R moline cabs

I am in the process of restoring a 1951 RTE,could a factory cab have been an option on such a late model R? any answers or insight would be of great help.

It seems that you have gotten as much misinformation as information to your question. A cab would look neat on your 1951 RTE but it is much too late a tractor to have had it installed as original equipement. No one knows for sure how many cabs were produced, but the 401 figure is always thrown around and seems reasonable, yet unsubstantiated by factory documents. As for all being built in 1938, I really doubt it, as the first tractors were a 1939 model year. Also, if all were built that early on, then some had to be modified at two separate times as there are 3 variations of the cab. The first type fit the "square" tank, early R's. The second fit the "round" tank, starting at serial #404801 and the third fit serial #405699-up with the new narrower platform. The parts books all show a second "round" tank for tractors with cabs. As far as only being fitted to row crops, the cab was available for the standard tractor as well. MM literature shows the cab on standards and also states all options available on the row crop are available on the standards. If they were having a hard time selling cabs do you think they wouldn't drop one on a standard tractor if someone wanted it? With that said, how many standards would have been equipped with cabs - not very many I'd think?

As far as the slit in the serial tag theory, I thought that was dispelled long ago. Upon close examination it becomes apparant that the tractor serial tags were stamped with the 3 5/8 x 4 engine size as per the engine serial tags and MM was too cheap to throw them out so just cut the misstamping out and put them on the tractors.

As far as the mail carrier special, I seriously doubt that MM ever sold even one of them. As far as I know there are only 2 photos of the same tractor in front of the same building. And, it's not a standard type tractor, it's more of a high crop style as the wide front has much longer knees and the print literature states it has 38 inch rear rubber. The non-adjustable wide front is much lighter duty than the standard tractors. I have never seen one, heard of one, talked to anyone who has, or even heard a rumor of ones existance. I must admit, it's a really interesting concept and a neat looking tractor, looks like a "square" tank tractor in the picture.
Hope this helps straighten out a few points.

Jim

You have really piqued my interest. I do not have the book you allude to - what does it say or picture concerning the mail carrier R's? On the tractor you saw, how was it tagged? Was it a square tank? Did it still have the special fenders with the guard rails and the factory cab. How did they achieve the road speed of 19 MPH? I can't imagine that just the 38" rear tires would do that, did they speed up the engine or change the transmission gears? Did you get any pictures of the tractor? I'm sure others would like to hear about what you saw as well as me. You are right, what I've not seen doesn't mean much, but the accumulated eyes of a lot of collectors I've talked to does. I'm always ready to be proven wrong, especially when it's a great find like have seen.

Jim

If you're gonna fit a cab to a tractor, you have to keep in mind that MM used 2 styles of fuel tanks. '39 and some '40 R's used tapered tanks with 'square' corners. late '40 and up used the rounded tank.
To install the cab and do it right, you have to have the correct transmission top, instrument panel (if you want electric start on the early ones) and fuel tank mounts. Some other parts may be different too.