I wrote a couple of notes a while back about what it was like to use the really old iron day in and day out on the farm. Several people wrote that they appreciated the notes, so I thought I'd have some more fun recalling another of the old ones I "grew up on."
My grandfather bought one of the first overhead-valve F-12s in 1933, on steel, of course. Sometime in the 30s, he had the steels cut off and 40" rubber installed. This is the only way I remember this tractor. I drove it on his farm when I would visit for a few days every summer. (Aside, and fond memory: My grandfather farmed with my uncle, who normally did all the tractor work, but during my visits, I got to do all the tractor work, AND I got paid 20 bucks at the end of the week! (Go to an internet inflation calculator to figure out what $20 in 1943 was worth in today's money). This is one of the reasons I have such fond memories of this kindest of grandfathers.
My father bought a new F-12 in 1938, with the big castiron wheels and 40" Goodyears. I was "bound, bent and billy-be-damned" that I was going to drive, and somehow managed to get up on that thing and "drive" it when I was about 8. I couldn't reach the pedals, so somebody else had to jump on the drawbar and swing his left leg over the axle to the clutch pedal. Mostly I drove with somebody on the drawbar for a while, or else alone in the field doing a slower-than-slow job like picking up windrowed hay with a pull-behind loader. As soon as I could scoot down far enough to disengage the clutch, I did things alone from then on. I think I was actually disking and maybe even plowing before I was 10. Man, I wouldn't let a little squirt like me drive a tractor alone in the field at that age! Wonder if a farmer could get away with that these days, what with OHSA looking over our shoulders?
The F-12 was a curious mixture of what I think of as "new" technology (fairly high-speed engine, short stroke, full-pressure lubrication) with some aspects that resemble previous generations (like the big, wide gears in the transmission). Driver comfort was not a big issue with engineers back in the early 30s, apparently, because there really wasn't a platform. The only place for your feet was either the two stalks that stuck out the side near the back of the gas tank, or the brake covers. The steering wheel was low, down between your knees. Until about 1937, the steering wheel was heavy iron, which meant you could give it a bit of a spin to make a turn. The rubber wheel that replaced the iron one was light and could not be spun.
The original Farmall had cables to operate the automatic brakes. The F-12 brakes were operated with rods. They were powerful and made it easy to make the short turns these brakes were designed for--so you could make a "square turn" in checkrowed corn. I learned to do this by looking at a sales brochure for the original Farmall, where the technique was illustrated with three or four photos. Years later, my brother told me I had acquired a reputation in the neighborhood (no, not THAT kind of a reputation!): "That kid never knocks any corn down at the end of the rows!" In the end, that skill didn't amount to much, because most farmers abandoned checkrow planting for "sowing" corn. Sowing meant that you couldn't cultivate crosswise.
Back to comfort. The tractor had BIG wheels, and they seemed to make it ride pretty well, even on steel wheels. My grandfather bought a second F-12 in the 40s, this one on steel. I remember that it rode a h.... of a lot better than my father's 10-20, mostly because the big wheels didn't seem to come down so hard on the lugs.
Power: The engine on the F-12 was all heart. On rubber, we consistently pulled two 12" plows, even though the early sales pitches called for 1 16" or maybe 2 10" plows. You probably know from looking at Nebraska tests that steel wheels can rob up to 30 or 35% of the engine power, while rubber tires have much less "rolling resistance" and may waste only 15% (even less today, I think).
Convenience: This tractor was not very long, and so it was a very convenient "little tractor" for its day. There was nothing we did not do with it. My father bought cultivators and a drawbar mower, so it not only pulled a plow and disked (pulling a 7' double-disk, mind you--the same disk that came with the 10-20 a few years earlier)--it cultivated, mowed, pulled wagons in front of hayloaders, raked hay, pulled a baler, drove a stationary corn sheller, snaked logs, hauled hay from the fields. I think that, sometimes, we even used it to run a stationary ensilage-chopper/blower that normally was operated by the 10-20. This memory is pretty fuzzy, but I think it's real. In the winter, we spread two or three loads of manure every day. Even in the summer, there was some manure to spread, although not as much because the cows weren't in the barn for very long at a time.
The little red tractor was busy all the time.
My father ordered a power-lift with the tractor. This worked only on the cultivators. Like probably all power-lifts back then, this one worked only when the clutch was engaged. The pump was on the opposite end of the pulley shaft, just behind the clutch pedal. Slight nuisance at the end of a row when you pulled up to the fence: Clutch in, shift to neutral, clutch out, lift cultivators, clutch in, shift to a gear, turn. I don't remember if you could drop the cultivators without engine power, but I think you could. Usually, you did the backing and filling to make the turn through the corn, then just dropped the cultivators as you started down the row. The drop was faster than the lift.
Noise: a small exhaust pipe and a fairly high-speed engine made the sound pretty annoying. Eventually, I rigged up a crude muffler with an old car muffler (we didn't spend much cash back in the 40s). With a good muffler, it would sound like an A.
Reliability: I don't remember that anything ever went wrong with this tractor in the 15 years that we used it every day. I'm assuming that my father replaced the points in the mag at least once, but even that I can't swear to. He never did much maintenance on anything, which makes the reliability of this machine even more remarkable. Ah, now I remember--the tractor had one "weakness". It had a fuel pump, and all fuel pumps back in the 30s and early 40s had a rubberized-fabric diaphragm. I seem to remember that this diaphragm broke once. Not a big event, but not something that ever happened with tractors that used gravity-feed for the fuel.
Speed: Since this tractor was designed for steel wheels, it had only three speeds, about 2, 3 and 4 mph. Second was for plowing and disking. On rubber, the thing seemed REALLY slow, and it is not surprising that some farmers ordered the 7-mph third gear, or bought overdrives from outside suppliers. We used to have a field about a mile away from the barn, and hauling a load of hay or grain that far at a fast walk sure did seem to take a long time. One problem with a higher speed might crop up: The brake levers were really short, and wouldn't have given much leverage for a stop from 7 or 8 mph (the brakes were seldom needed on steel, except to lock the tractor in one place for belt work).
The drawbar: My father claimed that the IHC drawbar was "superior" because it was fairly wide, and with the insertion of a plank or two, could be used as a kind of carryall for a couple of bags of grain, some firewood, even lumber stuck in lengthwise. The mower as well as the rear parts of the cultivator were attached simply by loosening four toggle bolts, removing the drawbar and placing the other implement in the same position (you hoped; if the implement had sat on the ground all winter, it just might not line up exactly with the toggle bolts, and then you had to do a certain amount of shoving or prying to get everything lined up).
I hope this is of some interest to younger collectors who have never had the privilege of using this great tractor every day.
My grandfather bought one of the first overhead-valve F-12s in 1933, on steel, of course. Sometime in the 30s, he had the steels cut off and 40" rubber installed. This is the only way I remember this tractor. I drove it on his farm when I would visit for a few days every summer. (Aside, and fond memory: My grandfather farmed with my uncle, who normally did all the tractor work, but during my visits, I got to do all the tractor work, AND I got paid 20 bucks at the end of the week! (Go to an internet inflation calculator to figure out what $20 in 1943 was worth in today's money). This is one of the reasons I have such fond memories of this kindest of grandfathers.
My father bought a new F-12 in 1938, with the big castiron wheels and 40" Goodyears. I was "bound, bent and billy-be-damned" that I was going to drive, and somehow managed to get up on that thing and "drive" it when I was about 8. I couldn't reach the pedals, so somebody else had to jump on the drawbar and swing his left leg over the axle to the clutch pedal. Mostly I drove with somebody on the drawbar for a while, or else alone in the field doing a slower-than-slow job like picking up windrowed hay with a pull-behind loader. As soon as I could scoot down far enough to disengage the clutch, I did things alone from then on. I think I was actually disking and maybe even plowing before I was 10. Man, I wouldn't let a little squirt like me drive a tractor alone in the field at that age! Wonder if a farmer could get away with that these days, what with OHSA looking over our shoulders?
The F-12 was a curious mixture of what I think of as "new" technology (fairly high-speed engine, short stroke, full-pressure lubrication) with some aspects that resemble previous generations (like the big, wide gears in the transmission). Driver comfort was not a big issue with engineers back in the early 30s, apparently, because there really wasn't a platform. The only place for your feet was either the two stalks that stuck out the side near the back of the gas tank, or the brake covers. The steering wheel was low, down between your knees. Until about 1937, the steering wheel was heavy iron, which meant you could give it a bit of a spin to make a turn. The rubber wheel that replaced the iron one was light and could not be spun.
The original Farmall had cables to operate the automatic brakes. The F-12 brakes were operated with rods. They were powerful and made it easy to make the short turns these brakes were designed for--so you could make a "square turn" in checkrowed corn. I learned to do this by looking at a sales brochure for the original Farmall, where the technique was illustrated with three or four photos. Years later, my brother told me I had acquired a reputation in the neighborhood (no, not THAT kind of a reputation!): "That kid never knocks any corn down at the end of the rows!" In the end, that skill didn't amount to much, because most farmers abandoned checkrow planting for "sowing" corn. Sowing meant that you couldn't cultivate crosswise.
Back to comfort. The tractor had BIG wheels, and they seemed to make it ride pretty well, even on steel wheels. My grandfather bought a second F-12 in the 40s, this one on steel. I remember that it rode a h.... of a lot better than my father's 10-20, mostly because the big wheels didn't seem to come down so hard on the lugs.
Power: The engine on the F-12 was all heart. On rubber, we consistently pulled two 12" plows, even though the early sales pitches called for 1 16" or maybe 2 10" plows. You probably know from looking at Nebraska tests that steel wheels can rob up to 30 or 35% of the engine power, while rubber tires have much less "rolling resistance" and may waste only 15% (even less today, I think).
Convenience: This tractor was not very long, and so it was a very convenient "little tractor" for its day. There was nothing we did not do with it. My father bought cultivators and a drawbar mower, so it not only pulled a plow and disked (pulling a 7' double-disk, mind you--the same disk that came with the 10-20 a few years earlier)--it cultivated, mowed, pulled wagons in front of hayloaders, raked hay, pulled a baler, drove a stationary corn sheller, snaked logs, hauled hay from the fields. I think that, sometimes, we even used it to run a stationary ensilage-chopper/blower that normally was operated by the 10-20. This memory is pretty fuzzy, but I think it's real. In the winter, we spread two or three loads of manure every day. Even in the summer, there was some manure to spread, although not as much because the cows weren't in the barn for very long at a time.
The little red tractor was busy all the time.
My father ordered a power-lift with the tractor. This worked only on the cultivators. Like probably all power-lifts back then, this one worked only when the clutch was engaged. The pump was on the opposite end of the pulley shaft, just behind the clutch pedal. Slight nuisance at the end of a row when you pulled up to the fence: Clutch in, shift to neutral, clutch out, lift cultivators, clutch in, shift to a gear, turn. I don't remember if you could drop the cultivators without engine power, but I think you could. Usually, you did the backing and filling to make the turn through the corn, then just dropped the cultivators as you started down the row. The drop was faster than the lift.
Noise: a small exhaust pipe and a fairly high-speed engine made the sound pretty annoying. Eventually, I rigged up a crude muffler with an old car muffler (we didn't spend much cash back in the 40s). With a good muffler, it would sound like an A.
Reliability: I don't remember that anything ever went wrong with this tractor in the 15 years that we used it every day. I'm assuming that my father replaced the points in the mag at least once, but even that I can't swear to. He never did much maintenance on anything, which makes the reliability of this machine even more remarkable. Ah, now I remember--the tractor had one "weakness". It had a fuel pump, and all fuel pumps back in the 30s and early 40s had a rubberized-fabric diaphragm. I seem to remember that this diaphragm broke once. Not a big event, but not something that ever happened with tractors that used gravity-feed for the fuel.
Speed: Since this tractor was designed for steel wheels, it had only three speeds, about 2, 3 and 4 mph. Second was for plowing and disking. On rubber, the thing seemed REALLY slow, and it is not surprising that some farmers ordered the 7-mph third gear, or bought overdrives from outside suppliers. We used to have a field about a mile away from the barn, and hauling a load of hay or grain that far at a fast walk sure did seem to take a long time. One problem with a higher speed might crop up: The brake levers were really short, and wouldn't have given much leverage for a stop from 7 or 8 mph (the brakes were seldom needed on steel, except to lock the tractor in one place for belt work).
The drawbar: My father claimed that the IHC drawbar was "superior" because it was fairly wide, and with the insertion of a plank or two, could be used as a kind of carryall for a couple of bags of grain, some firewood, even lumber stuck in lengthwise. The mower as well as the rear parts of the cultivator were attached simply by loosening four toggle bolts, removing the drawbar and placing the other implement in the same position (you hoped; if the implement had sat on the ground all winter, it just might not line up exactly with the toggle bolts, and then you had to do a certain amount of shoving or prying to get everything lined up).
I hope this is of some interest to younger collectors who have never had the privilege of using this great tractor every day.
