what year H

BHpony

Member
I have a Farmall H with small pto. No serial # on it. The casting #'s K looks like a 41, however it has a steel gear shift knob on it. That tells me it is later than 41. What year did they have small pto & steel gear shift know. thanks.
 
I'm not sure when the pto size was changed. A lot can be changed in 70+ years.Engines;PTOs;shift knobs...... look for cast codes on the rear end and transmission houseings(right side). The rear wheels and other large castings will have date codes as well.
 
Original engine = serial number on engine is same as chassis. Two different flat type PTO used, last type was installed up into 42. 42 model tractors can also have some K castings, or if early in year all K castings.
 
I was once informed that the engine tag was the key to the year, and that the engine blocks and other castings were often made ahead of time and stockpiled until they were needed on the assembly line....resulting in the casting codes differing from the tag by a year or two.
LA in WI
 
I went to my local dealer with what numbers I could read on my H and they were able to help me find out mine is a 46. None were made in 43 I think due to the war.
 
I bought my "H" from a retired IHC mechanic, and it turns out the front half is 1950 and the rear end is 1951. I think he mighta put it together himself. No complaints, just interesting.
 
Having worked at FARMALL in the 1970's until the end of 1981, I find it impossible to believe they had major castings sitting around for two years! Buy FARMINGTON IMPLEMENT DVD #8 and watch the hour+ DVD about FARMALL. ENGINES were machined, assembled, then broke-in being turned over with electric motors, then the engines were started and the engines ran the motors as generators. That whole process may have added a week or so to the time between castings being poured and castings being assembled to a tractor.

FARMINGTON has advertised on the inside front cover of Red Power Magazine for the last couple years.
 
My 1951 Farmall M has an October 1950 (T Code) engine block casting date while the rest of the tractor has early 1951 (U and W Codes) on the remainder of the cast components. The latest casting date as I recall is in late February and the chassis s/n indicates an early April factory build date. I know the history of this tractor from delivery in 1951 until now as it has always been in the same family and the engine block is original to the tractor. The S/N's of the engine and chassis are exactly 8000 apart to the digit which I have been told was the way IH maintained the relationship of the engine blocks to chassis to account for those used in other applications. Anything is possible in bulk storage of components unless a significant attempt is made to use first in first out inventory control. Where there is significant variation between cast and build dates it would indicate those in the back got used when inventory was low for some reason. I really doubt there was any age date control requirements on the cast components in inventory at Farmall or we wouldn't see these large differences between cast and build dates, Hal.
 

I own a 1940 M, a 1940 H, and a 1950 H. Each of those tractors has the same serial number on the engine as what is on the chassis.
 
Wow, I sure should not have stated "...a year or two"! If I recall correctly the IH expert of years ago, Hugh MacKay, told me about IH making castings ahead of when needed on the assembly line.

Now I realize us old foggies from the 1950s have fuzzy memories anymore, but I have a feeling the manufacturing processes of the '50s just might differ from the 1970s, maybe even a little bit...but here again I am sure I am wrong on that also. It is IMPOSSIBLE for me to think I am wrong, but my wife proves that every day!

Dr. Evil, a few months ago I invited you to our 2016 Reedsburg Plow Day so you could see how us old foggies try to plow with our ancient plows. I have not heard back from you, but the target date is Saturday, April 9. Can you make up here then? I look forward to meeting you.
Again, my apologies.
LA in WI
 
LA in WI, have to agree some are not real close for letter series. Sometimes the dates are in a 4 month period before machine was built, but not uncommon to see a longer spread. Couple of examples. SMTAD serial 62272, lowest date out of 10 read. 7-14-Y and highest 2-1-Z. 4 were in July 53, 2 later 53 and 4 were Z. Super M serial # 52255, 10 read. Lowest casting 6-30-Y, highest 12-9-53. If I take the time to search more numbers wrote down over years I remember some 10 or 11 months apart. On some newer Farmall. 400 # 590 not built until after November 1 54. Had transmission cover 7-14-Z and Hydraulic block 5-11-Z. Those parts were used on no previous tractors so made ahead of time for that model.
 
There should be a serial number stamped on the side of engine if serial number tag is missing. I have a 43 with a knob on gear shift. I think the 43 was the only year for the knob. I know my 42 does not have it. A tractor sometimes is hard to tell how much they have been torn apart and put back together with other parts. Especially one that old.
 
(quoted from post at 08:21:24 02/09/16) Having worked at FARMALL in the 1970's until the end of 1981, I find it impossible to believe they had major castings sitting around for two years! Buy FARMINGTON IMPLEMENT DVD #8 and watch the hour+ DVD about FARMALL. ENGINES were machined, assembled, then broke-in being turned over with electric motors, then the engines were started and the engines ran the motors as generators. That whole process may have added a week or so to the time between castings being poured and castings being assembled to a tractor.

FARMINGTON has advertised on the inside front cover of Red Power Magazine for the last couple years.

I worked in a engine plant for 30 years, and back in the 70's, we routinely had 5000 blocks ahead of assembly. And we had a model year issue, we could not roll the inventory over into the next year. If that had not been a issue, inventory of blocks would have been real goofy. As it was we had trouble going into a organized inventory system.
 
Some tractor models weren't made during part of the war. H production continued, lowest number built in any year of the war was 1943 with 21,375 built. Material shortages (mostly copper and rubber) forced several changes to the tractor.
 
Most manufacturers today use what they call FIFO (first in, first out) or FILO (first in, last out) for inventory stockpiling. Very little done so as to limit cost of production. Much different than the old days.
 

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