Re: 1946 Farmall H question

Posted by Leonard Rahilly on September 01, 2003 at 09:36:11 from (65.43.33.143):

In Reply to: 1946 Farmall H question posted by Rob from Michigan on August 31, 2003 at 10:43:33:

Can't help but put in my 2-cents worth. Spent years on a '41 and a '51 Farmall H, on my father's farm. Last few years, we used it only for bushhogging. I think his Bush Hog was a 5'. The H was just barely able to handle this beast in heavy stuff (I'm not so sure the blade was very sharp in recent years, however). One of the follow-ups mentions lots of torque. I guess it depends on what you are comparing the tractor with. I drove F-20s for a number of years before
and even after the H's came along, and lemmetellyou, there ain't no comparison. The F-20 has 221 cubic inches, with a 5" stroke. That engine was designed to pull a tractor on steel wheels. Steel robs a good 40% of engine power on most of those old tractors (that's why they were rated "10-20," "15-30," etc.; the upper figure is the RATED engine horsepower--the power the engine should deliver in normal use; the maximum available horsepower is a bit higher). When an
F-20 was put on rubber, it became a real snorting bull, and that extra engine size translated into being able to 1) pull a heavier load or 2) pull the same load faster. The 36" tires that were usually used had a diameter that was quite a bit larger than the 40" original steel wheels, so the tractor was about "one gear" faster in each speed. The original about-three mph second gear went up to nearly 4 mph, but the tractor would pull the same 2 14" plows at that speed (on steel,
3 mph would be about all it would do in heavy sod). My theory (I am full of 'em, or maybe "it" is a better word!) is that the H was DESIGNED for rubber tires. The Nebraska tests show the H on rubber as having roughly the same drawbar horsepower as an F-20 on steel. But you notice that the engine horsepower is down quite a bit (about 22 belt hp on distillate, versus about 27 on distillate for the F-20--a substantial percentage). The H has 152 cubic inches of engine displacement, so the brute muscle isn't there. If the speed can be kept up (1650 governed at full load), the tractor will pretty much do what was advertised, that is, pull a 2-bottom plow in second gear, at a bit over 3 mph. The two H's my father owned really had all they could do to handle 2 12" bottoms in sod, and that in second gear only. When this engine is pulled down, there isn't the kind of torque that was available in the older, larger engines (an F-20 was almost unstoppable, even when overloaded; the engine speed would go down, but the brute force of that big engine would just keep on chugging).
Compared with an F-20, an H is a delight to drive. The 20 was a beast, a brute, a charging Spanish bull, constantly bucking the seat up and down, bellowing out the exhaust, and requiring a firm hand on the wheel to keep it from being whipped out of your hand. I began to drive an F-20 when I was about 12, and needless to say, I loved it because I was so small and it was so big and I, little me, was managing all that brute power. The H is a lot more civilized. The seat is farther forward, so the ride is better. The steering seems to have some protection against kickback. The brakes are conveniently located, and the individual pedals allow you to brake one wheel for a short turn when needed (like pulling a heavy disk in plowed ground--the load tries to keep the tractor from turning, and braking the inside wheel helps pull the tractor around). The shift lever is not very convenient; in low and third gear, the lever sometimes bumps your leg, and reverse, second and fourth require reaching around the steering wheel. You usually bang your arm against the wheel unless you act gingerly. The throttle lever is something designed by engineers who don't seem to really get to use the tractors in the field. If you have any need for constantly changing the throttle position, again, you have to reach around the wheel. If you are turned around to the right watching your implement, the throttle is a long reach.
Some of the people who have answered obviously know a lot more about the breakdown potential of the H than I do. In all the years my father used his two H's (about 30, I'd say), I recall only one major problem. It seems that the early model had small bearings on the gearbox countershaft. My father replaced that bearing, as I remember. It's been a long time, and that may not be an accurate description of the problem. After his first H (the '41) had been around a good 20 years, it began to smoke and needed sleeves and a regrinding of the crankshaft. I don't know that that is an unusual problem with a machine that is used so hard. The older tractors, like the F-20, ran more slowly, and seemed to need resleeving less often. But then, they were so clumsy that they may not have been used as often for light chores.
A couple of your responders mention the loose steering. All the H's and M's I ever got to drive had a few years of use on them, and every one of them shimmied on the road at high speed. I think it is possible to move the steering gear to engine newer teeth, but am not sure.
Fifth gear is fun. You're doing probably 18 mph at high idle (the factory quotes just over 16 mph at 1650 rpm, but high idle is probably 1800 rpm, with a corresponding increase in ground speed). HOWEVER, tricycle tractors are easy to upset if turned too sharply at high speed. The brakes should always be locked together for use in 5th gear. Usually, the right pedal got the most use in stopping the tractor, so very seldom did the brakes work equally (that makes it impossible to lock the pedals together). They are, however, easy to replace, since the tractor doesn't use shoes, but very old-fashioned external-contracting bands; probably chosen because they are easy to replace.
One of the things I didn't like about the H was the great gap between 4th and 5th gears. On the farm, there is a lot of work pulling loaded wagons out from the field, or going a half mile or perhaps a mile from the field to the barn to unload. Fourth gear is only a bit over 5 mph, with the engine roaring at full blast. On a gravel road, the H would not pull much of anything in fifth gear at 5 or 6 mph, because the engine had to be throttled way back. I always yearned for an intermediate gear, like the John Deere and Oliver, which had a fairly high-speed 6th gear, and an intermediate 5th that gave around 8 mph; this could be throttled back to give 6 or 7 mph in a range where the engine torque was good.
The Super H has a 4th gear that is somewhat faster, so it should have been nicer for these wagon-pulling chores. The engine is also a bit bigger, so there is more torque. If I were going to buy an H to use, I would definitely want a Super H, for these two reasons, at least. Also, the full-time hydraulic system is a lot nicer to use. You can put in the clutch without killing the hydraulic power.
You need to be aware that there were two PTO shaft sizes. In the middle 40s, most tractors came out with what I think was an American Society of Agricultural Engineers standard: all tractors would have the same size PTO shaft (a little larger than the older style, but I don't remember the exact dimensions--1-3/8" perhaps?) and this shaft would be the same distance from the hitchpoint on all tractors. This allowed the use of anybody's mower, combine, baler, cornpicker, etc., without having to buy special shafts and guards for the implement. I believe this newer shaft can be spotted by the appearance of the PTO shifter. On the earlier tractors, the lever that shifted the PTO went INTO the rear-axle housing. On the later PTO version, there is a little box BEHIND the rear axle, and the shifter lever goes into that box, rather than into the rear axle-housing.
Compared to a "utility" tractor (Ford 8N type, for example), the H will seem somewhat clumsy. You have to climb UP to get on, and you are a good way up from the ground. The view is lovely, and there is nothing prettier than that long, graceful hood projecting out in front. I don't think there has ever been a better-looking tractor, thanks to Raymond Loewy's design work. Everything about it's appearance is graceful--understated might be the word, and perfectly proportioned. The M is equally pretty, but just a bit two high for its length to be quite as graceful, in my opinion. One of the things IHC did right was make the H and M have the same wheelbase, so that mounted implements, like cultivators, would fit either tractor.
You should be aware that the H and M tractors were available with a low-compression engine for kerosene/distillate, and a high-compression engine for gasoline. The original k/d manifold was a big heavy casting. Eventually, they burned out, and most have probably been replaced with a gasoline-type manifold (the intake tubes are pretty well separated from the exhaust tubes on the manifold). I presume that a lot of the k/d tractors have had their compression raised with either special pistons or having replacing the head. I don't know if there is enough material to shave these heads down to increase the compression much. Besides the manifold, the k/d tractors have a small starting (gasoline) tank on the right, with the cap projecting through the hood. There is also a crank for a radiator shutter, to help in keeping the engine warm when it wasn't under load. Kerosene engines had to be kept very hot in order to vaporize the fuel. If the engine were allowed to cool down, it would spit and sputter something awful until it got hot again. There is a heat gauge that tells you how warm the cooling water is.
The original generators are 3-brush type, I think.
If you get one of these tractors, you may have to look into adjusting the third brush. The light switch, by the way, controls charging. When the lights are off, I think that the charging current goes through a resistor, so that there is never much of a charge going to the battery. When the lights are on, the generator charging rate goes up, as the light switch cuts out the resistance.
I have some information on this somewhere, and would be glad to look for it if you needed it.

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