ELCO FFA crew rebuilds antique tractor in record time for 110th PA Farm Show

It’s one thing to restore an old tractor, which was this year’s Pennsylvania Farm Show project for some ELCO FFA members, as part of their school’s contribution to the agricultural event.

It’s a completely different accomplishment altogether, however, when the assignment was finished in just one month – and win Best of Show honors to boot.

“Sept. 23 is when we started and it was done by the Myerstown Parade at the end of October,” said Reagan Grumbine, who led the project with four classmates, all sophomores at Eastern Lebanon High School. “There was a group of us – Simon Bird, Weston Hibshman, Carson Nye, and Boston Weiler. We really just bore down. It’s kind of just an optional thing that we did through FFA. Like in school, it’s not graded at all. We’re not gonna get an A-plus and our GPA isn’t gonna go up because of (completing) it.”

Grumbine said a reason to do the project was because he enjoys tractor restoration.

“I’ve always taken an interest in restoring old tractors. I had a Farmall Cub that I found, bought it extremely cheap, it didn’t run. I had the whole thing split into three sections, replaced a bunch of gaskets and we got it running,” he said. “Ever since I was little going to auctions and things with our family equipment (Evergreen Tractor) and auctions, and I always just took an interest in agriculture and playing with tractors.”

Grumbine learned he has a talent for rebuilding tractors and is considering a career as a mechanical technician.

“I thought that it would be something that I’d be good at doing. Then I found out I could do it through FFA. I mentioned it to a group of guys and we were like, ‘Yah, that would be a great experience to have and do. Learn all this mechanical knowledge,’” he said. “Knowing that a few of us, if not all of us … wanted to possibly do some sort of job in the mechanical field in the future. …. That’s when we started looking for one and it kind of just took off, the whole project took off from there.” 

At the direction of his grandfather Dennis Grumbine, who owns Evergreen Tractor in Lebanon, he purchased a 1955 John Deere Series 60 tractor at an auction for $2,500, which was one of the larger costs for a project that totaled just under $16,000.  

“So we did this restoration in not much time at all, considering what we did. So we began, we loaded the tractor up, and brought it home. Initially, we couldn’t even get it on the trailer. We realized it had major, major transmission issues,” he recalled. “It ran, but probably shouldn’t have been running ’cause later on, the compression was about half of what it should have been. It was bored 45 over and had factory pistons in it. So the compression was like 60 PSI, which should have been 115. So, really, it shouldn’t have actually run.”

The work crew put in quite a few hours of labor in a really short period of time.

“We have a little over 200 hours total, but that’s like all of us working together for 200 hours. That’s like, you know, if you and I are working on it at the same time, we’re only keeping track of the collective work, not each of us individually,” Grumbine said. 

The project led to the crew bonding as they worked on a tight deadline with a common goal on their collective minds. 

“I would say it’s definitely a pretty inspiring thing and something you would look forward to after you took a math test,” Grumbine said. “In the school day you’d be thinking about, ‘Oh, what are we gonna do on the tractor later?’ Looking forward to it ’cause a lot of times, other than in school where you see your friends, not many people get to do, other than like a sports team or other activities, a project like this where we get to be together.”

Beyond the camaraderie, Madison Balthaser, agriculture science teacher and FFA adviser at ELCO High School, said the FFA and projects of this nature help build skills no matter what profession the students pursue later in life.

“I feel like not all of them are ever going to work in ag,” Balthaser said. “Obviously, there’s not enough jobs for all of them to go to work in ag. They’re gonna have other passions but I think they still learn skills that they’ll be able to carry over to any other job they could ever have like whether that’s keeping records for their project books or learning hands-on skills or learning how to deal with different types of situations like affiliate will transfer to any job or any career they could ever have.”

Regardless of their future career endeavors, the tractor work crew will always have the memory of a moment in time when they made a piece of antique equipment like new.

“We spent many, like I said, late nights together. We were up even until and into the morning,” Grumbine said. “We got this thing done and we definitely had a lot of fun working together. It will be something that I always will remember and I’m sure the group will for the rest of our lives, too.”

The antique tractor is on display in Giant Expo Hall directly across from the Bell & Evans display near the food court at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex. The 110th edition of the PA Farm Show runs through Saturday, Jan. 17.