I'm new to the HF world. As I was going over the tractor today, I found what seem to be date codes. At least they look similar to the types of date codes you find on Ford tractors, which is what I'm more familiar with.I'd like to show the codes here and have you folks confirm or correct my assumptions. First is the transmission case. I found this on the left side.
My assumption is that 225C breaks down as follows:
2 = 1952
25 = 25th of the month
C = March
If this is correct, the trans case was cast on March 25, 1952.Next is the rear end housing. This mark is found on the right side, just behind where it joins the trans case. The code is cast vertically (reading from down to up). I held the camera sideways to make it read like this:
Assumption is that 214C breaks down like this:
2 = 1952
14 = 14th of the month
C = March
So this part would have been cast on March 14, 1952.Next is the rear axles. On the left axle, near the outer end, I found this:
This is really hard to read and it's not a good photo. After wire brushing the area and smearing it with chalk, I think it says "2 5 52", which is a pretty straightforward way of saying this part was cast on Feb 5, 1952.The right axle was harder to read and is an even poorer photo:
You can't really tell from the photo, but to my eyes, it appears that it might say "1 30 52".Now the carburetor. This one I'm pretty confident about. The numbers off to the right on the brass tag indicate the month and year the carb was made. In this case, December 1951.
Here's where I may be going out on a limb. On the starter and generator, there are Delco-Remy tags with two sets of numbers. Under the long number it says "Model", and under the short number it says "Serial". Here's the Starter:
And here's the Gen:
To me, the serial numbers could be date codes. 2B20 could mean 1952, Feb, 20th and 2B19 could mean 1952, Feb, 19th. I'd really like to hear from any Delco-Remy experts who might be able to authoritatively confirm this suspicion or shoot me down in flames. Just for the record, the serial number on the tractor is 80236 and my engine number is 320074. According to the serial number chart, there were almost 36,000 TO-30s built in '52. If you assume even production through the year, that's about 3000 per month, which would put my date codes about right. Thanks for the indulgence. I apologize to all you dialup users for all the photos.
|
