SMTA Wide Front Question

Thanks in advance!!

For what it's worth.

My dad bought a new H in 1951, the dealer practically gave him a wide front. Dad used it a couple of summers pulling wagon and loose hayloader. Then he bought a baler and the wide front was never out of the shed. You couldn't keep those old wide fronts with tyrods out front lined up, thus they were very hard on tires.

I expect there are some of those old wide fronts at various locations that have never been on a tractor. I know one dealer that still had a supply of them when the 460-560 came out new, and he was still trying to flog them. Yes I have seen one on a 460.

That day he brought a semi load of tractors, amoung them an H with wide front. The tyrods were behind the axle, the front wheels were disc and MF gray, spindles control arms and tyrods were MF 165. The rest was fabricated and I recognized the workmanship. I was the first to argue with him, he swore up and down that his front end was an IH option. It ended with him calling me nasty names. I walked away. During the day, several others chalanged him on his MF front end on an H. Near the end of the day an acquaintence of mine and his son stepped to the H and were quite vocal about this fabricated wide front. I happened to be 4 paces behind the owner and his brother. Finally the brother said to the owner, "I guess we should have brought the narrow front H, these hillbillies up here know their Farmalls."

You have a factory IH wide front and it does fit your 400.

However I suspect you are correct - that older "tie rods in front WFEs" were no doubt retrofitted to many SMs and SMTAs by dealers and owners.

Incidentally wife's dad's late '53 SM was received from new from the factory with the IHC tie rods in back WFE...

The Super M factory WF has the tie rods behind the axle. So the break from the old style (tie rods in front) WF axle had to have been at the start of Super M production or before - ie. at least 2 years before the first SMTA was built.

Thanks!!

There were 2 styles of hubs you could get with Schwartz - the 3 bolt wheels just like IH front end, or the 6 bolt hub similar to the 06 and up series.

I tell ya one thing, it steers better than the original IH wide front with tie rods in front. And that was one that was in pristine condition!

There is a reason that everyone with a front end loader in my area threw away the IH front end on their M thru 450 and put on a Schwartz wide front with the heavy duty hubs. Those 3 bolts and weak casting on the IH front did not hold up.

The main portion of the front end (cross tube, spindles, etc.) may have been equal, but the hubs would not hold up to any abuse.

By the way, when I returned for the wheel the next night, he was still so drunk he couldn't get out of the chair. He had a big lazy boy in his shop, for his lighter moments, I guess.