H /M Distributor

What year did IH first offer a distributor as an option on the H's and M's?
Also, was the magneto available on even the late H's and M's like 1952 and 1953?

I'm not sure what year distributors were first offered as an option, but you could actually special order magneto ignition as late as the 350 / 450 tractors, as well as the distillate option for fuel choice. Most such later tractors were for export.

Harold H

distributors became standard equipment in '47.

distributors became standard equipment in '47.

Harold, what you say must be true, because my Dad's 1950 H came with a magneto. He bought it from a farmer when it was 2 yrs old. I've met some guys who swear that this was impossible for a 1950 H to have a magneto. We changed it over to a distributer a few years after we owned it.
LA in WI

I thought it was a little later than that, they may have been an option earlier. My Dad's 47 H bought in Jan 1948, had a mag. I have a 48 C with a distributer, but I think it had a mag originally. I know that mags were an option long after that. It won't irritate me to become corrected on this, but I thought the distributer appeared at the same time the 3 position light switch and the cutout relay disappeared. My 48 C has the cutout and the 4 position switch, cutout is mounted on the generator, rather than the voltage regulator being below the generator. This has been discussed before, but I'm still not clear on it. All tractors were not changed at the same time -- but, I would still like to know if the voltage reg, and the 3 position switch were only on distributer equipped tractors. Next newest tractor I have is a 50 C, of course it has a dist, 3 position switch and VR.

But, since the mag has nothing to do with the charging system, IH certainly did not have to do them all at the same time.

CNKS,
I think you pretty well covered it. Battery ignition came along on different models at slightly different times, around 1949 and 1950. From anything I have found, on each model it showed up the same time the voltage regulator and 3 position light switch happened. On some models it was probably standard equipment. With others battery ignition was optional in the sense that ANY electrical equipme,nt was optional. On most, the "standard" configuration would have included electrical components that could be optionally deleted.

For example, on the C in '52, you could order the tractor with a magneto but without battery ignition, battery, lights, and starter for a deduct of $46. If you wanted a magneto in place of battery ignition but keeping the starter, lights etc, the extra cost was $19.50. I doubt that many people saved the $46 or spent the $19.50.

The Parts Catalogs show the wiring and combination of parts required for the later tractors with a magneto. A small junction block was required at the panel. The Parts Catalogs usually aren't clear on the time of change from distributer to battery ignition, generally because of the option complication. They usually give a clear serial number break on the change to voltage regulator. A lot of the earlier tractors were converted to battery ignition when the magneto needed major repair work.

Sort of what I thought--thanks!

Our '41 H came with a Mag but we got a distributor ignition set up for it in the spring of 1947, this was a Delco type that sat upright with right angle gearing off the old mag drive. Our '48 McCormick-Deering W-6 came with a Mag too but we replaced that with a IH distributor ignition set up that was just like the ignition set up on our '50 H. Suppossedly the distributor ignition gave you a couple more horsepower because of the increased amount of advance curve. They sure didn't help you starting in cold weather, the W-6 with high compression pistons started hard after we put on the distributor when it was cold, but if I helped the starter with the handcrank it would start right up. My poor little brother had his breakfast interruped many times to come out and help his big brother get the #$%#@&% W-6 started. He had to set on the edge of the seat and hold the clutch in and push the starter button while I cranked the miserable old bit--.