Farmall H RPM's

What is a good Rpm to run a H at . Used for plowday and antique pulls.

they run at the rated 1659 rpm... not sure what your getting at? you want more rpm???

Looking to get the best out of it. And not to go over board it's running around 2000 rpms now.

Our 53 H has 1815 on the tag for top engine speed. One of the last H's made.

I would just try it out and see what feels right.

My guess would be about 1200 - 1400

The max high idle speed of an H is 1815 like previous poster indicated. If governor is working like it should the rated load speed of 1650 will be reached just after the throttle plate in carburetor is fully opened from governor action as engine is loaded.
That 1815 is plenty darn fast for a unbalanced 4 cyl engine with the long stroke that engine has. If you want to run it up over that for a pulling contest, that is up to you, but I certainly would not run it any faster for everyday on the job work or you are looking for trouble. The H is commonly known as the vibrator in farmer language.

With our pulling club a farm stock H can run 1997 RPM and that's 10% over stock. 10 % over on a super H is 2050 RPM.

While the engine is a good lugging engine you don't want to lug it all the time. The lugging ability is for getting through tough spots. Run it above where it sounds like it's lugging for normal conditions, and let it lug when it needs to. That's probably around rated RPM.

If the governor wasn't modified, you'd just set the throttle wide open and let it ride.

What's your definition of "Best"? Longest pull at a tractor pull? Longest use before you have to spend buckets of money on the engine?

I'd follow Pete23's advice. International 300 & 350 utilities ran at 2000 rpm full load but most of them were loader tractors, never did much fieldwork where they ran wide open all day.

I ran a '39 H and then a stage II '54 Super H doing all types of farm work, chores, spraying, mowing/raking hay, running to feed mill in town for hog feed, hauling in hay, oats, corn when harvesting. H didn't have power enough to grind cattle feed, tried it once, ran the grinder maybe 10-15 seconds and stalled. SUPER H would pull the Kneodler burr mill but it was absolutely everything she wanted. Year after we got the SH we put a tach/hour meter off a 300/350 Farmall on it. For most things where I didn't need the maximum hp I would run at 1500-1600 rpm.

I've seen too many H and SH engines in junkyards with holes on the left side of the block. I suspect rod bolts broke. I'm not real comfortable spinning a 65 to almost 80 year old flywheel any faster that it's supposed to either. If you want to buzz the old girl up, MagnaFlux everything, put ARP hardware on everything, and have somebody make you a steel flywheel too.

With our club you would be a little over the 10% (1997 RPM MAX ) that they allow in farm stock.

Some U-4 engines were run at 1800 full load and that would be around 2000 no load. H engines no longer with cast iron pistons should be good to 2200 for short runs.

I guess I am getting old, do not like to hear the high revving.