History

March 12, 1947, the first model M rolled off the assembly line at the new John Deere Dubuque Works Plant. The model M was very competitive in the market and popularity quickly grew. John Deere experienced success with the model L Industrial or “LI” and wanted to continue serving the industrial market with the model M. In 1947, approximately 75 (50 yellow and 25 orange) industrial M’s were produced. The only difference between a regular M and an industrial M was the paint color, everything else was identical. Deere quickly received feedback that buyers liked the idea of an industrial M; But they wanted the tractor to be lower, wider, and have a sharper turning radius than what the M’s could provide. In 1948 Deere started working on the prototype for the M Industrial or “MI” tractor. To convert the model M into an MI they did the following alterations:

Rotated the final drive on the rear axle forward 90 degrees.

The rotated final drive and shortened front axle uprights resulted in lowering the tractor approximately 8 inches. By moving the axle farther forward, this also reduced the turning radius by 6 inches, The M has an 8’6” turning radius and the MI has an 8’ turning radius. By getting the tractor that much closer to the ground they were not concerned with addressing the width request because M “wavy” rims have 4 width settings already (38”, 42”, 48”, 52”). However, Deere did recommend that MI’s used for mowing use the 52” setting for stability. Deere created and tested multiple MI prototypes in 1948 and 1949, they put the model into production starting late 1949 as a 1950 model year. The first MI rolled off the line on 11/02/1949 and was painted highway orange. They produced 1,032 MI’s from 11/02/49 to 10/08/1952 when the MI and all other M variants were discontinued and replaced by the model 40. The final MI produced rolled off the line on 10/08/1952 and the color is currently unknown. See our colors tab to learn more about MI colors!

Prototype MI