Hi Speed M

Glen E. · Nov 11, 2009

Is it just me or was the engineer that designed 5th gear in an M insane? I have a "45 M and am running 14.9 x 38 rears, which I realize is a little taller than stock. I have it on Radar, in my driveway, which is about 500 ft. long, at 23 mph. I know on a good black top road it will go over 25. I guess that engineer really like to go home at the end of the day. Has anyone else paced or radared theirs? I assume they are all that way.

D Slater · Nov 11, 2009

Your engine is turning more RPM than specs, or has a W6 ring and pinion in it if it is actualy going that fast.

Mike CA · Nov 11, 2009

But how does it corner?

the tractor vet · Nov 11, 2009

Ah try it with 16.9's and turning 2250 out on the road . Sure is nice on a warm day out on the road . Or if ya wanted a FUN RIDE then that would have been on and OIL ALL OVER that a buddy and i had that shell we say had some minor BARNYARD mod.'s done to it , Like a 67 Ford 390 GT engine with the C9AZ 6250D cam with solid lifters and the Med. rise intake and a 735 holley On the gov. she would run at 2600 . But when you went down past the rack on the throttle it bypassed the gov. and the Four BBl. would start to open . and it did exceed the SMV sign speed limit just a weeeee bit

D Slater · Nov 11, 2009

Figured it up and with stock gearing the engine would need to turn around 1950 RPM for 23 MPH with 14.9 tires.

John M · Nov 12, 2009

Can honestly say Ive never clocked any of my tractors, Im not stupid enough to run them wide open in road gear.

ericlb · Nov 12, 2009

most M's were pretty fast in road gear.for a tractor, over tall tires make it even faster if you want to run it that fast, be glade its not one of those MM udlx's they were good for something around 40 in high gear

randy hall · Nov 12, 2009

naw, the ones with tired governor springs won't go that fast. i've got one m on 14.9's that runs 2400 rpms. how fast will it go dave?

mkirsch · Nov 12, 2009

The real joke here is that technically there's no gear at all in 5th.

I believe the engine is driving the differential directly, or at least at a 1:1 ratio.

Bernie Steffen · Nov 12, 2009

My M has 18.4-38 tires on the rear. Engine set at 2100 rpm. Don't know how fast it goes but too fast for me. Bernie Steffen

Harold H · Nov 12, 2009

A stock M on standard tires is 16 1/4 mph in fifth gear according to the original specifications. Both your tire size and rpm's account for your higher speed.

Harold H

(quoted from post at 23:10:27 11/11/09) Is it just me or was the engineer that designed 5th gear in an M insane? I have a "45 M and am running 14.9 x 38 rears, which I realize is a little taller than stock. I have it on Radar, in my driveway, which is about 500 ft. long, at 23 mph. I know on a good black top road it will go over 25. I guess that engineer really like to go home at the end of the day. Has anyone else paced or radared theirs? I assume they are all that way.

railhead · Nov 12, 2009

I have thought about that before as well. I road my M from field to field in 5th IDLED DOWN, it will go faster than I am comfortable with, 14.9 38's. A Moline UTS will as well. That is why I always wondered about the Moline UDLX that would run 45 mph +/-....You would really want good balanced tires front and back on something like that. Seems like it would be a death trap to me. I posted something like that on the MM page but got little response a while back.

pete 23 · Nov 12, 2009

All H and M's up to the 1586 drive the pinion shaft at engine speed when they are in direct drive. The smaller tractors like C on down have no direct drive as the upper shaft in trans is in line with crankshaft and the lower shaft in trans has the pinion. There fore they can change the final pinion shaft ratio by using different gears in trans. When they boost horse power by increasing rpm of engine they can still maintain ground speed by using different gears whereas with a direct drive situation you are always tied into engine rpm as far as max road speed. I always felt that was not the best design but I could surely do nothing to change it. Lots of complaints over the years about needing a gear between 4th and 5th and or slower 5th but when pinion shaft speed is directly linked to engine rpm it would require a totally revamping of the entire trans and final drive.

HENRY E NC · Nov 12, 2009

guess I am just plain stupid because I drive my M on the road in 5th wide open. I live 15 miles from town, and take the M to town 4 times a year for display or parades. I have all new tires and the brakes are pretty good. I have 15.8 X 38 tires amd use a escort car with yellow lite, and generally the car will report 21 MPH. BY the way, it is a US highway 4 lane with trucks and hi speed cars. Several of us hear do the same thing. To me (and I may get killed someday) driving a vehhicle is akin to when I flew airplanes for a living or when on a motorcycle, the key to safety is always being ahead of your vehicle. Keep head moving and figure everyone is out to get you. As far as the tractor goes, Things can happen butits no more unsafe at road speed than any motorcycle, probably a lot safer and I rode MC's for 40 years . Henry

Anonymous-0 · Nov 12, 2009

When I was a lot younger and a little more foolish, it seemed like great fun to wind it up in road gear. Dad's M had been tweaked a bit over the years. I don't know how I would feel about it if I tried it now.

John M · Nov 12, 2009

Ever try to suddenly stop your M, I have once, and thats why I wont run wide open.

Wasnt calling you or anybody stupid, common sence hopefully is being used since some of you can feel secure running wide open in road gear. I dont!

Too Far Gone · Nov 12, 2009

When Im in transit from one farm to another Ive always pinned her ears back and hold on.Sometimes Ive gotta travel 20 miles to other farms custom baling,and if I screwed around at 10 mph Id never get there

james rumph · Nov 12, 2009

I have a 52 Super M that we use for tractor pulling ! After a afternoon on the dyno and a few adult pops we decided to see how fast it would go on the road.

We used a 2000 something Crown Vic for the speedo.

Well Brian was driving the car and i was on the tractor with the motor spinning 2500rpm in 5th gear we were going 32 mph per the Crown Vic.

I got news for you this was just plain stupid.
The row crop front end at this speed is out of control. For a short period i was worried that i wasn"t going to be able to get it stopped before something bad happend.

So in short don"t ever do what we did.

The sad part about this is that i had more throttle and i now wonder how fast it would have gone..........

D Slater · Nov 12, 2009

Randy I come up with 28.4 MPH. Different tire brands may not be the same exact size so could be off a little. In 5th going through the ring and pinion and bull gears ends up with the engine crankshaft turning 14.76 times for one turn of the axle.

John M · Nov 12, 2009

Do you do with a M Farmall?

This board never ceases to amaze me. 2 years ago someone posted wanting to go faster on his Super M and he got blessed for even suggesting it, now a couple of those same people say its OK to go flying like a bat out of H to get where they ae going on a tractor. I dont get it!

jason r · Nov 12, 2009

I had a 40 M clocked on a radar trailer at 27mph. I had just bought it and it had a souped up govenor and a 400 head on it. I had no idea it was that fast. That was waaay too fast. My 1950 M runs around 16 my H is around 16 too.

A guy had a JD unstyled A near here with a Behlen road gear and a junk gov. A weight was off of the gov. so the rpm"s would soar along with the speed. He said it was clocked at 32! He even tied a big rope to the seat to keep him in it. That thing was a death trap. Bad tires junk cutoff wheels and a tendency to lose the flywheel at highter rpm"s. I never wanted to be within 100 feet of that thing.

LenND · Nov 12, 2009

Drove quite a few Ms and all were set on factory settings, not souped up. And never had one that went over 18 miles an hour. And that better not be on any upgrade of any kind.

LenND · Nov 12, 2009

How about Barney Olds setting a record of 67 mph on a U Allis with Firestone rubber tires. First tractor with rubber. This was on the Utah Salt Flats. Can you imagine steering that thing?

Glen E. · Nov 12, 2009

Thanks for all the replies. I agree that it is insane to go that fast. Mine is fairly stock. RPMS are not more than 5% over stock. I do have a heavier set of springs in the governor. I've always heard it called "coming home" gear. I guess all those farmers who spent the day plowing go get home to their brides in a hurry.

ericlb · Nov 12, 2009

the info i get on the udlx is mm's idea was to sell the farmer 1 vehicle which could plow all week and take him and his wife to church on sunday, replacing his car ,hence the 40 to 45 top speed, reality was a little different, first every farmer i heard of back in the day had a whole wagon load of kids, they needed the free farm help,then the udlx cost more than a comparable ih with a new chevy or ford thrown in , as well as it was apparently a real handfull to run fast in, the cab was cramped for 2 people to say the least lol they didnt sell many of them

railhead · Nov 12, 2009

Well all cost aside, I do not want to go as fast as my MM U or my Farmall M will run in 5th as they are....why would I want to run over twice that speed? I have nerves of steel but common sense and experience can shine the light on stupidity.

railhead · Nov 12, 2009

You are so much the wiser. Good post. These things are still workers and Great fun to admire after a pop or two at the end of the day.....but they can still KILL YOU.

JMOR · Nov 12, 2009

(quoted from post at 18:43:05 11/12/09) Ever try to suddenly stop your M, I have once, and thats why I wont run wide open.

Wasnt calling you or anybody stupid, common sence hopefully is being used since some of you can feel secure running wide open in road gear. I dont!

es! I have on my SMTA & at less than wide open & it is just plain not right!

Anonymous-0 · Nov 13, 2009

These gears were cool for moving across a large land at the ends when plowing. On the 656 throw her up in fifth, on the 706 just put her in hi range (normally plowed in L3). Took the boredom out of it.

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