1944 H weight reduction plan

[PretendFarmer]

I have a 1944 H I inherited from family a year ago. Some of you know that, and some of you know I am planning on pulling 3500# class with it.
I know this has probably been discussed before, but I am interested in any ideas for weight reduction.
I managed to pick up a Wico magneto for it. For now, I will keep the distributor on the shelf. In our club, 3500# doesn't really require massive power. We also run a long chain, 6 feet I think. Most of the competition in 3500 is Farmall C's, an occasional Farmall B, early John Deere B's, John deere 420's, and a MT. So an H should do really well.
I am thinking that if I can get an H into 3500 in our club, I can run second gear when pulling the transfer sled. Being a long chain pull, I will have the hook point about 25" back from the rear axle. Maybe more.
My cousin rebuilt the motor a couple years ago. I haven't run a compression test yet. I would have to imagine he put in an overbore kit and possibly stepped head pistons. But I don't know. What I do know, is it has a distillate manifold still, so its likely got the distillate head. I'm thinking that I will be seeking a gas head.
So right now, my weight reduction plans are to remove the belt pulley housing and make a cover. The generator is coming off too, the oil bath filter is coming off and I will use a cone filter.
It only has one tire and rim on the front for now.
So it will be running with no generator, no battery, no lights, no belt pulley, no oil bath filter, no belly pump.
The tractor will have old worn down firestone field and road 12.4-38's on 12" rims. I think they are 2 ply tires, so they aren't heavy. There will only be two weight racks made from aluminum.
If that doesn't get it down to 3400# or less, I will have to remove the PTO. The starter is going to be the last thing and I am hoping it doesn't come down to that as I want to crank it over with a jumper box.
I want it to still look like a Farmall H. Going with pressed steel wheels is not of interest to me, especially because its a long chain pull(because it a predominately John Deere club).

I don't think I'm venturing an uncharted frontier with this, but I figured I would post this in the Farmall section. The tractor is pulling in stock classes, so major motor mods aren't on the table. Even if it has an overbore kit in, that would get it to around 158 cubes and in our club, should be plenty for 3500#.
Thanks for any input.

 

[D beatty]

You must be pulling in a modified class because around here you couldn't talk off most that stuff your talking about in farm stock class. Your tire are likely 4 ply I have never seen a 2 ply rear tractor tire.

 

[Farmall43]

Instead of the cast centers for the rear tires see about finding an old set of cut offs from an F-12. They are very light compared to the cast centers. And they do look pretty cool as well. Flat spoke preferably.

 

[TJV]

Check your rules I heard an argument once to be farm stock it had to have a pto or pulley in our area pull

 

[Highwayman]

Never get there with those cast rear centers

 

[PretendFarmer]

(quoted from post at 10:30:25 07/09/16) Never get there with those cast rear centers

Could you be specific as to why? I have seen H's in 3500 with cast centers.
Is it because its a 1944?

 

[PretendFarmer]

Heres the main reason I got the tractor. My cousin needed 4th gear the most. Over recent years, it has been popping out of fourth. As you can see, the gear is quite worn. I can also wiggle it on the shaft itself. The other gears seem normal and there doesn't appear to be any play on the input bearing.

 

[PretendFarmer]

I need only 1st 2nd and 5th gears. So I have no real need to replace that 4th gear as of now.

 

[PretendFarmer]

(quoted from post at 21:20:48 07/08/16) You must be pulling in a modified class because around here you couldn't talk off most that stuff your talking about in farm stock class. Your tire are likely 4 ply I have never seen a 2 ply rear tractor tire.

As it turns out they are 6 ply tires. I don't know what I was thinking.....

 

[PretendFarmer]

(quoted from post at 21:20:48 07/08/16) You must be pulling in a modified class because around here you couldn't talk off most that stuff your talking about in farm stock class. Your tire are likely 4 ply I have never seen a 2 ply rear tractor tire.

The only questionable thing is removing the PTO. Club rules specify 700 PTO rpms so its kind of implied that the PTO is required but I see several guys in our club run with no PTO and I have removed the PTO from our Farmall C with no complaints yet.
I would like to leave it on but I suspect I will need to take it off to lighten it up.

 

[D beatty]

In this area and club farm stock has to run cast centers.

 

[jon aller]

My first H was an early 40s model. I used a 39 deck plate because it is lighter. I also used F12 centers welded to double bevel rims with 14.9
x38 Field and Road Clones. No generator, belt pulley, pto, light bar and I gutted the air filter housing. I added probably 120 pounds in weight
brackets. I still remember my first weigh in. I weighed 220 lb and I had to drain 5 gal of transmission oil to make 3500.

 

[PretendFarmer]

Yea I weigh about that, depending on how many beers I had the night before.
since I am running 12.4's they should be a little lighter. I will only be adding about 25lbs of weight brackets, and Id like them to be aluminum. Its looking very likely that I'll remove the stock drawbar and make a lighter hitch for it. That drawbar has to weight 75lbs or so.

 

[PretendFarmer]

(quoted from post at 14:49:27 07/09/16) I also used F12 centers welded to double bevel rims

I had to drain 5 gal of transmission oil to make 3500.

Are f-14 centers the same?

How did it work out with only 1 gallon of oil? Did the gears get lubrication?

 

[jon aller]

As far as I can remember F12 and F14 are the same. The difference between F12/14 and H is H is 2 1/2 inch axle F12/14 is 2 5/8. When we built the first H we shimmed the
difference with soup can sections because we were too cheap to use new axle bolts. When I built my last one I used new grade 8 bolts on the axle clamps and it worked
great. The little oil that was left in the transmission/diff, I would run in road gear once and a while to spray the inside. It ran that way for 20 years, but all it
did was pulling.

 

[jon aller]

There are tons of little things you can do that will all add up. Take out all of the lock washers and use thread lock, replace the clutch push rod with a tube, replace
the steering shafts with tubes, pull out every other deck plate bolt and seal with foam, etc.

 

[cornerpost]

What does it weigh now? Years ago I
pulled my 52 H in local antique pulls.
With belly pump, belt pulley, and I
think one weight each side was about
4500. Think you will need some helium
to get under 3700 but I cannot remember
if I had well weights on or not.

 

[PretendFarmer]

(quoted from post at 17:20:12 07/09/16) What does it weigh now? Years ago I
pulled my 52 H in local antique pulls.
With belly pump, belt pulley, and I
think one weight each side was about
4500. Think you will need some helium
to get under 3700 but I cannot remember
if I had well weights on or not.

My 1950 weighs about 4000 with no one on it. That's with no hyd pump. The belt pulley is still there, it has a generator, starter, pto, and that's counting a very heavy rear weight rack and wheelie bar setup that's about 150 lbs.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

How many pounds could you save by removing the 3rd and 4th gear trains and replacing them with aluminum spacers?

 

[PretendFarmer]

(quoted from post at 15:12:20 07/11/16) How many pounds could you save by removing the 3rd and 4th gear trains and replacing them with aluminum spacers?

Probably not much. And I need fourth gear anyways because its fifth gear too. And I need road gear.
I'm gonna go weigh it as soon as I can get this magneto fixed and get my 12.4 tires on. Then go from there.
3500# class is +- 80 so it can weigh 3580 with the operator on. But I would like to have the tractor weigh no more than 3350 with no operator on it.

 

[sflem849]

(quoted from post at 09:08:46 07/09/16) As far as I can remember F12 and F14 are the same. The difference between F12/14 and H is H is 2 1/2 inch axle F12/14 is 2 5/8. When we built the first H we shimmed the
difference with soup can sections because we were too cheap to use new axle bolts. When I built my last one I used new grade 8 bolts on the axle clamps and it worked
great. The little oil that was left in the transmission/diff, I would run in road gear once and a while to spray the inside. It ran that way for 20 years, but all it
did was pulling.

It shouldn't be hard to find a set of H cutoffs. More than one guy in our club have them.

 

[Whiskey Bent]

Are the cut offs lighter than pressed steel? I know you dont want pressed steel im just wondering?

 

[PretendFarmer]

I would guess they are slightly heavier than pressed steel. I wouldn't mind a set of cutoffs. I have been looking around here for months and haven't found a set of steel wheels to convert.

 

[jimmy2liter]

Your never gonna get it to hook up anyways and your H plan with an overbore kit isn't really a lot of cubes for a 3500 lbs class anywhere unless your running a true farm stock class. Without completely stripping an H and running pressed steel youll be hard pressed to get to 3500 from what I have seen. You still have to put the power to the ground and pulling transfer sled or stone boat I bet a super C beats you 9 out of 10 times but hell what do I know. Could always pop a couple slugs into the block those holes will lighten it up

 

[PretendFarmer]

I have seen and pulled against Farmall H's in 3500lbs class with cast centers.