Farmall I-4 question

farmerwannabe · Dec 30, 2008

Hi guys. I ran across an odd looking tractor recently. The fella said it was a Case, but when I looked at it, it"s definitely a Farmall with the tag listing it as an I-4. The seat is VERY odd...sits way out the back on a round tube sticking straight back and on the driver"s side there"s an auxiliary hydraulic pump that runs rams for a front-mounted snow plow. Looks very odd. The person selling it said it was owned by the military and has the documentation for that, as well as documentation (I live in Michigan) from Wisconsin certifying it as an antique. No pto, no rear hitch other than a drawbar. Wide-front. That seat and pump are REALLY weird looking..the seat"s original, but what about the pump out there? It"s belt driven. I"ve not seen one quite like it before. They want to trade it for some hay, but I don"t know what the heck I"d do with it not having a PTO. Can"t find data about it in the tractor books. Any info. about it you guys might know? Thanks again...don"t know if I want it, but pretty neat to see anyway!

John M · Dec 30, 2008

International I-4s didnt have factory hydraulics, and doughtful most of the came with PTO. Seat sounds right. Might be worth it, depending on how much hay they want for it.

farmerwannabe · Dec 30, 2008

Hi John. Thanks for the reply. This hydraulic set-up is definitely different than the belly-style pump on our 1942 H. I was wondering if it was something that could be ordered as an option. Looks like it fits very well, and runs off a belt from the crankshaft pulley. You're right, it doesn't have a PTO out back.

John M · Dec 30, 2008

Probably aftermarket hydraulics.I have heard of a pump that fit where the belt pulley was mounted, but of the 7 or 8 times Ive heard abou them, noone could ever answer the question if it was IH add-on or aftermarket. What type of documaentation does he have saying its a military tractor?

farmerwannabe · Dec 30, 2008

Well, honestly, he told me about the documents but I didn't actually lay eyes on it. I wanted to find out a little about the tractor before getting into all that. I didn't want to get his hopes up if I ended up not wanting it. He wants the equivalent of about $1200 worth of hay for it. Runs good and has good tires. Trying to figure out what the heck I'd do with it. That seating arrangement is REALLY a concern for little 'ole 300 lb. me. =)

Athol Carr · Dec 30, 2008

The seat sound like a standard McCormick-Deering W-4, or Internatioanl I-4 seat, the tube is similar to that of the Farmalls H and M but without the continuous curve of the Farmall seats. The W-4/I-4 pipe has the bend near the rear end as the seat is lower than on the Farmalls. The Orchard model O-4/OS-4 pipe bends down first behind the transmission then up at bit to lower the seat position.

Janicholson · Dec 30, 2008

With an add on live hydraulic, and pretty good rubber I would do it if the hay were made reasonably, and was for sale, and the money was not operation/livelyhood money. A PTO can probably be fit with little trouble. unless special trans gears were used in it. It sounds cool and pretty unique to me. JimN

farmerwannabe · Dec 30, 2008

Thanks for the reply guys. It is unique looking, to say the least. The seat sits way back in mid-air. I"d HATE to be on that thing if it were to break loose and you were pulling something!

Janicholson · Dec 30, 2008

I fell off of a Moline U that had worn seat brackets (not as fool proof as the Farmall tube)
I was going Warp11 down a gravel road. I held on to the steerig wheel and was dragging along (Indiana Jones style) when the right rear hit a 14" phone pole. I was brused up some, but not killed. The brother and friend driving behind me thought I was dead meat till I stood up out of the ditch! JimN (don't let this unrelated story disuade your decision.)

farmerwannabe · Dec 30, 2008

Jim, that story does not instill confidence! Glad you didn't get hurt worse. Do you know what options were available on these industrial IH's?

John M · Dec 30, 2008

I can tell you this, it aint no fun when they break witout anything behind it too! Mine didnt accually break, more like it came loose and just slid back a litle each time I pushed in the clutch. Thankfully my brother was standing behind it and was able to turn off the switch before any "serious" damage occurred.

Anonymous-0 · Dec 30, 2008

not sure but i beleive a pto was an option as was a belt pulley. if i'm right there should be a steel plate where the pto would be, to have pto this plate is removed and a shaft and shift assembly is installed., same situation for belt pulley.

Janicholson · Dec 30, 2008

First the seat on the MO was held on by four links that were loose in the holes/pins. they acted like a parallelogram to keep the seat level. They had no failsafe, There is no history of farmall seats of the type on that tractor failing. Though nothing on a early tractor had safety guarantee written on it.
All farming options were available, so looking there might help caseih.com search for parts.
Plus the purchaser often made special gizmoes to do particulat tasks from drives to electrical systems. A foot throttle was also a common specification for easy speed changes during use other than field work. My brother's I-9 has few extras, but has a foot throttle, JimN

steelfronts · Dec 30, 2008

An I 4 would most likely have a gas pedal and bigger than "normal" front wheels with solid front wheels.

Harold H · Dec 30, 2008

Farmerwannabe,

The tractor is a International, not Farmall, I-4. It is the industrial version of the McCormick W-4 which was the standard/wheel version of the Farmall H row crop. PTO was an option. It was standard with a pintal hitch but a regllar drawbar was optional. The hydraulic system was aftermarket added to work the blade. Main differences in the McCormick W-4 farm tractor and the International I-4 industrial tractor were: different tire sizes and tread type, foot accelerator standard on I-4, different gearing on I-4, different fenders and platform on I-4, pintle hitch standard on I-4, heavy duty front axle optional on I-4, hydraulic brakes optional on I-4.

Harold H

Wardner · Dec 30, 2008

If Harold H doesn't see this thread, go to the Red Power forum and post there.

IH and others fitted belt driven pumps to a bracket that attached to the governor cover bolts. Other pumps were mounted in line with the crankshaft and attached to the front of the "tub".

There are probably 10 or so options founds in the back of the parts book. Most would be interchangeable with the H. They would include hour meters, intake and exhaust options, and such. One specific I-4 attachment would be the pintel hitch offered in two different configurations.

farmerwannabe · Dec 30, 2008

Harold and others, thanks for the replies. I"m guessing the power would be about the same as an H? Do you guys think this tractor would be best used as a collector or are they not worth all that much to the point they should be used for snowplowing, etc?
Thanks again!

Janicholson · Dec 30, 2008

Why not both. THey are cool units. JimN

Andy Motteberg · Dec 30, 2008

I-4 is the same engine as the H. Sounds like a cool tractor, why not buy it?

Farmall I-4 question

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