Yellow John Deere BO

[Jon Eifert]

Hi Everyone
I just bought a 1938 John Deere BO and am finding a lot of yellow paint underneath of the green paint. Can anyone tell me if they ever painted a John Deere BO yellow from the factory?

 

[RobMD]

Sure it's a BO? Run the serial number per way of two cylinder club archives. You might have a BI.

Yellow paint under the green sometimes indicates primer, since that's what color primer was.

 

[Jon Eifert]

The thought of it being a BI crossed my mind but it doesn't have the right frame, it has coves on the hood and it has differential brakes so I didn't think it was unless it was converted at some point in it's life. As far as primer, I could be wrong, but I didn't think that Deere primed tractors back in the 30's. The green seems like it was brushed on and I can only find the yellow in spots where someone couldn't get to very easily like under the coves, under the hood and underneath the tractor.

 

[RobMD]

If you're sure it's not a BI, then it's anyone's guess as to whether or not the yellow was original to it or not. John Deere could paint a tractor any way a customer wanted it - if a commercial orchard/grove outfit required it to be painted yellow, then it would be granted.

I'm not entirely sure when primer was used.

As to proving its originality? Shot in the dark.

Maybe the archives will show something like a special paint code.

...kinda unlikely.

 

[[email protected]]

Deere used yellow as the primer coat. I repainted an H with the same question.

 

[Jake Winn]

The other thing it could be is that sometimes before tractors were repainted, they were washed with a steam cleaner and a cleaner that could discolor the green paint.

 

[WeirdDeere]

A yellow BO seems unlikely, especially when the BI was still being produced at the time....but you can NEVER say never. I don't think there were any records of any yellow BOs....but the records weren't that detailed.

From your brief description, it may have indeed been painted yellow. You definitely want to pay attention to the hidden areas and sheet metal, like the hood. In later years, some cast parts could have been primed in yellow, but sheet metal was not. I'm not sure when priming the cast parts started.

You could have the serial number looked up, there MAY be information on being custom painted, though it's unlikely.

Your best bet is to DOCUMENT everything with pictures. Check out and photograph every area of the tractor and see if you can indeed find yellow everywhere.

A picture of a 1946 AR and #5 mower that were painted yellow.
<a href="http://s108.photobucket.com/albums/n8/weirddeere/OhioExpo2008/?action=view&amp;current=100_4615.jpg" target="_blank">

</a>

 

[Mark-Ia]

I have 12 unstyled tractors. Not a single one has yellow primer on them.

 

[Jon Eifert]

Hey Guys
I"m going to see if I can snap a couple of pictures of what is easily viewable to yellow paint tonight so you can let me know what you think.

 

[mrf1002u]

Post the serial # and I'll see what I can find. If not, I understand.

 

[Jon Eifert]

Here is a picture of the tractor and a few pictures of different spots of yellow on there. I looked closer at the green and you can see brush strokes in that as well.

 

[Jon Eifert]

The serial # is 328204.

 

[mrf1002u]

My apologies,

My book only covers the B not the BO.

 

[Tx Jim]

Your BO looks very similar to my '45 BO that I sanded and painted back in 1969. I think yours is similar to mine originally painted green.

 

[Mike M]

Gas splatter may of came out that intake and antifreeze around the rad. drain plug. Deere paint breaks down to the base yellow and blue when exposed to these things.

Just an observation.

Have 2 cyl run the number and look for something special.