H horsepower

kub6040

Well-known Member
Just curious , I read H's were all fuel engines can
they use higher compression pistons with gas and
make more power? Also is it possible to find one
that has a powerblock ?
 
kub6040, the stock compression ratio of the "H" is 4.75:1 which was necessary to successfully use low-octane fuels without knocking.

Years ago, Johnson Machine made high-compression pistons for the "H" (and other models) and a set of those were installed in my "H" by the original owner, along with a "cold" manifold. Don't know the actual HP increase, but it was obviously enough for the owners to justify the expense in those days.

There were no Power Blocks (developed and sold by the Tractor Supply Company) for the "H", but only for the "A", "B", "G", and "50", "60", and "70".
 
Thanks I am comparing small 2 row tractors of that era , I plan to buy and rig one of each to do my own comparing . I want to fully understand what farmers had to deal with . I am and have been a red collector for years but have decided that BIG tractors are for people that really want to work and I would much rather play and enjoy, not brag that I have this or that , I am interested in putting cultivators and planters on one to use . Thanks again Jimmy.
 
Now seeing what your plan is , an "H' is basically a "one row" tractor and one plow also. I've never had one but all accounts say it had a hard time with a two row cult. if set deep enough to do any good. A "B" is just as low cost and maybe even more so. A late "B" in nice shape can be had for $ 2500 and has 27 hp and 38" rear wheels/tires and a low-low creeper gear (6 spd) and hyd. outlets and rock shaft for lift To play , get the "H' but to play with implements, I'd get the '48-52 "B". At 4000 lbs and 10-12 more hp will handle two row cult/planter and two btm plow with ease. Enjoy your "green experience".
 
Randy B says it so well! I myself have had many two-cylinders, from US "B" up to 730. I would have to say that Late=styled "B" is the best value for the money. Easier and cheaper to work on than many, also. My two=cents.
 
I own a JD 39 B ,it was my grandpa's , I wanted to compare the smallest from each maker , do you really think the H is to small ? I am using a farmall B , a oliver 60, an allis C , I really want to be fair in comparison , I think a late John Deere B would compare with a farmall H , not the smallest? Also plowing isn't my concern as I have larger tractors that can do it in a hurry , a one bottom let's you enjoy longer if a John Deere is enjoyable not that I am expecting a lot from any these were replacing a lame horse ,lol. Later I plan to do a comparison on improvements using a 40t, farmall super c, allis CA, and a oliver 66 ,this would be early 1950's.
 
I think all three of those tractors you listed would be bigger then the H. And I think you are correct in comparing a late B to a Farmall H. The H gets bashed for being anemic but people forget the H was intended to replace a team of horses. Two heavy draft horses might out pull an H but they won't do it for 10 straight hrs.
 
My 41 H dyno'd 14 hp a few years ago.

I bought some high compression pistons awhile back for another '41 I had, ended up selling the tractor.

Whats the compression ratio on a set?
 
When a kid, Dad farmed with a couple of H's and my 3 older brothers to keep the tractors both going long hours in the field. The H's handled the two-row cultivator, 2nd gear I suppose, so long as you didn't try to plow with it. H's handled a 2-bottom, 14" plow, 1st gear I suppose, if the going wasn't too tough. I do remember that when breaking alfalfa sod, we chained the H in front of a B. We also had a 2-row lister for the H's. Slow, but OK.
 
I use my 42 H to pull my sorghum mill with a flat belt. Have sawed firewood with the buzz saw. Use it to lay off garden rows and make furrows to plant taters and dig taters. Use one side cultivator as I plant one row at a time. It has plenty of power to do all these things and just sips gas.
I plan on mounting a planter on the cultivator frame this year to plant a couple acres of field peas. It is my favorite tractor to play with.
Richard in NW SC
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I have a 41 H here, it hasn't been ran for 15 years, I use to mow the yard with it and use it in the garden, I have a 2 row cultivator for it and a 1 bottom mounted plow, I did have another one back 20 years ago and was going to hook them together as a 4X4,,had some nice plans, but never got them off the drawing board. When my son was young he used one of them for his transportation around the neighborhood, he always wanted a 3 wheeler but I wouldn't let him have one,,I told him 7MPH was fast enough...
 
Ooh yes, He would fuss and beg,, but the "H" was is ride or nothing...till he was 16,, I was living close to the home farm at that time, less than a mile, so he would drive it there, on a country road, and to his friends place up the road a couple miles..When I was a kid a 53 "60" was my ride...
 
Yes ,,we use to say they had 3 speeds,, 1 slow and 2 slower... they were a cute little tractor, we had a neighbor that mowed hay with a 7ft #5 mower with an "H", when it would bog down in tuff cutting it would swing the front end around instead of tripping back,, he said you had to hold the wheel to the left all day fighting the draft...
 
My '41 goes 9.5 mph according to the gps. Same as my farmall cub does. The H pulls the hills much better tho.....
 

I doubt the design would hold up too well if "pushed" too far..
The clutch-Drum (Belt Pulley) is driven by the Camshaft...not by the Crankshaft as on most other JD 2-Cylinder tractors..
Besides, you probably want to Hand Crank it...

Ron.
 
Fellow up the road was a bit of a hellion as a kid. His dad would not let him drive the truck to town.
He hooked a wire on the throttle of their Oliver 88 and would hit the road. I think he could get way over 30 MPH on that thing.
Richard
 
Wondering if your H with cultivators and plow is for sale? I have a 1945 H restored and am looking for implements. E Mail is open or phone 614-996-8126. Bill
 
No, it still belongs to my son, and he has been in New Orleans the past 6 years,,I doubt that he would sell it,,if it were mine I would, it has the wrong rims and tires on the rear, the old ones were rusted out so when we restored it back 1982 we found a set of Oliver 66 rims and put a new set of Firestones on them so they are a bit over size,,but look okay ,,as many of you know an "H " has a 7 bolt rim bolt pattern, not many others did that, Oliver 60/66 and the smaller Massey Harris did, that I know of, and yes they drove the transmission off the cam shaft so the belt pulley runs back ward, this one has the PTO and Live hydraulics, I think maybe the "H" was the first Deere to have live hydraulics ??
 
You mentioned that your H "just sips gas". Back in the day we had a neighbor with an 'H' - he claimed that he had to drain off fuel a couple times a day to keep the tank from overflowing.

Stan
 
My dad put Johnson pistons in his H (which I still have). He said they made a world of difference in how the H performed. It allowed the tractor to pull a 2-12" plow on gumbo bottom soil and stay right with an A pulling 3-14" bottoms. However, it would blow through head gaskets like nobody's business. This forced him to remove the pistons and put stock ones back. The Johnson pistons (I still have those, too) are over an inch taller than the stock pistons. And yes, the tractor did crank hard but if you could roll it over it would start quickly. It just became more practical to get a bigger tractor. Also, a stock H will handle a two-row cultivator just fine. A large portion of H's sold were used for that. Ours did that for many years, years ago. Mike
 
If you look in the last photo, you see the gas can on the other side. You have to keep it handy to drain some out of the tractor every little bit.LOL
It really is light on gas usage. The Nebraska test book called it "impressive" on fuel economy.
Richard
 
I love the live hydraulics when cultivating.
I finally found out a few years ago that you need to use 50 wt oil to make it work correctly.
Some of you guys on here told me that.
Richard
 
The camshaft is designed to take it. It's not just a regular camshaft. You can build an H up just as much as any other model, except there's no big blocks for em.
 
Dad said he put me in the seat of the family H the summer I was 5. We still have it & to this day that little tractor surprises me what it can do and I'm now in my 60's!

Best way to describe it's ground speed is it has one reverse gear, one slow forward gear and two other even slower forward gears! In ideal spring plowing conditions I've pulled the H1 mounted plow with it in 3rd many a mile! No I didn't use the pedal. Every inch was a rough ride. That little goober will beat you to death and come back for more!

It's also amazing how much wood 3 guys used to working together can buzz up on a gallon of gas with an H running roughly 1/3rd throttle! I think the chain saw used more fuel!

Have also burned a lot of old stale gasoline & old orange K1 kerosine in it. Have to turn the needles a bit but it doesn't care.

Later.
 
With the H's "backward running" belt pulley, it's unusual to see a crossed drive belt on an H! Maybe just for a photo shoot?
 
(quoted from post at 14:50:41 02/26/15) My dad put Johnson pistons in his H (which I still have). He said they made a world of difference in how the H performed. It allowed the tractor to pull a 2-12" plow on gumbo bottom soil and stay right with an A pulling 3-14" bottoms. However, it would blow through head gaskets like nobody's business. This forced him to remove the pistons and put stock ones back. The Johnson pistons (I still have those, too) are over an inch taller than the stock pistons. And yes, the tractor did crank hard but if you could roll it over it would start quickly. It just became more practical to get a bigger tractor. Also, a stock H will handle a two-row cultivator just fine. A large portion of H's sold were used for that. Ours did that for many years, years ago. Mike

Some higher octane fuel would have reduced or eliminated the knock/detonation that was causing the high combustion chamber pressure spikes.
 
Dad never mentioned detonation being a problem. I imagine it was a matter of high cylinder pressures under a pull stretching the head bolts, blowing the gasket. A little more compression would have been great but with the profile of the pistons it was a bunch more. Too high for tough field conditions which we have here. Mike
 
Hi Mike,
When you have a chance sometime, would you mind checking the height of those pistons for your dad's "H" and let me know the measurement? My Johnson pistons are exactly 1/2 inch taller than stock units and the calculated compression ratio of my Johnsons is 7:1. (The stock compression ratio was 4.75:1, according to Deere specifications.) I did a quick calculation for pistons that would be 1 inch taller than standard, and let's just say the compression ratio appears to be pretty high, so I'm curious about your pistons. Your response would be helpful by adding to my "H" data. Thanks in advance. Dan
 
I will try to do that soon, Dan. The one inch measurement was from memory which often is not as dependable as it used to be. I do know they are quite a bit taller than the stock ones. I will measure the compression height (center of pin to top of dome) and report back to you. Mike
 
When I got my H it came with a 2-row Cultivator, 2-bottom 14" plow and a 2-row lister. I thought it was a good deal. Now I don't know??? It seems to handle the plow pretty good. I been storing the other implements in the junk pile but will look into when it warms up. They still would look good at tractor shows which lots of people are going to grow up wondering what tractors were even used for.cleddy
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I bought a very nice '45 H with starter and lights, but no PTO or hydraulics, and mounted 2 row cultivator back in the 1980's when I was doing some "hobby, but got serious, farming" back in those days of the Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan "adjusted farming economy". The H had just been o'hauled by the most reputable JD mechanic in the area and ran perfect, but pulling the cultivator in third gear through knee high corn was asking just a little too much out of it. I had half sweeps next to the rows and those JD supplied little sweeps for the spring teeth, 7 in front and 4 in back behind the drivers. This rig did a beautiful job, especially in my 36 inch row beans....I just "chugged along" at just over half throttle in second with the shields set so just enough dirt got thrown to smother the small quack grass and round leaf weeds, but not upset or cover the little bean plants just straightening up from the "hook stage". You had to pay close attention and drive as perfect as possible...but the job was very good. I didn't spray a drop on those beans in 4 years....and only 1 year on the corn when it got too wet to cultivate and the weeds were growing like h--l. First time through with the H rig on corn and beans and all the rest of my cultivating was with my IH Super M and it's 4 row. Poor little H just couldn't get through 120 acres fast enough. It could barely pull the cultivator on level ground in third, actually made better time in second wide open throttle. You could cultivate 8-9 hours on a tank of gas. (With the H, not the Super M) I pulled my 4 row 490 planter on the nearly level fields with the H, but it really slowed it down in the hills with slippage along with making it work it's heart out...planter had fertilizer attachment and old runner openers, actually pulled pretty hard. Fields were moldboard plowed and disked just once, except where there might be a lot of clods, disk had a sort of tine harrow too, so soil was pretty loose usually and that made planting take extra power too. Truth is I really liked that little H for what it could do...if you had lotsa time.....But usually I didn't, working in the shop too with a 35-40 minute drive. I'll tell you, when I was working fields near the road, a lot of people stopped and watched the little H and I work out planting and cultivating my 48 row windstrips.
 

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