wd-wd45

can enybody tell me the difference between a wd and wd45 thank you

If you are trying to tell them apart, the WD engine has a rectangle plate bolted on the right side of the block behind the mag/oil filter. The serial # on the rearend will be WD146607 or higher on a WD45. A curved shift lever is usually a WD45 but can be a late WD. Of course all the parts interchange so it could be a mixed breed too.

Major differences were engine displacement 4x4 for a 201 WD and 4 x 4.5" for a 226 WD45, the hand clutch has 3 disks in a WD45 and 2 in a WD, the tranny gears were straight cut in all but the last WD and helical cut in the last WD and all WD45.

To tell them apart, the WD engine has a steel plate on the mag side of the engine and the WD45 ( and late WD) shift lever is curved. Serial number is the best.
AaronSEIA

Everything that Aaron & Lonnie said is right on. Added info: The WD-45's manifold is much deeper. The spark plug slots in the head are much taller; The head is taller; the fenders are taller-higher mounts- to handle the 14.9 tires (the 45 rims are 14 in wide, the WDs are much smaller. 45s had a traction control guage below gas tank.

There were many running changes made to the WD and the WD-45 from the introduction of the WD in "48 until rhe last WD-45 was produced in 1957.
Some people incorrectly identify some of those early WD changes as being a means of identifying a WD-45 when in fact they were improvements made to the WD that were carried forward to the WD-45.
I have kept my own little list of changes to the two tractors and info on how to really tell the difference. Of course, over years, parts have been swapped around making it somewhat difficult to make a definitive I.D. of either tractor.
I will admit that I may have missed some things but I think I"ve covered most of the significant items.

Aaron a side line question. Did the late WD's that had the curved shift handle have 2 or 3 plate clutches.

Thanks
Bob

8n,

Not to butt in but if you refer to the 3rd line and the
7th line of my list of "Running Production Changes to the WD
and WD-45 Tractors" you will find your answer.

Ok thanks I'm bad LOL. I was not sure since my WD has a snap coupler and that distracted me from the next line LOL.

Thanks
Bob

Yeah, a lot of old WDs have had a snap-coupler
system installed including my '51 model my Dad and I
rebuilt back in '58/'59 when I was a senior in high
school. Still use it all the time.

Some additional differences.The WD 45 had a heavier stronger differential (larger ring and pinion and larger spider gears and I think without "bushings" in the spider gears) . The WD 45 usually had larger (wider) tires on a wider 28 inch rim. On at least some of the WD 45s the steel wheel centers were thicker than on the WDs. I am not sure if it is true for all WD45, but I have never seen a WD45 with "Shutters" in the radiator grill housing. Governor springs are different and the WD 45 had a larger Carburetor and usually a different distributor housing (Die cast rather than cast iron). All of the WD 45s I have seen have a "by pass line or hose" between the water pump and the cylinder head water outlet (thermostat housing). I do not think that the WCs and early WDs had a "by pass line or hose" at all.

Gordon,
I mentioned the wider wheels, bigger carb. (and air cleaner pipe) and the elimination of the shutters. I think the only WD-45s that may have had shutters were the very rare dual fuel tractors. I missed mentioning the by-pass hose thermostat housing but that came on the WDs with the tall head back in '51 at which time they also dropped the 2 inlet water manifold.
I was not aware of the heavier ring and pinion set up so I learned something new there.
The distributer ignition began with the late WDs which I mentioned and they did have the cast aluminum housing.
Prior to that all the WDs were magneto ignition so all the early WDs you see with distributors will have the cast iron distributer "adaptor" housing.
You've got me wondering about the heavier wheel centers. Never heard of that before. I'm going to have to check out my tractors. I have a '50 and a '51 WD, two '55 WD-45s, a '56 WD-45 and a Series II D-17. The part numbers are the same for the wheel centers for the WD up thru serial #24000 of the D-17. That doesn't mean that the earlier wheel centers weren't lighter, only that all replacements ordered would be the heavier ones.
The same is true for new blocks, the replacement block supplied for both the WD and WD-45 was the new casting without the side plate after all the WD blocks were used up.
Like I said, I probably didn't cover everything.
Again, I say that some items thought to be WD-45 identifiers were actually running changes made to the WD and carried forward to the WD-45 model.
Thanks for your comments; it made for an interesting discussion.
Have a good day,
Brian G.

I have two WDs (but not 45s), both with curved shifters and distributors, one is in the low 130000 SN range [late 1952?], and the other is in the low 141000 SN range [sometime 1953?].

One of the distributors definitely is cast aluminum. Hard to tell on the other one since the paint has held up really well.

At what point did the exhaust manifold switch to all circular exhaust ports versus the ones that were circular with tall flanges on two sides?