Blowing off steam/RANT

[kmcconaughey]

The ONE thing that <FONT COLOR="ff0000">I</FONT><FONT COLOR="000000">H</FONT> improved upon after the 72, 1x4/5 series.

Older style (top photo).

Improved style (bottom photo) to spread out wear.

 

[rpalmer]

Dennis, I need a BIG rock to crawl under. I can tell from the top picture and the placement of the scissor linkage that that was most likely the case. I was so angry at what seemed to be some customization that bordered on sabotage that I went off. Hey it's a rant right? How did I do? When I get back to that rock shaft I'll take a picture of it to share. It is a "perfect" 45 degree 3/4 - 1" cut half way threw. It's on my 104 #294425 which I place at 1969. Thank you for helping me sleep better tonight.

 

[kide]

Richard:
They're still a general purpose product.... lots of mods are made to better fit the specific needs of an owner or to improve on something the engineers might not have considered before 20-30 years of use (like the grooves I cut in the replacement kingpin bushings for better grease distribution). And WTH do you mean "next owner"?? - mine are going INTO the grave with me....

Kraig: Uhhhhhh what happened to "PERFECTION"???

 

[kmcconaughey]

Kendell, I did concede that <FONT COLOR="ff0000">I</FONT><FONT COLOR="000000">H</FONT> made ONE improvement... However I will point out that the change was to an IMPLEMENT not the tractor itself so I rescind my concession.

 

[kredlinger]

I don't mind all the newer tin & throw away tractors now. Alot of the locals bring them to me to fix or weld braces on the deck the first time they wack the curb or a tree! I've replaced several of the ohv engines with new or good used engines so they can get by for the year. Every winter, one guy does bring me his little 2000 series MTD CC to service over winter & each year I have to repair or replace something but it is still running good since 1995.
Meanwhile, the green in my pants keeps burning a hole in the pocket for a new project!

 

[dfrisk]

RICHARD - It was a Good rant, but no need to find a rock....There's a couple Other things I've found on My '68 vintage 72 I got in Jan. '81 that I've changed a bit to make it more useful and durable. I'm like Kendall, I'm not worried about the NEXT Owner...SON can do what He wants with it after I'm gone!

KRAIG - Thanks for the pic's. And don't worry, the 72/1X4/1X5 CC's are about as Totally right as ANYTHING IH ever did. I'm reading articles in My new favorite antique tractor magazine HERITAGE IRON about M&W Gear Company and how they got started making improvement parts for FARMALL M's & H's. They got REALLY BIG Really Fast making parts for what is probably one of the two or three BEST farm tractors ever built. The article says IH supported their dealers when selling the M&W parts and IH engineering actually incorporated a LOT of the ideas into later model tractors.

 

[mhomrighausen]

Dennis Frisk. Remember the M&W Tenderfoot package to help ease the shifting on the big IH 06 and up tractors? Then the improved Tenderfoot II package? The Tenderfoot II package was developed by a gentleman from Tipton, Iowa, named Jerry Elijah. Jerry was working as a mechanic for the local JD dealer at the time and his brother was farming with IH equipment. Jerry is an absolute top of the line mechanic and for years has owned his own repair service in Tipton. When anyone needed something to be done right for their diesel tractor they sought out Jerry. I once asked him about how he developed the Tenderfoot II package. He said that he literally studied all he could about hydraulics and the IH system for over a year until he got it right. Truly a wonderful gentleman.

Here is another story about a farmer and his 1456. The local IH dealer got a call to come out and pick up the 1456. The tractor was if I recall pulling a 6 bottom plow and was well... turned up a bit. What the mechanics were told was while plowing the farmer's knee "accidently" hit the ether button under a hard pull. ALL the headbolts were totally stripped and the valve cover almost touched the bottom of the hood. Needless to say... that happened only once to that farmer.

Then there was the time Dean Bassett got an Allis Chalmers 190XT traded in for a new 966. The dealer went out to deliver the 966 and pick up the Allis. There was a slight problem. The rearend of the Allis literally locked up when the bearings went out while the farmer wss plowing. It took a loader tractor, the 966, chains, cussing and fussing, just to get the plow unhooked and the tractor out of the furrow. The whole thing locked so tight the engine wouldn't even turn over. To get the Allis on the truck to go back to the dealer took the loader tractor pushing, the truck's cable, and the 966 pulling ever so gently so as not to pull the tractor off the truck bed....AND a whole five gallon bucket of grease on the truck bed. Dean Bassett's mechanics literally torched the whole set of gears and shafts out to fix the tractor.

One more story. My senior year band director told me this one. It seems the JD fellas were givng a show to some foreign dealers around the Rock Island, Moline area. For some unknown reason all the tractors and equipment they were demonstrating was givng them nuance or tizzy-fit problems. One little thing after another. HOWEVER... in the field next to the demo area a farmer had his big Allis Chalmers out just a plowing away. It soon became apparent that the foreigners were more interested in the next door activities than the ones they were supposed to be viewing. The green fellas sent a couple of people over to try and get the farmer to stop plowing at least for the day. When the farmer found out what ws going on he didn't stop for lunch or anything until he was sure the demostration was over.

I know... I know a little about a lot of stupid stuff sssooo... I'll let you tell the fellas about how the "limited edition" yellow and white Cyclo planters came about. (You do remember those, don't you?

 

[dfrisk]

MARLIN - By the late '60's M&W was having problems trying to develop "Stuff" for tractors. I kinda stopped watching what all new products they developed every year. Most of Our area had "Gone Green" so I never paid much attention to the Tender-Foot kits for IH's. The HP wars in ag tractors was at an all time level and they all seemed to have enough gears, live Hyd, live PTO. They made a LOT of money making their "Add Power sleeve & piston kits". Dad's old '63 4010 already had the "4020 Kit" in it when He bought it in Dec. '68 but it still burned 4-5 Quarts of oil every tank of fuel, and like most 4010/4020's it popped a head gasket fall plowing in '71 so it got ran over towards Galva/Kewanee, IL to Warner's Turbo shop and got a complete inframe rebuild with M&W pistons. After Terry Warner did a little more inj. pump work to it, it was making about 105 HP without a turbo and was finally a good 5-bottom tractor. Terry was doing R&D work for M&W, was the largest Steiger Tractor dealer east of the Mississippi, and did probably 100 farm tractor rebuilds/year.
Probably HALF of the 4010/4020's in Our neighborhood got M&W turbo's. Our old clay hills would pull a stock 4020 pulling 5-14's down into 3rd gear, and everyone wanted to run in 5th!
Your comment about accidently hitting the ether button makes Me wonder WHY anyone still has those kits still on those old tractors anymore.
There used to be two good Allis dealers in the Q-C area, I think it was Dewitt Implement down on Indian Bluff Road in Milan just west of the back side of the Moline Airport, and another dealer up around DeWitt, IA. I bought a LOT of CC parts from Dean Bassett over the years. He used to have a "Cub Cadet Store" in an old gas station on State Street in Bettendorf west of the I-74 bridge. First 982 I ever saw in person was there. I couldn't understand why ANYONE needed a mower that big back in about 1985. Now that I have one I wished it was Bigger! In '85 I had a lot 75 ft X 170 ft. Now I have over two acres!
Allis made some good tractors, however they kinda didn't put enough BEEF in the rearends of the 190 & 190XT. It was too much like the D-19 which was 60-70 HP and the XT was 93 hp.
JD has a test farm out south of Rt 150 just east of Coal Valley, back in spring of '78 I ran that UPS route for six weeks. I got my little brown truck stuck in a frost heave right in front of the entrance and a local farmer pulled Me out with His old JD 60. While I waited for Him to get His tractor out I watched a new BIG green 2WD tractor trying to pull a 6 or 7 bottom plow in really wet corn ground. They were taking pictures of the tractor & plow for an ad. What I bet the ad wouldn't show was the BIG articulated 4X4 at the front end of the 100 ft steel cable pulling the 2WD tractor & plow.

I do remember when the Cyclo planters were released, but I never heard about "Yellow & White" Cyclo planters. I remember IH bought the design off two farmers from up in MN. JD had their "Plate-less Planter" on the market for a year or two and IH needed something NOW! My old next-door Neighbor was the General Forman at the E.Moline plant on the planter line.