Re: F-12 versus F-14

Posted by LenNH on November 07, 2009 at 14:58:07 from (71.192.137.159):

In Reply to: F-12 versus F-14 posted by LenNH on November 05, 2009 at 07:25:56:

Just a few remarks in reply to "Why would anybody want one?" The F-12 was one of the first, if not THE first, all-purpose tractor (that's what they called "cultivating tractors" back in the 20s and 30s) designed for the small farm. Given the diverse kinds of activities on farms of 100 or 150 acres--some acres of wheat, some of corn, some of hay, no one operation took an enormous amount of time. A farmer with a tractor like this could plow up 20 or 30 acres in the spring in a week or so, disk up same in a couple of days, plant the corn in a few days,cultivate for weeds at a fairly leisurely rate until the corn got too high. International all-purpose tractors had a huge variety of equipment that could be attached to them--cultivators of various kinds, plows of several types, a mounted mower, planters--I can't remember anymore just how many things there were. It took just a few years for farmers to let the horses go and get to doing everything with the tractor. I saw this very thing happen on my father's farm. When it comes to speed, it's true the F-12 could be annoying, but then it was designed originally for steel wheels. Anybody who has ever worked much with a steel-wheeled tractor (with REAL LUGS, not old rubber tires bolted to the rims, as in shows) knows that 4 mph is just about the maximum speed that the driver could stand to be on one of these things, that is, if the surface is a gravel road, or even a hard-packed trail through the farm. All steel-wheeled tractors seem to have been designed to do heavy work at about 3 mph, because above that speed they rapidly start wasting power that is needed to drive the lugs into the ground (engineers call this "rolling resistance"). When the F-12 was converted to rubber, 4 mph did seem pretty slow, especially on the road when you were hauling wagonloads of grain or hay. The 7-mph third gear option would have been great, because the tractor would have had plenty of power for hauling and would have slid over the road from a field a mile away in just a few minutes (most farmers in my young days had old wooden-wheeled wagons, so 7 mph would have been plenty fast on washboard roads). By today's standards, the F-12 does not seem terribly comfortable. Engineers back in the 20s and 30s didn't always pay much attention to "ergonomics." The steering wheel was too low, and the brake levers were too short. Still, on steel wheels, you almost never needed brakes. Push in the clutch and a couple of lugs hitting the ground would fetch 'er right up. The automatic turning brakes also meant that you didn't need to think about brakes, as you do on more modern tractors. My father bought his F-12 new in 1938. I know we used it hard all doing the 40s, and I think he continued to use it up through the 1950s. I don't remember that there were ever any repairs required, except for the inevitable fuel pump diaphragm that needed to be replaced at long intervals (this was true on cars back then, too. the diaphragms were not as durable as they are today). The tractor was actually overbuilt (look at an H and see which of the two tractors has the heavier rear axles). This could have been because it was designed for steel wheels, which are certainly harder on axles, bearings and gears. The engine was "modern" in every sense of the word, with full-pressure lubrication, an excellent and responsive variable-speed governor, and good carburetion. It was also designed to run at a speed that was considered "fast" in the 20s--1400 rpms, upped to 1650 without problems on the F-14. The F-12 was very agile compared to most tractors of its day. I have even trimmed rail fences with a mounted mower (drive forward along one rail, stop, raise (by HAND), back out, turn left, back along the other rail, drop, cut, repeat until your right shoulder can't take the lifting any more). The tractor had a fairly short wheelbase, which only added to the ease with which it could be maneuvered in tight spaces. I wish I had a place large enough to justify owning an F-12, a plow, a mounted mower. It would be a real nostalgia trip to be able to use it once in a while. F-12s were everywhere in the 30s and 40s, at least where I grew up. I know that IHC was really smart in setting up a large number of dealers fairly close to one another, so that farmers would buy from them rather than drive 20 or 30 miles to buy a John Deere, Allis, Oliver or what have you. Still, I think the overall quality of IHC products was one reason farmers were faithful to them, even when they began to appear somewhat outdated. In my opinion (I always say "my humble opinion," but my wife says it's not humble; amazing how opinionated old curmudgeons get, isn't it?), the F-12 was a great tractor, and I've tried to give some of the reasons why I think so.

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