1954 Farmall Super W-6 TA Wheatland

I am in the process of restoring the above mentioned tractor. It was my fathers but he recently passed away. I am familar with the more popular old red iron, but this one is new to me. What designates the term "Wheatland" is it the wide front? Fenders? I want to put this tractor back completely original being sure not to bastardize it. Any help or guidance would be appreciated.

I`m sure someone will correct me if I`m wrong ,but it`s my understanding that the "W" series tractors are the wheatland version of the Farmall M. If I remember correctly the "W" doesn`t actually mean wheatland, but instead "wheel tractor".I don`t think there is a special wheatland version of a SW6TA. Mark

I forgot to address the wide front question. All "W" series tractors were wide front- non adjustable, I beleve .

This topic will probably get the old opinion mill going again. I believe that W was IHC"s designation for standard tractors. The front axel was non adjustable, as was the rear tread width. The overall profile was more compact, and usually had large fenders with added operators platform. The hitch was set up for pull type implements, and the machines were used primarily for tillage and belt work.
I have a SW6 (no TA) and I have used it for plowing with an IH 3 16 bottom plow. Love it! The TA would just about make it perfect! There is a lot of help on this and other boards, get manuals, and find a copy of Guy Fey"s Origanality Guide For Letter Series. Good luck and have fun with it. Geoff

Thanks to all for the quick responses. So is there such a thing as a Wheatland option for this tractor? My father assured me this was the case, but was he mis informed. My father was the second owner of this tractor. The first owner was in Northwest Canada.

Darin, I just went out to check an old original IH dealers price list from 1954 that I bought when dealer closed up.It lists all options offered,list price and dealer cost. I see no special wheatland option. As I said in earlier post ,the SW6TA is called a wheatland by alot of folks, seeing that a majority of them were used in the larger fields "out west" in the plains .If you`re interested in a copy of the price list pages ,let me know and I`d be happy to send to you. Mark

It's not an "option," it's the style of the tractor. Also known as "standard" or "standard tread," hence the decal on the side of the hood that says "STANDARD."

In those days, IH made two different styles of tractors.

Farmall is the row crop style, which is designed with adjustable tread width and a higher clearance for cultivating row crops like corn and beans.

W tractors carried the designation "McCormick" up until around 1947 or so, then "International" after that. These tractors are purpose-designed for pulling heavy tillage equipment on grain farms where there's no need to fit down between rows with cultivators.

It's been claimed that both Wheatland and Western are what the W stands for, and it remains hotly debated to this day.

By 1954, farmers were starting to figure out that anything a W could do, a Farmall could also do, but the Farmall also gave you flexibility to work row crops. That's why there weren't many Super W6TA tractors made. IH continued making special versions of their larger tractors as "Wheatlands" up into the '66 series in the early 1970's (I know where there's a 1066 Wheatland). About the same time IH dropped the Farmall designation, they stopped making a separate Wheatland version. After that all larger tractors were only made in the "Farmall" row crop style.

When your tractor was built, IH was using the term Standard, not Wheatland. The W stands for wheel, as opposed to the letter T for track (crawler) tractors. Standard tractors were also used outside the Great Plains/wheat/small grain states because they (in particular the W/WD 9) were larger and more powerful than the row crop tractors. I grew up in a vegetable growing area in south Texas where the letter series and the equivalent JD's were common, along with lesser numbers of standard tractors. In that area, crawler tractors were also common for heavy tillage operations. The crawlers disappeared due to the high HP row crops, etc until Cat brought them back in the 70's or 80's.

mkirsch, you sure explained it alot better than I did. Seems to me though ,that the McCormick designation was on the W series up until the SW6TA, then when the W-400 came out they changed to International. As far as the W, I don`t think they`ll ever solve what the W stands for. I know that in talking to Guy Fay about it, that he felt it stood for "wheel tractor". All theories have their supporters . Mark

Here's one with McCormick on it. Hal

Hal, That`s a fine looking machine.Mark

Here's a pic of the repair needed on this Super W-6TA. They had to replace all the bearings in here. Hal

Well, I did say "1947 or so..."

Back before the Farmall was invented, I would agree that W would indicate wheel because there was only one type of wheeled tractor, the standard tread version.

But, with the advent of the Farmall, especially the F series, there were TWO types of wheeled tractors. They continued to refer to the standard tread series with a W up through the W450.

Granted, not everything IH did made sense, so I guess continuing to have the W indicate wheel on standard tread tractors after the Farmalls is possible.

Personally, I like the term Wheatland. It just has a more "romantic" sound to it I guess.

You were only 7 or 8 years off ! . Seriously, it was to clear up any confusion and to help Darin and keep him from looking for non -existant International decals for a SW6TA.Come to think about it, if IH made any industrial SW6TA`s ,might they have had the International decals on the hood ?? About your point on what the W stands for, I agree with you 100% that logically it would make sense that it would be wheatland and can very well understand why people would think that.I always thought that too ,until Guy Fay told us differently at one of our IHCC winter meetings.One thing I`ve learned about Guy is that on IH matters, if he says it`s so,I`m not arguing!

Here is my SW6TA. Like many of these 6's, this one came from Canada. Low serial, 101xx.