Need Help Understanding/Reading Engine Stampings

AL Farmall Boy · Sep 25, 2010

Here are the stampings for the engine serial number and whatever else for my Cub. I am trying to read this and its very faint and not easy to see with stuff in the way. I cleaned it with Acetone, and rubbed some chalk over the stampings to bring them out, and this is the result I got.

To me it looks like it shows 2 lines of information.

The top line looks like it says " F C U B M "
The bottom line looks like " 2 8 9 0 "

Someone please tell me if this is correct. Take a look at the pictures to check my readings.

¢À Is the " 2 8 9 0 " the engine serial # or the RPM of the engine??

¢À Should there be any more numbers on the top line??

¢À What does the " M " stand for??

AL Farmall Boy · Sep 25, 2010

Here is the picture...

Gene · Sep 25, 2010

No top line. Engine serial number. Not engine rpms. Farmall Cub Motor.

Tractor serial number and engine rpms are located on a tag attached to the right front of the tractor bolster.

AL Farmall Boy · Sep 25, 2010

(quoted from post at 00:58:42 09/26/10) No top line. Engine serial number. Not engine rpms. Farmall Cub Motor.

Tractor serial number and engine rpms are located on a tag attached to the right front of the tractor bolster.

The main serial number tag is missing on my tractor. That is why I am trying to identify this number.

You are saying that "F CUB M" is the common stamping for the Cubs?? My tractor has hydraulics, and the serial number (if seen correctly from the picture) reads as a 1947 model. I also have casting pictures of the block, head, and torque tube which don't make this a 47 model.

Please help me figure this out. I'll post the casting pictures....

AL Farmall Boy · Sep 25, 2010

[b:aa73288668][u:aa73288668]Pictures of different castings.[/u:aa73288668][/b:aa73288668]

1st: Engine Head

2nd: Engine Block

3rd: Torque Tube (near clutch pedal)

4th: Hydraulic Reservoir

ScottyHOMeY · Sep 25, 2010

The Qs and R on the date stamps would indicate they wre cast in 1937, head on June 19, crankcase on June 20. I can't make out the dte casting on the torque tube, but the hydraulic unit look to be May 18, 1948 (R).

AL Farmall Boy · Sep 25, 2010

To me, the torque tube looks like a " T ". How can the casting letters date to 1937 when the Cub was built from 47-79?

With mine having the "short ear" dash and hydraulic lift, I am assuming it is a 1948 and up. It is the early style Cub as far as the sheetmetal.

ScottyHOMeY · Sep 25, 2010

My mistake, that should have read '47. (I'm a good speller but a LOUSY typist)

Apologies.

AL Farmall Boy · Sep 25, 2010

(quoted from post at 02:39:18 09/26/10) My mistake, that should have read '47. (I'm a good speller but a LOUSY typist)

Apologies.

Thats ok Scotty. I am taking it from the castings that it is a 1948 model since it does have the short ear dash and hydraulics.

What do yall think about the engine casting #?? Is it too low for it to be a 1948???

ScottyHOMeY · Sep 25, 2010

For the year on the motor, go by the serial number.

I actually thought it was a little remarkable to find your hea and block were cast a day apart from each other. It's not at all unusual to find a span of dates on a single, bare chassis covering four or five months. This has been explained in some cases as resulting from the need for some cast parts to age or cure before machining, but also sometimes had to do with something as simple as the timing of production runs for different parts.

It's not at all unusual to find bolt-on cast parts with later dates on them. On my BN which, by it's serial numbers, is an early '47 the castings on the basic chassis are dated with very late Ps ('46) and early Qs ('47). But things like wheels and weights are later in '47, so I shouldn't be at all surprised about the later csting date on your hydraulic block.

'47 or '48 in your case? You might try over at the Cub board. Good chance somebody over there could answer that question without havin' to speculate.

AL Farmall Boy · Sep 25, 2010

Scotty,

Since the engine has a '47 serial number; can it be original since it has hydraulics?? I thought all '47 models were hand lift.

ScottyHOMeY · Sep 25, 2010

That might be the key right there to the spread in the dates. It could have been rigged with the hydraulics later by the dealer, either before or after its original sale.

I expect if I was a dealer and had an unsold '47 on the lot without hydraulics that was surrounded by a new batch of '48s, it would have been worth my while to order the kit to add the hydraulics to the '47 to get it sold.

Or if I was a truck farmer who had bought the '47 bare bones and IH came out with hydraulics the next year, it might have been a race to see whether the salesman could get out to my farm before I got into the dealership to see if we could work out a deal to add the hydraulics.

Key would be whether the '47 motors had provision for adding the hydraulic pump and the torque tube mas set up to bolt the hydraulic block on. Again, that's a point on which the guys on the Cub board would be better informed.

AL Farmall Boy · Sep 25, 2010

That might also explain the casting code "T" on the torque tube. Thanks buddy!

Gene · Sep 26, 2010

You will not be able to identify the original tractor's serial number from the engine's serial number and/or the casting codes.

Best you can do is to come up with an approximate year the tractor came off the assembly line.

One thing to remember is that parts were replaced as they were worn out or damaged.

There is a recent topic/discussion on Farmallcub.com on obtaining a serial number for a tractor with a missing id tag.

Need Help Understanding/Reading Engine Stampings

AL Farmall Boy

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