The Lindeman J. Deere Crawler

(Page 2 of 2)

August/September 1985
Gene Brady 
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During the World War II years, a J. D. 'BO' tractor production line was retained intact as a special concession to supply farm tractor needs vital to fruit and food production. When the Lindeman plant required more 'BO' units, a War Production Board approval would be obtained for allocation of critical war material and the John Deere production line would come to life for a short time. The 'BO' chassis, costing about $500 each, were shipped by rail from the Midwest to Yakima. The retail price of the Lindeman-J. D. crawler was about $1450 through the J. D. sales system.

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Many tractor collectors are aware that the Lindeman foundry/factory modified 27 GP tractors, many of which are still around the Northwest in restored condition. Even more interesting, however, is that three J. D. 'D' model tractors were also equipped with the Lindeman tracked system. Mr. Lindeman remembers that these machines were demonstrated on a cold, blustery winter day in the Yakima Valley. Maybe the weather was a portend of things to come; the 'D' production line was soon to be permanently shut down. These three model 'D' crawlers were reportedly shipped to the Dubuque plant when the entire John Deere operation in Yakima was closed.

Another specialized Lindeman-J. D. crawler project involved 10 units equipped with small rubber-padded tracks. The metal plates were manufactured at the Yakima plant and then sent to Portland, Oregon for bonding a Chevron (' V ') cleat. These rubber-tracked units were to fill a need for a small tracked machine to lower into a ship's hold for moving bulky cargo and grain. Mr. Bob Lindeman, a nephew of Jesse Lindeman who also currently resides in Yakima, has a set of these tracks to be used in the family restoration project involving-what else-four Lindeman-J. D. crawlers!

A color booklet Lindeman Power Equipment Company: A Review and a Prospectus, printed about 1947/1948 was made available to me by Mr. Barney Youngs of Port Townsend, Washington, a former Lindeman engineer. This 32-page publication tells the story of the Company from 1923 onward as it designed and produced specialized machinery in addition to the well known J. D. crawler. Some of these products are: mobile sprayers, extension disc harrows, land rollers, hydraulic tool bars, beet loaders, potato harvesters, 2-way plow for the Ford-Ferguson tractor and the manufacture only of the THYS Hop picker; these represent only a portion of this Company's illustrious product line-up.

To meet and chat with an inventive genius such as Jesse G. Lindeman was an added bonus to our always pleasant visit to the Yakima Valley.

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