M - Looking For Pistons Like These

Anyone know where to find at least one of these with sleeve? They are from an M with a kerosene head and the skirts make it appear to be a stock piston (Though unmatched piston numbers suggest it was not
original) You can see how destroyed the piston was that suffered from an open valve/water damage.
a250054.jpg
 
You want new or used?they are called 'step head' pistons.They should be available anyplace that sells rebuild kit. A kerosene piston is flat
 
Dad made an irrigation engine once from a kerosene M. It had step pistons like that. It also had different valves that were hard to find.
 
Usually put those in to bring the compression ratio up to near gasoline head. And of course all valves are shorter than gas head.
 
Yep those are kerosene pistons used in the distline powered tractors. My dad restored an M and it had those pistons in it but we ran it on gas since we just changed out the original manifold to a gas one.
 
I was hoping I might find 1 piston and sleeve used with that stock type skirt. I have seen stepped pistons around but they aren't identical so I would have to replace them all when I think I could get away with just that really bad one.
 
I was on my tablet when I answered below and it is pretty slow typing on there so will add a few things. IH offered high altitude pistons for all their engines and what we did around here was to install the high altitude pistons(step head) in distillate or kerosene head equipped tractors so they could run more efficiently on gasoline. It was not at all unusual and there were a whole lot of different combinations based on who did the repairs. A gasoline tractor from the factory would have flat head pistons unless it was special for high altitude.

I am not 100 per cent sure if kerosene or distillate offered high altitude, (not checking parts book) pistons or not but pretty sure they did. As we are near sea level in most parts of US, great majority were just flat head pistons. If a tractor needed an overhaul and customer was wanting to burn gasoline he would just install high altitude pistons instead of buying a new head. Some changed manifolds and some didn't. You never know what an M is equipped with until you pull it apart.

As far as finding a matching piston, it is possible but not likely. I picked up a perfectly good 4 inch flat head piston for an M a few years ago from a nationally known salvage and new parts yard but the name escapes me right now. Also got an alternator with bracket from them that was just taken off a Super M. Was supposed to be ready to install. It wasn't by a long shot but bracket was good so you never know for sure. I didn't need the alternator really but did want the fuse box and bracket so it worked out alright.
 
Sailor,

I may have what you need. Currently tearing down an M to OH. Pistons not out but look similar to yours.How tall is the step. Where in NC are you located? I am 20 miles west of Charlotte.
 
What is the piston number if you found one? IH sold a bunch of different pistons for a M depending on the time period. One time period used the same piston in a distillate kerosene called a 5,000 foot and a 8,000 foot in a gasoline. All the M tractor fuels started out with cast iron pistons. Don't think IH offered aluminum pistons for a M until 1952 or right around there.
 
I should have a NOS piston & sleeve set that matches. Send mean email, and we will determine what set you have
 
(quoted from post at 02:00:41 12/12/17) . IH offered high altitude pistons for all their engines and what we did around here was to install the high altitude pistons(step head) in distillate or kerosene head equipped tractors so they could run more efficiently on gasoline. .

Perhaps it might be desirable at high altitude, say near Denver, but around here a distillate tractor runs fine on gas. I currently have a 1944 H that still has flat top pistons in it with the distillate head and it worked many many years at the tobacco farm. No doubt it has less power than my 1950 gas H, but side by side I cant tell a difference in the way they run by sound.

About the question in regards to the stepped head pistons, those are high compression pistons. They never came from the factory in any distillate or kerosene tractors. Even gas had flat tops unless the buyer opted for high altitude pistons.
I haven't had the head off my 1953 Super M, but I did shine a light through the spark plug hole and it looks like the pistons in my SM are just like those ones.
 

Yes some were built with step head pistons. Distillate tractors with suffix X17A and X17D. Kerosene with X3B and X3C. Gasoline X1B and X1C. Some other suffix combinations were used for other special equipment combined with the elevation pistons.
 

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