Pedaling Around Pennsylvania

Custom John Deere Pedals

By Michael G. Henry

Ty Walker of Ithaca, MI showed his custom pedal tractors to collectors at the 18^th Western New York Toy Show in Geneseo, NY earlier this month. Ty had a long drive to reach Geneseo and WNY collectors enjoyed seeing his pedals.

Ty follows the John Deere brand in pedal collecting. He first started out restoring pedals. His first project was restoring a John Deere L. After completing the restoration Ty looked for other projects ad decided to try modifying a pedal. He made a John Deere 60 high crop. Ty likes 4wds and he wanted a John Deere pedal 4wd. He took a 4020 casting and cut in half to create an articulated 4020 pedal. Of course a 4020 is not a 4wd so this project was followed by two more articulated pedals. Ty made a 7020 on singles and a 7520 with duals. Still something was missing for TY on the 4wds. With many hours of labor Ty modified another pedal into a 4wd. This time he added a cab. The cab fits around the pedal seat and a small driver can fit right in. Ty’s latest 4wd is an impressive pedal model.

Ty’s biggest project has been scratch building a John Deere L. He was not happy with the detail on the L he restored. He actually crafted and the cast an L in a small foundry. At the Geneseo Show Ty had a green and a yellow industrial L on display. Detail levels are high on Ty’s L. The grill is created to look like the real thing and there is even a radiator fan in place behind the cowling.

Another project Ty has done is a 3pt hitch plow for pedal tractors. Ty had two 4020's on hand with raisable 3pt hitches. These hitches could handle a scratch made 3 bottom plow.

Ty is certainly making the pedal hobby more interesting with his ideas and talents. I am sure pedal fans look forward to his next pedal innovation.

TTT December 2003 Page 6

Back to the index