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630 John Deere ranks at top of Daryl Dehnke’s collection

My Favorite Tractor: Daryl Dehnke likes to drive through McDonald’s with his grandson for a burger and fries.

Harlen Persinger

January 21, 2022

2 Min Read
Daryl Dehnke’s grandson Derrick with John Deere tractor
SENTIMENTAL FAVORITE: Daryl Dehnke’s grandson Derrick would like to take over his grandpa’s extensive tractor collection someday. He has already claimed one tractor and named it “Double D.” Harlen Persinger

While growing up on his dad’s farm in Fall Creek, Wis., Daryl Dehnke worked the fields doing tillage chores, raking and baling with a model A and model 50 John Deere tractor. After his parents retired, he purchased one of the machines, which propelled him to start collecting. He now has about 30 John Deeres and other tractors, plows, crawlers and other pieces of equipment.

“My favorite tractor today is a 1959 model 630 John Deere,” says Dehnke, who now lives on an acre of land in Eau Claire, Wis. “I purchased it from the second owner, Bob Miller, a hobby farmer from Elk Mound, for $5,000 in 1981. He used it to prep his land and handle custom jobs. That 630 came off the showroom floor from Morrison Implement in Chippewa Falls.”

Mint condition

After mechanical work was completed on the clutch, radiator and engine, the tractor was sandblasted and painted by Rob Detwiler. The cost was $3,000 to restore the 630, serial number 631193, back to mint condition.

This two-cylinder tractor, manufactured in Waterloo, Iowa, from 1958 to 1966, was part of the 30 Series. The original price in 1958 was $2,955. There were 17,307 units made, and it was available in row crop, standard, orchard and high-crop variants. Features include a narrow front end, power steering, open operator station, 4-by-2 two-wheel-drive chassis, 20.5-gallon fuel capacity, differential mechanical drum brakes, six forward and one reverse gear, and a 5-liter, two-cylinder, gasoline liquid-cooled engine.

Dehnke takes the 630, which has 4,800 hours on the tachometer and is used 30 hours each year, to various shows and Pioneer Day events during the summer. For the past few years, he has picked up his grandson Derrick from the local elementary school and driven through McDonald’s for a burger and fries. Derrick would like to take over the collection someday. He has already claimed one tractor and named it “Double D.”

“This is my favorite tractor because it was the last two-cylinder unit my dad, Henry, a true John Deere man, purchased,” Dehnke says. “It has excellent maneuverability, good brakes, and I enjoy the electric starter and power steering. Raking hay with that machine when I was 13 brings back a truly peaceful time.”

Persinger writes from Milwaukee, Wis. To have your favorite tractor featured, email or send in a photo of yourself with your tractor, along with a 300-word write-up about the tractor, to: [email protected] or Wisconsin Agriculturist, P.O. Box 236, Brandon, WI 53919.

About the Author

Harlen Persinger

Harlen Persinger is a photojournalist who lives in Milwaukee. Since 2004, he has freelanced for regional and national farm publications such as Wisconsin Agriculturist and Farm Industry News, plus many others.

Persinger grew up on a farm in Grundy County, Iowa. He received a degree in ag journalism from Iowa State University in 1972. He has traveled to more than 40 countries and has been a member of the American Agricultural Editors’ Association (now Agricultural Communicators Network) since 1976. In 2016, he was the first photojournalist/freelancer to receive the organization's Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2017, Persinger began providing college scholarships to 4-H’ers from his home county who have an interest in photography/journalism and agriculture. He was inducted into the Iowa 4-H Hall of Fame in 2023.

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