Missing badge

[Willard Schlesener]

Model A squrare axle housing badge is missing. Is there another means of identifing the year of the tractor and the correct serial number?
 

[JDNPC]

Willard,

Check with AGURU on this site. He will be able to assist you. He is probably reading your post right now. I know when trying to decipher any tractors age without a serial number plate, pictures and descriptions are worth a thousand words.
Best Regards, Joe
 

[Willard Schlesener]

Joe: what do the initials AGURU stand for? You lost me!! Is there another web site to contact?
I know from what my brother told me it has a square rear axle housing in the rear. I saw a picture of it and it is newer than a 1950 model we had on the farm Thank You
 

[CLW]

A Guru is his handle. He is our A expert. You can get close by checking a parts book or posting pictures of the tractor. Any info will help like does it have a water pump? Where is the choke rod located? Is it all-fuel or gas? There is no way to get it down to the specific tractor but we can get you close. Square axle will make it a early/mid 1950 or newer.
 

[A GURU]

Hi Willard
The short answer to your question is no, you will never be able to determine the serial number that your tractor was without the tag. You can however narrow it down some. As JDNPC said, pictures are frequently helpful.
Square axle housings came along at 650764. I will give you a few other identifying features that may help you narrow things down some more. Once you get it in a certain area maybe there will be more features that will narrow it down even further.
The toolbox was moved from the right to the left side at 655194. The petcocks in the bottom of the block were changed to plugs at 679198 (plugs or petcocks could have been put in at anytime of course). The clutch adjusting disc casting number changed from F795R to A4249R at number 687986. Steel radiator core and factory installed water pump were added at number 700200. The last "A" was 703384. There were some additional, and sometimes confusing changes in fuel tanks and mags/distributors along the line too. check to see what you have on those items and go from there. Maincase heat codes can be of some real assistance up through 1940 but are of little use after that. On very rare occasions the impression left by the tag on the maincase casting can be faintly read, if conditions were just right. Others chime in here because I'm not well versed on the very late "A".
Once you get a rough serial number group picked out I can give you a rough timeline of build date. It's about all that can be done without a tag.
Hope this helps.
 

[Willard Schlesener]

Thank You for the valuable information; appreciate your quick response!