1957 Farmall C , How to tell what it really is?

Going to check out what the owner is advertising as a 1957 Farmall C. Says it has hydraulics, so assuming he means touch control.

Now I know there is no such thing as 51 C. However I"m not very familiar with them in general, so any tips on how I can identify what it really is; Super C, 200, or 230 , beyond the simple of being able to locate a serial#?

Thanks

look for disk breaks that will tell you if its a super c, 200, or 230. other things to look for would be if there is a space between the tank and the hyd. rock shafts. a c will have very little gap the others will have a 1" to 1 1/2" of space. also check for curved pedals if they are really stright then its a c if they have a curve to them on the top of the pedal then is a super c 200 230.

Andrew

Get thee over to the link on the left of this page and arm yourself with some serial numbers for Cs, SuperCs, 200s and 230s.

A C or Super C will have a chassis prefix of FC and and motor serial # prefix of FCM. Andrew gave a pretty succinct description of the differences between a C and a Super. Other things could change, but the straight pedals on the C are a dead giveaway.

My book lists no prefix for a chassis number for a 200 or 230, and a c-123 prefix for the motor. I don't know if that's cast into the block, opr stamped as part pof the serial number under the #1 plug.

For a C or SC, if there's a serial number plate it will be on the right side of the toolbox under the seat. If it's a 200 or 230, it will be on the left side of the clutch housing. If the plate is missing, you could determine at least which series it was by the telltale signs of the location of the missing plate.

dpski: Just to add to what Andrew and Scotty have said, and I agree with all they said. Block part number on these tractors is partially hidden behind the oil filter, and C is 251069 R1, SC is 354898 R1, 200 is 354898 R2 and 230 is 366204 R1.

C will have 3, 4 or 5 digit serial starting at 501, SC are all 6 digit serial starting at 100001, 200 start at 501 and go to aprox. 15000, 230 will start at 501 and go to about 8000. C tractor serial numbers will be close to engine serial numbers, SC will have larger engine serial numbers than tractor serial numbers. They start off same but increases gradually to 9000 difference by 1954.

Farmalls 100, 200, 130 and 230 tractor serial numbers each start at 501. The four engines have a common sequence of serial numbers, thus increase much faster than tractor serial numbers. Engine serial numbers on those 4 tractors get up to 58560 and there were 50649 total tractors. I presume the extra engines went as stationary engines, baler engines, etc. Same with SC.

There have I confused you enough? Come back if you have questions.

Then you go to casting date codes, C will be one of Q, R, S, T, U. SC will be one of W, X, Y and few Z. 200 will be one of Z, A or B. 230 will be one of B, C or D. Where you get overlap high serial will be older tractor, low serial number will be newer tractor.

Thanks for the info. I believe it was a Super C, pedals had a curve to them. Unfortunately the tractor had about 10layers of paint on it, the last one being some sort of glossy brown rustoleum or something. Serial# tag completely obscured, other numbers buried in paint. But from repair receipts I saw it identified as a Super C.

Tractor was running, but smokey, exhaust manifold was toast, one front flat, rears 30-40%. Battery box rusted out, some other rust here and there, but not terrible. Owner showed me the receipts for all the work they've had done in the past few years. Couldn't believe my eyes, new block, pistons rings, and when you throttle up it's smokin'! I've seen worse, but for them to spend all that money and have it run like it does, it's a shame. Specially for the limited use it's had. They didn't do any of the work themselves, so had to rely on their local repair person. They were asking way too much for it's condition, ~3G. Trying to recoop some of the expenditures I think. Oh well, the hunt is half the fun.