Farmall H with single front wheel

John in Mich · Mar 14, 2011

A friend rescently acquired a '48 H with a single front wheel. What was the purpose of the single wheel set-up? I grew up with an H but I'm not familiar with this configuration.

CNKS · Mar 14, 2011

Cultivating in narrow rows, very common in S Texas and other southern states.

John in Mich · Mar 14, 2011

Thanks for the quick response. Are there still a lot of them around Texas or other southern states? What crops were planted that close or did it include crops that spread into the open areas? I grew up with 40" rows to start but we went to 34" rows for both corn and soy beans to eliminate changing widths all of the time.

CNKS · Mar 14, 2011

My dad grew vegetables such as carrots in 20 inch rows. In our situation we used the SF with narrow steel rear wheels and switched to rubber for tillage. The SF was used for crops in wider rows too, as there was really no reason for changing it back and forth. For tillage, the single front sometimes did not provide enough flotation.

John in Mich · Mar 14, 2011

Thank you CNKS. Today is a success, I learned something new. Not bad for an Old Far-uh--mer.

LaBoyteaux · Mar 14, 2011

Fairly common on high crop "M" tractors as well. Eventually everyone seemed to go to wide fronts in vegetable cultivation.

Wayne in MN · Mar 14, 2011

Sure was easier to culltivate & mow with the single front wheel. MT-ND border in the Yellowstone valley; we grew sugar beets in 22" rows so made good use of the single front!

WyoDave · Mar 14, 2011

Same here in southeast Wyoming. Sugar beets in 22" rows, and dry edible beans. In fact, I always thought the single front wheel was "normal" until visiting these forums. It seems about 75% of the old tractors are on single fronts here.
David

DeltaRed · Mar 14, 2011

In the narrow row rowcrop areas of Colorado (and other areas) single fronts are quite common.

CNKS · Mar 14, 2011

The M "high crops" were cotton picker tractors, although the HV and MV could be modified to accept a single front. Although cotton was planted in wide rows, the dual wheel NF would probably cause some damage to a mature plant. My dad also had a wide front on an H. I was too young to know why he did that. Much harder to turn around. Our culitvators matched the 80 inch rear tread on the H. Wide fronts took over in the 70's and 80's, more likely because of perceived safety concerns -- cultivators became wider also, so turning was less of a problem.

Dean Olson · Mar 14, 2011

Farmall's with single front wheels are common here in south TX cotton fields. Apparently they planted cotton in 18" rows and the single front ends made for a great cultivating tractor. This is my 55 300 with 350 badging. Apparently the previous owner put in a 350 engine kit and felt justified in the new paint scheme

redgems · Mar 14, 2011

Here in central SJV of Calif. Single fronts were the norm. in cotton,corn, beans, veggies.In our operation,it was as much about irrigation as narrow rows.You see, when we furrowed out for water the furrows were pointed on bottoms and when we cultivated after water the ground would be very firm, the single wheel would fallow furrow much easier then narrow front.With narrow front, one wheel or other would want to climb out of furrow.I cultivated many ac.back then and I did not fight steering with single.In my early days farming I thought singles were norm and narrows were odd .I still feel that way my SMTA and 400 restorations are singles. Tony

John A. · Mar 14, 2011

John. Here in Texas a lot of us call them "Cotton Fronts" As others have said they were useed a lot in the cotton farming operation.
Bedding or cultivating the single front is a lot easier to operate and easier to turn when one turns around on Headlands over a dual tire narrow front!
The High Drum tractors had cotton pickers mounted on them and these tractors had a high version of a single tire set up. And these tractors ran in a reverse fashion for it had a change up in the trans so it would.
Ease of steering is the biggest benefit to a single front tire! Hope this helps!
Later,
John A.

Harold H · Mar 15, 2011

Cotton was normally planted on either 38 or 40 inch rows. The single front was also very common in the Mississippi/Arkansas/Louisiana Delta areas. the single front steered easier and did less damage to the crop than the regular dual tricycle front when cultivating. Common for both cotton and beans. Almost no rowcrop tractors, or any brand, were equipped with wide front axles in these areas prior to the mid sixties.

Harold H

Anonymous-0 · Mar 15, 2011

Remember when I was was growing up on an Arkansas cotton and soybean farm my father and his brothers each had I.H. one row low-drum cotton pickers. One of my uncles was complaining about had poorly his M Farmall was driving after he had removed the cotton picker and changed over the rear end for conventional tractor use. My dad took a quick look at the single front wheel on the tractor and reminded him that he had forgotten to reverse the tractor's front wheel so the caster would be correct for the new direction of travel.

John in Mich · Mar 15, 2011

Awesome information guys. Thank you very much.
Any of you visit the Ford 9N, 2N, 8N discussion?
That is where I usually lerk and on occassion make a comment. Sorry, I sold my H about 4 years ago. No space in the barn and no implements for it. Enjoy the memories. John

usetob · Mar 19, 2011

Dean, cotton on 18" rows? I don't think so!

Farmall H with single front wheel

John in Mich

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John in Mich

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