What is the best series international?

Alot of guys are ragging on the 66 series. But i have a 1256 and its a good running tractor but has alot of transmission linkage problems, jumps out of gear, leaks hydra-tranz and i have replaced seals and gaskets. As soon as i get the leaks to stop another appears. It also will lose powerstearing and breaks out of the blue. I also have a 544 gas and it has been great. I heard that international fixed alot of the problems of the 56 series tractors with the 66 series. Between the two series which one is all around better?

I've never seen a "Bad" International/Farmall of any year or model.

IH just plain didn't make ANY bad tractors.

Allan

I would say that all the way. IH never made a bad tractor. I am dieHard international and would buy any one.

In my archives, I have listed that a consensus of the experts hereabouts concurred that the 656 and 856 were the finest that Farmall ever made. I saved this because, at the time, I was thinking I needed a little more HP in the near future. That didn't pan out and I never followed up on the tractors. Maybe the mention of them will stir up some better opinions for you. My personal favorite is the SMTA because that is what I use most. I am also partial to the B...a tractor which, like some small dogs, doesn't know it is small.

Did you ever have an F-12?

Randy: My dad and I farmed with 16 Farmalls, either bought new or less than 2,000 hours. We had at least one tractor from each series, starting with a W4 and ending with a 1066. Of the whole 16 we only ever classified the 504 gasser as a poor tractor, engine had to be rebuilt at 1,500 hours. The rest were all good to excellent. 56 series was the finest IH ever built. Most of the items your complaining about were common to all 06, 26, 56, 66 and 86 series tractors. My take on this, the maintenence done by you or a previous owner, leaves something to be desired. No tractor runs forever with poor maintenence.

There is a rebuild kit for that shift linkage, will make it work like new. Loaders are hard on shift linkages, loader tractors probably shift 100 times to every shift of a non loader tractor. If the tractor has never had a loader, then someone has been running a lot of hours with clutch, transmission brake and TA out of adjustment, poor maintenence. Someone has been making those gaskets since the 1256 was built. Besides the tractor is minamum 37 years old, those items went on my 1066 in 1983 at 10,000 hours. How many worn out old tractors have you run in the past 10 years, without rebuilding any of them.

I think the 100 through the 650's were the most dependable, effecient; many still working today, with little or no tinkering since new. Some of the problem tractors we had were the 460D, (engine) 560, (rear end), 660, (engine), 706 (282D engine) 1486 (drive line and PTO) The 8, and 12 series (06 and 56) were very good.

Well i maintain my tractors very very well, but the 1256 was bought used around 88 and i was a little young to even drive it. I was told that it has had these problems since the day my uncle got it. My grand parents who owned the farm Had athe 544, and an H. My pap also had a big allis with cab and duels, but my grand mother had breast cancer and my grandfather had a heart attack in bed before she passed. She passed two weeks after he did and the farm got split up 5 ways. That includes equipment. Now no one on in my family wants anything to do with it, but they all like to use and abuse the tractors and never help pay for them. My parents just split and the farm has been handed over to me, even though i have always been the one that did it. I have kept up maintence with the H but the 544 has since blown gaskets and burns oil. I like to pride myself on the maintence work i do, but its hard to keep up with it if you don't know how long its been running or if someone else broke somthing and didn't tell. I am in the process of buying my own equipment starting with a 1066 black stripe. Just alot of bad luck at once. We were once one of the bigger farms around. I'm 21 years old and i plan on getting that status back!

Well i maintain my tractors very very well, but the 1256 was bought used around 88 and i was a little young to even drive it. I was told that it has had these problems since the day my uncle got it. My grand parents who owned the farm Had athe 544, and an H. My pap also had a big allis with cab and duels, but my grand mother had breast cancer and my grandfather had a heart attack in bed before she passed. She passed two weeks after he did and the farm got split up 5 ways. That includes equipment. Now no one on in my family wants anything to do with it, but they all like to use and abuse the tractors and never help pay for them. My parents just split and the farm has been handed over to me, even though i have always been the one that did it. I have kept up maintence with the H but the 544 has since blown gaskets and burns oil. I like to pride myself on the maintence work i do, but its hard to keep up with it if you don't know how long its been running or if someone else broke somthing and didn't tell. I am in the process of buying my own equipment starting with a 1066 black stripe. Just alot of bad luck at once. We were once one of the bigger farms around. I'm 21 years old and i plan on getting that status back!

Sounds like the 1256 had a hard life before it got to you. Sounds pretty normal for a tractor that's been used hard and not maintained properly.

If you treat the tractor well you can get away with being a little lax in maintenance, but if you are hard on them, you've got to be right on the ball with keeping everything tight and straight or you'll end up with one problem after another after another until you're so sick of it that you're ready to condemn the entire line of tractors.

Tom,Ive never seen a bad F12,Any time you can pull a 70-80 year old tractor out of a fence row,put a few hundred in it and make it earn its keep is not a bad deal.It all goes back to how it was cared for.We've never improved on the basic engineering of these old vintage tractors,just the comfort of them.I went to the barn and started my F12 the other day and it fired on the first crank at 10 degrees,2 other cranks and it sat there idling.

jimmy

get all of your equipment keyed. and some keyed battery disconnects wouldn't hurt either. will hurt the restoration aspects a little, but worth it for security.
If the machines are truly yours now, you should be able to manage who operates and how. Maybe you will have to sell basket cases that were in the family and get your own nice stuff. If grandpa's tractor is gone, they may not be so inclined to hop on one of yours...maybe. Also if there is proof you paid for your current machines (or there was a contract or will naming you), it will be much easier to clear up the mess if the law or courts have to intervene in your tractors being operated without permission.

family, inspiring soap operas since 1920!

karl f

Best series. I think the '06 series should be handed that badge. Other than the problem of the cold blooded 706 diesels, they are all tough tractors and today most are still hard at work on original engines and drivetrains. Some selling as working tractors for as much as newer tractors.

of course its the 06's that are the best very little linkage problems

74 series and offspring right to the C series.

(74/84/85/95/3200,4200/C)

Randy: As I recall, I didn't suggest you were the one completely responsible for maintenence. With an arrangement like you've had, just as well to let the rest do all, including use.

How about the 50-52-5488 series. Same reliable engines that came before but with a drivetrain that was the answer to the need to handle more power and have more speeds, plus have the best front wheel assist of any IH machine. Plus it had closed center hydraulic system that IH accutally tested and got mostly right the first time. I'd say they're at least as good as anything that harvester had built before.

My 2-cents worth, reduced by inflation:
The F-12 my father bought new was used just about every day for probably 15 years, and never gave any problems, except for maybe 1 fuel-pump diaphragm splitting. All fuel pumps back then had rubber diaphragms, and eventually they all developed leaks. Can't blame IH for that. My father was an almost-no-maintenance man and I was too young at the beginning to know any better. Still, the tractor did all kinds of hard work, including pulling a 7-foot double-disk harrow originally bought for a 10-20. I believe the F-12 was overbuilt in some ways, esp. behind the engine--the tranny was more like something out of the 20s than later models like the H, which had slimmer-looking gears (but maybe made with newer and stronger materials--I don't really know). It's true the F-12 wasn't terribly comfortable--engineers didn't seem to think much about this in the late 20s and early 30s--but it was, in my opinion, a great tractor. Really, it was one of the first tractors for small farms, and there wasn't much it wouldn't do, what with all the machines you could attach to it.

Our 706 with the 282 has been a pretty good tractor. It's never been "retired" and has worked for 3 generations of my family. My dad had to rebuild it at 6-7000 hrs when Grandpa sent it over to our farm around 1985. The tach quit 10 -15 years ago at 9900 hrs, so I have no idea where it's at now. It's my favorite auger tractor, and the '69 656 we got recently(at 3900 hrs) is good too.(starts a lot better!) Now I want a 1066 for the big bad auger we use nowdays.

Our family has farmed with all models from M up to 1586. I like to think we maintain everything very well. Grandpa's M is still around. Quit using that in mid 80's when grandpa thought the motor seized up. Parked it outside, then moved it inside, then back outside until we tore into it in 03 to find out motor was loose, water pump was seized up. Overhauled it anyway, but a water pump rebuild was all it really needed to run again. Grandpa bought a 450 to replace the M. Used it 1 season and decided it was really no bigger than the M, so he traded the 450 on 756 gas in early 70's. Still have that tractor. Uncle bought a 1066 in early 80's when he started farming, still have that tractor. Added an 856 diesel in late 80's, then an 826 german diesel in early 90's. Sold both of them as bigger hp was needed. Got a 1586 in mid 90's, then a high hour late modal (1981) 1486 to pull JD vacuum corn planter. Had hydraulic issues with the planter/tractor combo and wanted to upgrade to 12 row planter so got a MX170 CaseIH and needed FWA for heavier and larger tillage tools so got a 7130 Magnum in 03 and 00, respectively. Biggest problem with the whole lot was rear end issue with the 1586. Now we do most farming with 1586, 7130 and MX170. 756 gas is loader tractor now and 1066 takes up the light work (baling, auger, sidedressing). The 1066 is my hands down favorite of the bunch. Close to 7000 hrs and going strong. 1586 is a powerhouse, but not enough gears to match speed to job at hand. The 2 newer tractors are nice, but its not fair to put them in same category as the others. 2nd favorite was the 826, wish we still had that one. So I guess my vote to best series IH would be 66 series, especially late models with nicer cabs. Alot of guys like the 06's, but the DT414 and DT436 motors were some of the best IH diesels, I think.

The 66 series is basically a 56 series with the DT400 series engine in it... same shift pattern, same basic layout, etc.

Our 1256 went through its first 30 years as a field tractor, racking up 6500 hours for its first owner - all trouble free and with good maintenance. When we bought it a Farmhand 235 loader was installed and that was the sweetest shifting loader tractor I had ever run up to that point. Easy, right gear speeds, and just all-around good. After 3000 hours of hard use on the loader it was getting tired, lots of blow-by and sloppy shifting and starting to jump out of gear now and then. Finally traded it off at that point with 9500 hours on it with minimal repairs and normal maintenance. I believe we put rod and main bearings in at 7500 hours or so.

Dad's 1086 is another one that has served faithfully for nearly 10,000 hours now with minimal repair and normal maintenance. Sure, the shifting isn't great compared with a newer tractor, but it's a great field tractor and gets used for just about everything from the field sprayer, field cultivator, haybine, stackmover, pull-type combine, snowblower, etc. Of course it's been retired from some of those jobs now as we have a self-propelled combine and a MFWD tractor for the snowblower - but it would still perform all those tasks just fine if the need should arise.

My favorite series of IH? The letter series. Simple and dependable.

If I need to choose a big IH tractor it would be the 806 and 1206. The D361 and DT361 engines seemed to be nearly indestructable. Our 806 had a total of around 26,000 hours on it when it was traded off. One engine overhaul and one clutch job, original TA. Just a darn good (loud) tractor.

I like the letter and 00 series for a light machine. For a medium-heavy tractor I liked the 756. For all-out performance I'd go with the 66 series. The 1066 we had put on the dyno was climbing past 170 horse when the dyno op cut it out (deeere mechanic) and the governor hadn't put any more fuel to it yet. We had the 1566 running the chopper better than the 3788 when the 3788 blew apart its pressure plate.I never did like the cab (if you can call it that) on the 786, and it was about a gutless wonder. The 756 would do anything it could just as well as it would.