m and h

whats the difference between a H & M?

10 hp

M has a bigger engine and just plain all around bigger the the H. Parts from one will not fit on the other by the way. Other then things like tires and wheels and maybe a few other things but not many
Hobby farm

not sure what you are looking for, but the H is a smaller and lighter tractor.
The H was called a 2 bottom plow and the M is a 3 bottom plow.

Look them both up at http://www.external_link/

The difference is that one is the best tractor ever made. The other is the second best tractor ever made. Which is which is another discussion. Seriously just think of them as big and little brothers.

(quoted from post at 08:30:23 08/31/08) 10 hp

Click to expand...

.....and 1,000 lbs more weight and a foot taller (with the M). mike

What do you have now? It used to be H's were less expensive to buy. Not sure if that's true anymore from the looks of things. ...Randy

Kruss: I question the statment best and second best. The main reason we have so many Hs and Ms in good condition is the diesels that followed, soon made those old gassers uneconomical.

The next tractor we had after the letter series was a 560 diesel. It was easy on fuel a lot of days alright. It spent a lot more time in the repair shop than it ever did in the field. There were 5 560's in our area that I can remember and 4 of them were lemons. I was quite surprised when I first came on this site and actually saw people praising them. The 560's around here were all Wheatland types and were used (probably overused/abused) for primary tillage. They just couldn't take it like a WD 9, but that's what they were expected to do.

I respectfully disagree. I believe there are so many because there was a huge demand for them so they made a lot to keep up with that demand. They were in demand because they were great tractors, definately the best of their day. And if numbers sold have anything to do with it, then pehaps they are the best ever.

They came out in 1939 and seems like diesels weren't sold in great numbers until the late sixties, 30 years later. That's a lot of time for them to have been worked plenty. Not to mention there are still many in service today, 70 years later. Both an M and a Super H at our place. The 806D and 706 gasser work more, but the letters still get there time in.

And I'm sure you know the old statistic about which model tractor has supplied the most horsepower ever, the H.

I personally think they are the best ever, but that doesn't make it so. I'm not all that smart.

Compare here. David..........http://www.external_link/

Red: That isn't what I said, everyone knows there were 750,000 Hs or Ms built. I specifically said the reason there are so many around in good condition, is the fact that a lot of them soon got retired from main tractor duty by a new diesel.

My dad and I farmed two generations and were around other farmers using these same tractors. During my lifetime at least one new tractor from each series came to our farm. Based on my experience and the many friends and neighbors I've talked with 06 qnd 56 series were the best IH ever offered.

I've experienced tractors when they had 500 hours, 2,000 hours, 5,000 hours, 10,000 hours and 15,000 hours. I can tell you there are a lot of Hs and Ms around yet to hit the 5,000 hour mark. Not hard to tell when you walk up to a working tractor and have a close look. They show their hours. Even right today I own a SA, hasn't seen 1,500 hours yet and a 140 with less than 700 hours. I also have a 130 that crossed the 10,000 hour mark 20 years ago. They show their hours, much better than their age.

That old H statistic has been outdated for 40 years now. I'm betting each of 806 and 856 had put out more horsepower hours before they were 10 years old than all the 395,000 Hs have in 70 years. Some of these new 350 hp articulateds probably do it in 5 years or less.

Horsepower and horsepower-hours are two different things.

~395,000 tractors at ~25HP each, 9,875,000HP.

The HP numbers went up, but they never made tractors in that quantity again. Not even close. The big 4x4 articulateds of any given model these days number in the single-digit thousands (i.e. <10,000 produced).

As an example, it would take 21,945 450HP tractors to out-power the entire H production. Did they make 21,945 Steiger Panther IIIs?

The only letter series we ever had with anything to keep track of hours was a SMD. I do know that while Dad had his H that it worked at something 365 days of the year with very little maintenance. It had to run every day in a Manitoba winter and it did.

Mkirsch: You forgot one important factor in the equasion, hours on the average H compared to the average hours on the Steiger.

Kruss: Go to what I told Kirsch. Sure the Hs and Ms have been around for a long time, but what is the average hours on them?