Identifying production year of Farmall H by sight

[Cdog2cool4u]

I've heard/seen people that are way more experienced than me look at a tractor and based on a particular detail can tell you what year it was made. Short of checking the serial number plate. Are there any details on an H someone can use to identify what year it is/is not by sight? I'm looking around to buy one and I'm interested in learning more from the vast wealth of information that this community has to offer especially because a lot of y'all have forgotten more about this hobby than I have learned.

This post was edited by Cdog2cool4u on 12/06/2023 at 02:36 am.

 

[Charlie M]

I doubt someone can narrow down a Farmall h based on just seeing it to the year it was made. There were changes made over the course of production and one can tell what year that started looking at a tractor
but the change could have gone on for the remainder of production. By now some changes could have been done as an upgrade by the owner. Example would be going to the larger PTO shaft. I think the larger size
was standard in 1943 but older tractors could have been up graded to the larger size anytime after that and still can be today.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

I can tell you from experience, that knowledge like that is not obtained by drinking from a fire hose, having someone just brain dump it into a forum post. Entire books have been written on this subject. For your H you might want to pick up the Farmall Letter Series Originality Guide by Guy Fay.

The knowledge obtained over a long period of time little by little by listening to those around you, observing with your own eyes, reading forum posts, to start. You need to become the "tractor nerd."

Couple of bits on the H, to get you started: You can tell an extremely early H, a 39 or early 40, by the presence of a large slot in the operator's platform, and/or the hood being held on by 1/4 turn fasteners, called Dzus "zoos" fasteners, which look like large screws from a distance. You can tell a "wartime" H by the cast iron shift knob.

Overall though the H is a bad example of a tractor that can be aged by sight. If someone looks a one from a distance and says, that's a 49, they probably already looked up the serial number, and are jerking your chain.

 

[Leroy]

Never knew an H had a small PTO shaft, Ours was a 1941 model got in 48 and traded of it 84. And it had the standard PTO that was used heavily. The earlier ones had a tall oil filter while later ones had a short oil filter. And ours had non reversable front wheels.

 

[D Slater]

41 H on farm had the nonadjustable hubs, low pressure radiator, starter switch mounted in rear tank support on it, tall oil filter canister and other things. Changed out PTO to late type. Counter shaft splined PTO started at serial 45614 but a short PTO was used up to 117999 so a late type would replace it without changing counter shaft like the early short type PTO. H and M would have hundreds of changes over production if every small thing was counted. Actually started to write a book one time for myself of changes to H and M and serial numbers. Gave it up after most of a notebook on just a H as to much work.

 

[Janicholson]

I agree it is a difficult task even if the tractors were as delivered from the factory. Farmer modifications and after market attachments further confuse the issue. The only things that show at the drive by distance is the type of PTO (flat or sticking out, and the slot in the platform of the early 39-41 tractors). It was a pretty stable tractor design for 14 years. Jim

 

[redforlife]

To tell the difference for each year would
be tuff.

A number of characteristics were special to
the 39 or early 2 or 3 years of production.
The Deering name was dropped from decal
somewhere in mid-production. After the
drop, decal only had McCormic.

The 3 position light switch was only seen
on the later models. Not sure if they were
all that way, or if the voltage regulator
just became an option towards later
production.

An early, mid, or late production might be
easy enough to do. But to decipher a single
year difference as in 49 or 50 or a 41 or
42 gets tuffer to do.

Might be much simpler to learn the casting
letters and which letter goes with what
year. You might need to referr to this
anyways, even if you know what the changes
were. Just because one has a cut out
instead of a regulator doesn't narrow it
down to 1 year. Other than what's only seen
on a 39, the rest of the changes included
more than one year. And when you get into
'its got that but not this', it might take
casting codes to figure it out anyways.

 

[RTR]

I don't know a ton about the differences of Farmall H tractors, but isn't the seat style an indicator on the early ones?

This post was edited by RTR on 12/11/2023 at 06:17 am.

 

[thdrduck]

The seats were different but many early seats were replaced with what was considered a seat easier on the hind quarters. I own a 1940 with the tall oil filter and trough in the floor plate but a newer seat.

 

[D Slater]

After top covers with slot the next early covers only had two bolt holes to mount seat base before a switch to 4 bolts.

 

[gene bender]

just l;earn where the cast codes are located and how to read them take something with you to clean them up so you get a good read

 

[Dennis K (WA)]

I believe the engine s/n matched the chassis on a 'H'. Assuming it has the original engine. Hard to see on a drive by though.