Ok, this may be a pretty novice question. What"s the difference between normal hydraulics and live hydraulics? Specifically on a Farmall H. Are the "live" hydraulics where you have to remotes and the pump actually will push a cylinder out and suck it back in, versus the single outlet that will push a cylinder out buy needs mechanical pressure against it to retract?
Now that I"ve got that out of the way, here"s the second question. I bought a Farmall H at a farm auction. Serial number checks out as a 1944. It has the original factory hydraulic control lever (like is on our original Farmall M, but no hoses or remotes. I believe the belly pump is working, because I added some hydraulic fluid and when tractor is ideling, if i move the lever it pulls the motor down slightly. So, if I want to run a sickle bar mower behind this tractor I need the remote(s) to raise or lower the bar. On both sides of the H casing close to the belt pully and hydraulic lever is a short pipe with an elbow and capped/Plugged. If i"m sitting on the tractor, I know there"s one on my right hand side, and I believe one on my left hand side. Is one a positive flow line and the other the return line from the implement? If so, do I need to put on 2 remote connectors or just one? I can get a shop to make the hydraulic lines up, but where do I buy the remote connectors?
Thanks

Live hydraulic system is one where the pump runs all the time engine is running, regardless of clutch position. On the earlier model H with the belly pump it runs off the transmission so the clutch must be up. All 3 connections are positive pressure. pull lever up and pressure is applied to all the connections commonly. move to middle and it will hold. push lever all the way forward (down) and the fluid will flow back through same fittings. To use remote valves the return will need to go back through the filler on top of unit.

First question - The original hydraulic system on Farmalls of that era only operated when the clutch was released. The pump gets its power from the transmission. The tractor does not have to be in gear for the pump to operate, it runs unless the clutch pedal is depressed.
Live hydraulics found on old Farmalls run directly off the engine with the pump mounted ahead of the distributor. Either system can be plumbed to make a cylinder extend and contract, and either system can be plumbed to operate "single acting" cylinders that are returned to starting position by gravity or mechanical means.
Second question - The "Lift-All" or "belly pump" system on the H has three pressure ports and one fill-port. You already found the fill-port when you added the oil. There is one pressure port on the right side of the tractor, and two on the left. They are ALL pressure ports, and all supply pressure when the lift-lever is pulled. Pushing the lever ALL the way forward releases any pressure in the lines attached to those three ports, and oil flows back to the pump through the same port it came out of. The right-side port and the front one on the left side were commonly hooked to the front gangs of cultivators, or both cylinders of a loader. The left rear port was for the rear gang of the cultivators.
Now typically, someone is going to post on here that what I'm about to tell you is wrong.... but many, if not MOST of these old tractors have a delay built into the pump that allows the front ports to receive pressure first, and the pressure (hence flow) is delayed to the rear port. This allowed the operator to pull the lever at the end of the corn rows, and after the front cultivator gangs would lift, the rear port would get pressure and lift the rear cultivators at approximately the same place. It was timed pretty close to lift at the same spot in 3rd or 4th gear when using the size cylinders that came on those old cultivators. We farmed for many years with an IH 56 corn planter that had a Midwest harrow mounted on the tongue between the planter and tractor. Using a front port to lift the harrow and the rear port to lift the planter, this simplified the lift procedure into one pull of the lever that lifted both units within inches of the same place. There may have been some of these old pumps built with no delay feature in them, or modified to have none, but yours likely has it. If you hook two cylinders, one to a front port and one to the rear port on your tractor, then lift two implements with them, you'll likely find that you can lower the implement hooked to the front port by pushing the control lever most of the way (but not all the way) forward without dropping the other implement.
You can run "single acting" cylinders with your present setup. If you want to use a "double acting" cylinder that has power in both directions, you'll need some more plumbing. IH made an attachment commonly called a "christmas tree" that attached to the fill port of the pump and used a valve to direct pressure to either end of a cylinder. The oil returning from the non-pressurized end of the cylinder went back to the pump through the fill port. These are about impossible to find and are worth $$ to the restoration crowd. The hydraulic control lever was pulled and locked into the "up" position, thus the pump provided constant flow to the valve. Some creative plumbing with pipe, hoses, and a remote valve can accomplish the same thing. If you want to run a hydraulic motor, you can use any pressure port to send oil the motor and use a line to the pump fill port as a return. This will only allow one-direction motor operation, unless a two-way remote is added.
If you do some archive searching, you can find pictures of some interesting setups for hydraulics on these old tractors.

I"m gonna take a stab at this one, please correct me if I am wrong. I believe live hydraulics are when the hydraulics work with or without the clutch in. On a regualar H the hydraulics will only work when the clutch is out, the pump runs off the pto. But people have added a aftermarket pump that runs from the distributor. So the pump runs off the cam and the distributor is changed from a horizontal to vertical. I had an H that this was done to. This way the hydraulics will work whenever the tractor is running as the pump runs from the cam.

Great answer John
Thanks for taking the time to write that one.

And here are some old drawings of hot the system works.
http://www.wimmark.com/liftall_operation.htm
Good luck,Wm

Here it is from IH, and you are right.
dan.

have a look

Thank you guys for the very detailed and informative information and for taking the time to do all that for me.

So If I want to run a sickle bar mower that has to hoses, I'm going to want to plumb in two remote outlets probably both to the front pressure ports, one from each side of the tractor? That should give me the quickest reaction without the delay. Am I thinking of this right?
Thanks

I'm not quite sure I understand your question, so if I miss the target with this answer, please post again!
Your mower has TWO HOSES? That would indicate to me that you have a hose to each end of the lift cylinder, thus a "double acting" (pressure both ways) cylinder. On a sickle bar mower, you can likely disconnect one hose, and run the cylinder as a "single acting" (pressure one way) unit and allow gravity to lower the sickle bar. The one hose will take oil under pressure to the cylinder and either extend or contract the cylinder, depending on which end the hose is plumbed to. Pulling the lift lever will raise the mower, and the lever will hold the mower in the raised position until it is pushed all the way forward and pressure is released.
You can run this setup off EITHER front port, but you will NOT need to use BOTH ports. Actually....if both front ports are blocked off at the outlets, the rear port will work just fine to lift the mower, as the Lift-All system will automatically shift oil to the rear port since the front ones are doing nothing, and there will be no (or at least no noticeable) delay.
If you hook up your cylinder as a single-acting cylinder, you'll need to put a "breather" plug in the cylinder port that you aren't using. This will allow air to enter that side of the cylinder when gravity lowers the mower and pushes oil in the other end of the cylinder back to the pump. You can get one of these breather plugs from your local implement dealer, Tractor Supply, Farm-Fleet, or anywhere that sells hydraulic hoses, couplings, etc. It is necessary to let air into one end of the cylinder, and keep dust out.
Keep in mind that the un-pressurized end of that cylinder may have some oil in it, so things can get messy the first time you cycle the system. Don't be standing in the way, or have your face down there looking at that cylinder the first time you pressurize it, because any oil in the other end is going to come out! It might be a good idea to cycle the system once and THEN install the breather plug.