I’m Up to my Axles in Antique Hay Wagon
Foreign Hey it's Brock here from Rock Hill Farms And today we are going to start the Process of rebuilding this antique John Deere hay wagon A lot of you may know I've also got a 1941 John Deere Model A That tractor runs and I putter around With a little bit here on the property But it does need some mechanical work Before it could really be used for Anything more productive than that But I've had this idea in my mind for Quite a while actually before I bought That tractor or bought this Hay Wagon I've wanted to Or I've liked the idea of collecting Period specific hay equipment and Actually using it to bail hay out here On my property And That would be obviously square bales and I could also run that on my compact Tractor so Just something that I've been thinking Of as a hobby and I also just besides Trying to use the equipment that part Doesn't really matter that much I'd Really like to preserve the history of It The same way a lot of guys will rebuild An older car and take it around to shows I think it would be a lot of fun to pull This behind the model A in a hayride or
Something like that so as far as what We're doing today I don't know the exact Year on this Hay Wagon but I'm gonna see If I can find that out before the end of The video I bought this off of a Facebook Marketplace listing I believe I Paid 300 or 350 dollars I have a video Where I went and picked it up and we Loaded it on onto my other trailer and Brought it back And Seems like a heck of a deal honestly and The floor is really solid in it the Axles turn pretty free I can you know Push this around there's no squealing Like there's bad bearings or anything so Considering that I think this is maybe From the 1950s or so It's in really good shape but It's got a lot of rust and The deck is loose it's got some Hardware Here that's bent or disconnected I don't Know what that was used for I really debated it I I like the patina On my tractor where you can tell it's Old and beat up and just use it that way And I really debated leaving this that Way but I've thought about it and Thought about it and I've made the Decision I'm going to restore this the Only thing I've done since purchasing it Is new tires So it had mismatched tires on it they
Weren't holding air some of them had the Tread peeling off and I said if I'm Going to use this at all first thing I Want to do is just make it safe so I Bought New tires that are you know high quality Tires I could use this as a serious Hay Wagon and those would last me a long Time especially since I plan to keep This probably in the Quonset hut out of The elements I'm also planning to use Any wood that goes on this I want to be Wood that I sawed myself on The Sawmill I guess the first thing I've got to do Is start taking this bed apart I kind of Hate to do it because it's fairly well Put together and it's still structurally Sound but I can't rebuild it with the Bed on it I'm going even if I completely Restore this I'm going to use it even if It's not as a hay wagon this will be a Carry-all Put firewood totes on it I'm building Something on the property put all my Tools on it and just pull them around Like this is going to be used as Something Before I just grab the grinder and start Cutting everything off the bolts or Right here actually have nuts on them That aren't that Rusty so I guess I'll Spin those off and see if I can just pop This
Bracket out Yeah those are just spinning I don't Think I'm going to be able to get a grip On that to hold it still so We'll just go to plan a and uh Start cutting the heads off these I Think there's gonna be about a thousand Bolts on here that have to be cut off Foreign [Music] Thank you There's a good chance that this won't be Redone the same way it was I'm going to Look at my intended use for it And compare that to what would have been Original on this model of haywagon But just for comparison's sake or Reference Take some measurements that was 18 Inches And obviously it's gonna be the width of The wagon But that is Eight feet wide go ahead and take these Brackets off I may reuse those brackets [Music] Foreign [Music] Looks like most of the wood on the top Is held together with Spike nails and I Can just pull it apart with pry bar but About every foot all the way along the Perimeter of this It's like we have carriage bolts
I don't think this is gonna work if I'm Gonna try it one more time Oh hey that one came right off so we Might not have to grind all these heads Which would be Really nice All right so we'll skip ahead I'm gonna Go all the way around the perimeter and Remove all these carriage bolts Well all those carriage bolts ended up Coming out pretty easily And then I think like I said earlier I Think all of this is just nailed Together I can just work my way down it Foreign That are really holding Foreign I mentioned this before and I grew up Watching my grandpa take these nails out Of wood Straighten them And reuse them Times have really changed huh Some of this wood is not that bad I might be able to use it for something Even if We'll just see how it goes maybe some of It I Playing down and use for something else Foreign Foreign This down and use it but more likely to Be valuable
Looking like Barn Lumber Maybe in some reclaimed or Farmhouse Type projects But I don't want to just burn all this Because it's not new anymore How do you think does that look like uh Usable for some rustic decor so the way This thing is made You've got a box that rides down the Center a lot of times it'll be just like Four by fours or six by sixes even Bigger than that maybe that are attached To this frame with carriage bolts But instead they've used just some two Buys and built kind of a box to give Those two by strength It's like a two by ten maybe two by Eight that's two by ten And The carriage bolts are missing that Connect this to this in a lot of places I could almost just lift it off I think It's just as easy to disassemble it in Place So we just have Spike Nails holding These boards here onto this Frame let's See if we can go through and pop them Off Foreign Foreign So I took all those off in a row so I Thought it might make like a cool time Lapse shot
But I'm not going to move on until I've Taken all the nails out of all those Boards and stacked them up Because if I just leave them there with The nails in them and say oh I'll take The nails out of those sometime probably Won't do it so I think I'm gonna go ahead Take a minute clear all those Nails then We'll get back to it All right Got all the nails out of this Stack Down To the last one Foreign So in some ways this is junk wood Because it's soft and some of them are Splitting and it's old And I'm kind of excited to have this Stack of wood right here That is weathered my dad used to have a Business making Barnwood picture frames He still makes a ton of rustic Decor and furniture and stuff so this Stuff's pretty cool From just lifting on this before I Thought it had some of the corners loose And some of them connected that's not The case now that everything's off of it It'll lift right off Foreign It might have been easier to take that Apart where it was But I was thinking it would be easier to Take it off
At some point I may wheel this outside And lay that down to work on it right Now I want to inspect and see what kind Of condition this frame's in because That's the good part of the important Part On an initial walk around And having you know looked it over Before I don't see anything on this that's Broken or damaged I I also don't see a Tag with information on the year of the Trailer I mean look a little better see If I can find that I'm really not seeing anything In terms of a plate that identifies What type of or what year of hay wagon This is But all of these supports seem to be Solid everything turns freely I do have questions about the steering Mechanism here Being right up against this wheel There seems to be an adjustment right Here there's some slotted holes So maybe that's something That I need to adjust Let's take a look We've still got grease zerks all over This That we can Grease But as I was mentioning this your tie Rod right here is almost touching this Tire and on this side we've got three
Inches of Gap in there These tires are ATF 12 ply Max load 6000 pounds so I shouldn't put More than 24 000 pounds On On this trailer so no more than two skid Loaders can go on here say these Implement Tires are definitely Up to the task And I think I spent more on the the Tires I think I spent maybe twice as Much on the tires as I did the trailer But I'm going to do some research on these Before the next video And see what I can learn see why this Side would be Closer that way I don't see anything That looks bent I think it may be a difference in the Wheels It is I think this wheel is on That's what it is I think these wheels just this wheel Right here needs flipped so that's no Problem at all So the next video Will be Sanding this all down Painting it taking the wheels off Checking the bearings painting the Wheels so a lot to accomplish in that Next video I don't know if that'll be Tomorrow or or two weeks from now but I
Am going to be on this project I'm Really glad what I've found as I look This over I think I really got my 300 out of The value in this trailer But if any of you guys have any Experience with these anti-k wagons or Refinishing any kind of uh antique farm Equipment and have advice on the best Way to sand this down The best way to paint it if there's Cheaper paint than what I get from John Deere should I spray it by the cans what Should I do So I'm gonna do some research find out Everything I can about these I Appreciate you taking time to watch the Video I'll put links on the screen to a Couple more of our videos And I'll see you next time
