shutter?

3. Can someone share with me some pictures of the fabric curtain assembly and how this goes back together?

Thank you.

 

[D-]

Sharp's has the curtains.
The hole in the dash had a plug soldered
in on curtain models.

 

[Lieu]

Thanks for the reply. I gather by your reply the curtain models you had to adjust them from off the tractor seat. Am I right on this?

Can someone send me pictures where these curtain rods attach please? The parts manual is vague on this.

Thank you.

 

[dan_41jdh]

Lieu, the fabric radiator curtain was always part of the base model "H" tractor. Mechanical shutters were always an extra-cost option, but
it became far more popular than the curtain in later years.

The Mechanical Shutter was not available from the factory for the first few months of production (which started essentially at the
beginning of the 1939 calendar year). I have a copy of a Deere letter dated April 1939 which introduced the availability of the new
Mechanical shutter. Like many of the options for the "H", Deere didn't push selling them, apparently because they wanted to keep the price
of the tractor as low as possible. Part of the letter states, "We do not urge the sale of this new radiator shutter, but have made it
available for the Model ?H? tractor to prevent the loss of ?H? tractor customers who may insist upon a manually controlled radiator
shutter.?

As D- mentioned in his response, the hole in the dash was there to accept a shutter control knob if that option was ordered. If it wasn't
ordered, the hole was plugged.

Sorry, don't have any pictures of the curtain assembly, but it's a pretty simple arrangement. It basically consisted of two curtain
rollers (one at the top and one at the bottom) which had thumb-screw ends that protruded out through the holes in the side of the left
grill, and the curtain itself simply wound up or down upon those rollers. You can download a pdf copy of the current parts catalog for the
model "H" from the jdparts.com website which shows a reasonable exploded parts diagram of the curtain and radiator assembly.

 

[Randy G]

These may help...if they load

 

[Lieu]

Randy, they do help. Thank you very much.

The plug that is soldered into the dash; any idea where you could pick one of these up or just make one?

Thank you.

 

[dan_41jdh]

Randy has shown some very nice pictures of the radiator curtain in assembly. The rods (called "curtain rollers" in the parts books) were
inserted through holes in the front of the radiator side frame castings.

 

[Randy G]

Happy to help!!


Try the ink below. If it works.

Call for best solutions. They are very helpful and work hard to solve your H issues.

RG

http://www.oldjd4u.com/
Untitled URL Link

 

[msteinblock]

When i restored my 39 I got the parts and put the curtain on. An interesting thing to show people and talk about. I dont recal seeing the hole or plug on the dash and i dont have it here to go look right now. I have too mant Hs, cant remeber one from another.

 

[dan_41jdh]

Matthew, this is what you should see....

 

[dan_41jdh]

And this happens to be a 1945 model that wasn't ordered with mechanical shutters..

 

[jdcollector]

I am sure it has the plug, just couldn't remember seeing it. I do know it only has two gauges and does not have the choke.