Posted by LenNH on November 29, 2008 at 12:21:02 from (71.235.191.159):
In Reply to: IHC Newby question posted by Scott(Ks.) on November 23, 2008 at 13:20:35:
A wholly unhelpful comment: I "graduated" from an F-20, a 10-20 and an F-12 to an H when my father bought a used H about 1951. The H was touted in IHC literature as "full two-plow," and I guess it was, IF you didn't expect it to have the kind of torque the old girls had (F-20 and 10-20 both designed for steel, which wasted a lot of power, so the engines put out a lot more power than what arrived at the drawbar). The difference in comfort was astonishing. I can't prove this in any way, but I am pretty well convinced that the H and M were the first tractors that provided a really comfortable environment for the driver: flat platform, well-placed pedals, steering wheel up at the right level, a seat that could be raised to allow standing, and, with a muffler, decently-low noise levels. I wasn't too wild about location of the shifter, which allowed you to bump your arm if you tried a quick shift into R, 2 or 4, and I found the throttle a bit of a reach if you were sitting sideways watching for clumps of grain getting ready to clog up the combine (I don't think the design engineers spent much time on farms seeing how their ideas would work out). The F-20 is a clumsy thing for light work-- hauling, raking, mowing and the like. The H is great for this--much more like an F-14 in its ease of handling as well as in its relatively-small but high-revving engine (high back then, anyway; a dealer once told my father that those engines "ran too fast, and they won't last"--but they did). I used to grumble that the H didn't have the torque of the F-20, to pull through a hard-spot in the ground, for example, but I always loved it anyway. There is still no tractor that equals Raymond Loewy's design--the lines and the colors are perfect, perfect, perfect, and overall, it is a delight to drive, even today. I knew a farmer a few years ago who had developed a huge fruit-and-vegetable farm, and he used nearly 40 of the letter-series tractors in very specialized ways. He left the cultivators, mowers, and other equipment on certain tractors, and never had to spent time switching stuff. The entire collection of "old stuff," which he had had brought up to snuff and repainted to perfection, actually cost him less than buying one new tractor of the larger variety. The poor fellow died very suddenly in his late 40s. The family couldn't continue, so sold the farm and the machines. The auction lineup of these old beauties--almost all red--was something to behold. I am sure this isn't much help in the practical sense, but I do hope you really enjoy driving this still very-useful machine.
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