444 Reputation

What's the word on a 444? The reading I've done so far is that thay're tough, English-built IH tractors, but that they're kinda rare and may be hard to get parts for. A gas one with a loader has caught my attention. I've spent some time on a gas 574 with a loader and didn't find it too objectionable haha

Owner says it's currently stuck but can't be too bad as it only happened after the exhaust blew off the exhaust. OK... taking that word with a grain of salt.

Thanks

444 is a very rugged tractor and parts availability is excellent. Mahindra reused much of the 444 platform in some new tractors so some parts are available from IH and Mahindra.

Unlike other similar British tractors like the B-414s, the 444 only uses the British engine in the diesel version. Gas engine is more of a USA version (C153). B-414 uses the British engine in gas (BC144) and diesel (BD154- same as the 444 uses).

The 444 were half English built. The tractors were shipped on pallets to the Louisville plant. There the sheet metal and tires and electrical systems were added. The gas 444's had the engine installed in Louisville. The gas engine used in the 444's does not have sleeves, if the cylinder walls are rusted too bad, you may need to bore and go to bigger pistons.

Here's some info on what Mahindra did a few years back when they starting selling new tractors in the US on older IH platforms.

The E40-DI has a three cylinder 115 cu in diesel. Everything else is almost identical to a B-275-414 including manual steering and a 8.3 gpm hydraulic pump, except it has a single clutch. It is rated 39 engine HP @ 2450 rpm and 31 pto hp.

The C4005-DI has the 144 cu in four cylinder diesel that was introduced in the B-250 and B-275 and hydrostatic power steering that was first offered in the 424 and the dual clutch to give live pto. It also has the 8.3 gpm hydraulic pump. It is rated 39.5 engine HP @ 2300 rpm and 31.5 pto hp.

The C4505-DI has the 154 cu in diesel that was introduced in the B-414 and also has hydrostatic power steering and dual clutch. It has 8.3 gpm hydraulic pump. It is rated 43 engine HP @ 2300 rpm and 34.5 pto hp.

All of the gearing on these three models, pto, etc, is of the same design as the 275, 414, 424, 444 line of tractors.

The C5005-DI also has the 154 cu in diesel but has partial mesh gears in the transmission which was introduced in some of the later successor models of the same design by IHC. It also has dual clutch live pto and a 9.4 gpm hydraulic
pump. It is rated 51 engine HP @ 2600 rpm and 42 pto hp.