20th Annual Red Power Roundup, July 23-25, 2009

[kmcconaughey]

Vince...

 

[vthomley]

Kraig, that was the 1st 1066 we saw, Andrew said it did not count for it as a puller...

I spotted the other from a couple rows away, then prayed it was indeed a 1066.

I was starting to add up all my Cub Cadets, figured I could trade them all for a 1066 rear tire...

 

[vthomley]

Hopefully I'll remember the camera and then post a few pics tomorrow.

There was a 1566 there with 3.1 hours on the tac! Wow!

 

[dfrisk]

VINCE - I liked the 1586 also. But someone who actually drove the tractor posted over at RPM's forum says it has closer to 70-80 hours on it, but it still FEELS like a new tractor. It belonged to C/IH and it was used for training service tech's about hyd. repair on the older 86-series tractors.

Kinda like "The LAST FARMALL, the 5488 FWA, when it was at Penfield back in '02 I think it was, there were at least TWO data units in the cab, tach, hour meter, etc. The digital unit just unplugs & plugs into the dash and can be switched in a minute.

 

[rpalmer]

When I was around farm tractors, spokes were considered rare. Is this the case here?

 

[kmcconaughey]

Richard, spoked rims are typical for an F series tractor, F-12, F-14, F-20, F-30, and the Regular and older tractors.

 

[dross]

Richard the flat spokes in your picture were cut down steel wheels, Least that was the story on the old f-14 I had. I knew the brothers that bought it new, they had it converted after WWII.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Dave, you mean it started out as wheels like this?

 

[dross]

Thats the center section of my old f-14 for sure, but the "cleats" were different, they were cast pieces. those brothers still had a few of them laying around in late 60's.
Thanks for the pictures everybody, Wish I could have got away to go.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Dave, yes there were a variety of "cleat" designs, so many that it seems almost like each one is unique.

I posted the photo to indicate a steel "rimed" wheel. Hank Will took this photo, (I cropped it to show just the wheel) not sure who the tractor belongs to (perhaps Todd Markle) I do not believe it was at RPRU this year.

 

[snicklas]

I understand one reason why the did away with the steel wheels and cleats (tearing up the roads for one) but were the steel cleats better at transfering power the the ground, better than a rubber "chevron" ag tire?

 

[dylschmidt]

HAD A GREAT TIME AT RED POWER ROUND-UP

MY 1650-4 MET ITS GRANDPA

 

[rpalmer]

Man.... I got to get to one of these! Thanks very,very much for the photos and information Guys!

I think this antique equipment is just too freaking cool. (and I don't even know why) And I love it.

 

[dross]

Scott, When the cleats were around there wasn't much problem with paved roads. the problem was they were'nt much for floatation. My f-14 wieght was about 3200 pounds Imagine trying to get that trough a plowed field or any kind of wet conditions.

 

[mhomrighausen]

I had a 1936 F20 (sn 68,399) that had the French and Hecht spoke wheels all around. I put steel wheels on the back for in the winter to help break up the ice. As for using it in plowed ground or mud the one thing I found was the width of the rim made all the difference in the world. It was one of the more common wider rims so traction/flotation wasn't a problem. A narrow rim steel wheel would always sink quicker due to the lack of surface area. My F20 weighed in at 4200# with or without steel wheels. I literally had to sign over the real and toy tractors over to my three children when I went through my divorce otherwise the ex was going to sell them and pocket the $$$. Even though all three kids owned the tractors the oldest son decided that HE needed the money so he sold all the real tractors and pocketed the money. My younger brother is safekeeping the toy tractors for me so the same won't happen to them.

I love all the pictures. Seeing the correct color F12 and F20s reminded me of someone that recently had an F20 on Ebay painted what they said was the "correct" Gray. I e:mailed and asked where their source was for the correctness. I simply informed them that as a child in the late 1950s early 60s I would see an always shedded all original F20.... and it was nowhere near that color. The seller never replied back.

 

[thoffman]

When McCormick-Dering/International Harvester changed the color from gray to red the reasoning was they would be easier to see when traveling on the road. In the 30's more and more farmers were traveling to different field via roads. Yes the roads were s--t but the steel wheeled trators still beat the hell outta' ya'. I beleive it was Barny Olfield(sp) and the Goodyear Tire Company did a lot of displays with Barny and High Speed Allis Chalmers tractor showing the advantages of rubber tire. If you ever see a old (39) "H" or "M" with the standard steel wheels the 5th gear was usually blocked out.

 

[dmerkle]

More Red Power Pictures

 

[dross]

Marlin I feel your pain of divorce. kept my tools my truck and a bag of clothes. Just had a conversation with a friend on the phone about the type of finish versus correct. I don't remember any tractors paint being anything more than it was, generally one color to down rust. the stuff with re-doing tractors today run the gauntlet, Concourse, restored, overrestored, restified, redone. or painted. I'll go back to my cave now. dave

 

[mhomrighausen]

Tom H. You are right on with the steel wheels beating one's body up. I am not trying to be smart with this... the ex wife and other women would not ride the F20 at all in the winter and unless the ground was really soft in the spring and summer not then either. It literally hurt their chest area big time. To get the F20 to turn over and start when the temps dropped waaayyy down I always kept some kerosene on hand. I put about a cup full in the crankcase and the cranking/starting process became much easier. I had to repeat the kerosene each time since it would evaporate while running. I think IH put that in their owner's manuals all the way up to the 56 Series tractors. It doesn't hurt the engine in the least bit.

Another thing is the FARMALL Regulars and McCormick tractors (1020,1530, 2236) were painted a slightly different gray. A little more on the lighter-not so much blue side. In 1974 while on our honeymoon, my bride and I stopped near Nashua, Iowa where we met a gentleman named Clark Thomas. He told us the first (this is where I can't remember the model however I believe it was the 2236) 2236 tractors were painted the same (Forrest or Hunter?) green as the stationary IH engines. They were billed as "the next big repalcement tractor". That was IH's demonstrator color back then.

Yes... I still have the pictures we took of old tractors while on our honeymoon. And no... the 1020 we came across wasn't painted correctly either.

Did anyone see any FARMALL standard hitches on the H,M and newer tractors with the U shaped drawbar still curved upward at the show? If so then the tractor didn't do much heavy load drawbar work. The U shape drawbars came from the factory with the upward bend. The bend straightened out after many years of usage.

One final thing. The decals on the F series and McCormick tractors had TWO shades of gold on the outside of the decals. So many of the so-called genuine reproductions only have the single gold on the outer edge. That included the tank and the two decals across the back axles.

 

[mgonitzke]

Speaking of red and gray...my dad's 1926 Regular is red, although most I've seen have been gray, including later ones and some F-20s. Did they really make the changeover that gradually?