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FARMALL M,ONE OF THE BEST TRACTORS IHC EVER BUILT!!

J

John826diesel

Member
It seems to me that almost everyone that has been around farmalls,has been around an M before!It seems like most farms till this day,still have an M in the barn. They are one of the most relieable,simple,and powerful machines IH ever designed...just about any M still around will fire right up in below zero temperatures. The only downside to an M is the fast road gear. Who hasen't pulled something out with an M? Look forward to any comments on such a durable tractor!
 
M tractors are great, but the F-12,F-14 are even better. Not only are they a power house, but you don't have to worry about road gear being too fast!
 
Run M tractors for years. The main problem was 5th gear--no lugging power at all for pulling equipment. And 4th was too slow but--------
 
Ms are good tractors I have put thousands of hours on them and still own one but the original Ms were way behind F30 on power don't know off hand how they compare on rated HP but F30 would walk on M in field.
 
I really like my 1951 M and use it all the time for normal farm chores. Although I have other much newer tractors with modern features for tillage and PTO work my M gets more then it's share of drawbar work. I have a Heisler 9 speed and that makes the fast 5th issues noted in earlier responses a mute issue. In 4th and high range I have about 12 mph and lots of power and torque for wagon loads of anything. I also recently acquired a 1952 H with a Heisler 9 speed and again a totally different tractor for the same reason. Hard to fine a calander which doesn't have a M shown for some month of the year - just something so special about them to lots of folks. Love my M and no argument here, Hal.
 
John,
I was kidding you. The M is a wonderful tractor and had no equal in its day. However, the F-12 was a pathetic counterfeit.
 
I do agree with you there.I have a 39' F-20,and it will keep up with an M. I believe the f-20/M are closer in lugging power.I do know an f-20 will walk an H just about anywhere..
 
I hauled many loads of hay bales with our M's about 12 miles one way. That fast road gear was just right, a little more power would have been good . I agree the old M's are one of the best ractors ever built.
 
i guess you would have no lugging power in 5th gear pulling equipment, as this is the road gear. 4th is not even a field gear. field gears are 2nd and most times 3rd gear.
thats why the 560 was built from the M and W6 design, rather than the W9 as it gave more trouble .
 
Ya my grandpa used to really comment on how the f-12 was to big for a small job,and to small for a big job....making them pretty much worth-less....You had me going for a minute..lol i know,there not the worst tractors around....but i wouldnt get to excited to run one..
 
Here is my M,it still works for a liveing!I have newer and bigger,I love my M!go over to Tractor Talk,there is a long thread (page 2 I think) with lots of pictures.
'
a28901.jpg

a28902.jpg
 
We have 3 Straight M"s and they are the best we own! They pull sqaush out of the wet and muddiest fields without one problem! Sign me up for a fourth Farmall M!
 
I just ran a stage I SM with an aftermarket trip bucket loader and I am sure glad they don't make them like that anymore! I was just about to make a thread about it!!! They were great for their time, but what I wouldn't give for live hyd, dual action hyds, no more trip buckets, live pto, modern hyd levers...
They sure were hot back then, but I can't imagine using one that way today. With that said, for mixing feed, hauling wagons, etc I wouldn't give one up still today...actually I would like to have live PTO bc it stinks filling a bagger w/o live power.
 
Dad bought my uncle Ralph Kentzlers 41 M at the estate sale after he died in 65. I drove it home. I paid it off $500. Dad didnt want to lose it when I left home so he gave me a 50 B JD. When dad died, I was supposed to get the M, But money devides brothers. I let him keep the M as dad gave him everything else.
 
My son's good freind bought his granddad's SM this last summer. I think I posted a picture of it here, if I remember right. It's one of those barn finds you dream about. The original dealer sticker is still on the back of the seat, the wiring looks great and so does the paint. Everything works. He stores it at my place so this fall he hooked his SM to a 3-14's plow we had and pulled it for two half days. For the longest time I just stood at the end of the field and watched him work that tractor, and it takes a lot to get me to stand in one place for long. Even to this old two cylinder guy listening to the old girl under a load was like listening to fine music. Jim
 
Not too impressed with the M. I'm working with my stuff. The 1206 gets a few hours and the Ford 8N gets used 4-5 times a week but the M mostly sits. It's the IH wide front and drives like a barge. With no lift system on the back and only the belly pump for hydraulics it just isn't good for much. Pulling the spreader and hay wagons is about it. I do deer plots/garden and lite field work with the N plus back blade and mow. The 1206 is the "big dawg" for work and blowing snow (way over kill but was cheap HP, really should have a 560 or 706. The tractor, loader backhoe has the loader end covered. I'd replace the M with a 35-50 HP utility sized tractor with good hydraulics in a heartbeat, just gotta find a good deal!

Rick[/list]
 
Many an afternoon I fell to sleep listening to the M pulling 3 x 14's across the field down the lane from the house. I'd wake up when I heard her pull down in road gear. Knew it would be be only a couple minutes until she turned into the drive at the house. Fresh smell of exhaust, grease, gas drifting through the window of the old farm house. Out of bed I'd spring, running to the back door, out across the gravel driveway. There she sat, fresh dirt hanging off the moldboards. I had my bucket and impatiently waited for my uncle to motion with the "all clear" so I could clean the loam off the moldboards. At age 5 it was the closest I got to actually plowing. I'd hang the bucket on the back of the tractor and instruct my uncle to take it back to the field to dump it the next day. He played along with it knowing that I wanted that dirt back in the field where it belonged! After dinner I had my seat time on the M. That old tractor seat never got a rest until it was time for me to come in for the evening!
 
I still have the M and SM my Dad and I farmed with years ago. They don't get much use now, and will probably last another 50 years.
Not a modern design, but top of the heap in the 40s and early 50s.
 
Best tractor IHC ever built is quite a stretch for an M. It was a good tractor for it's size and time, but it sure needed better hydraulics and live PTO. I realize at the time,other tractors did not have LPTO either, but I'd sure rather have a later model with PS, LPTO and a decent hydraulic system, like a 450. I never ran an M pulling a tillage tool, but I did run a 450 quite a bit and in it's day it was a really good tractor, except for the fuel economy.[/b]
 
Several years ago I was talking to my grandpa about old tractor values and made some comment about how some folks simply prefer one paint color over the other. He explained to me how it was actually simple supply and demand. "M's and H's were built so much better ... there are still so many of them still in good shape and working." That said ALOT to me right there.
 
About all I remember of our M was it had a very hard clutch to push for a kid my size. In this picture the guy walking by the tractor is my Dad. The guy On the tractor was a family member. Ron

DadsM1.jpg
 
Yea, fourth wasn't the best either. I learned to run tractor on a WC Allis and their fourth was road gear but it had just as much power as the M in fourth.
 
Rick,

Do you think your modern 35 to 50 HP utility tractor will still be running 60 or 70 plus years from now as lots of M's are?

Harold H
 
(quoted from post at 06:50:04 12/30/10) Not too impressed with the M. I'm working with my stuff. The 1206 gets a few hours and the Ford 8N gets used 4-5 times a week but the M mostly sits. It's the IH wide front and drives like a barge. With no lift system on the back and only the belly pump for hydraulics it just isn't good for much. Pulling the spreader and hay wagons is about it. I do deer plots/garden and lite field work with the N plus back blade and mow. The 1206 is the "big dawg" for work and blowing snow (way over kill but was cheap HP, really should have a 560 or 706. The tractor, loader backhoe has the loader end covered. I'd replace the M with a 35-50 HP utility sized tractor with good hydraulics in a heartbeat, just gotta find a good deal!

Rick[/list]
Click to expand...


You'd probably like it a lot better if it was a NF. I drove a widefront M and couldn't stand it. My NF M turns on a dime.
 
Outa courisity, Whats the hp of a 30, and a M I doubt if there much different. Just that the M lost some power when it picked up alot of speed.
A guy with a 30 could pull a 3 bottom plow all day. A guy with an M could pull a 2 bottom plow alot faster and end up with around the same amount plowed. But, I guess going faster subconciously translated into getting more done.
 
(quoted from post at 13:33:37 12/31/10) Outa courisity, Whats the hp of a 30, and a M I doubt if there much different. Just that the M lost some power when it picked up alot of speed.
A guy with a 30 could pull a 3 bottom plow all day. A guy with an M could pull a 2 bottom plow alot faster and end up with around the same amount plowed. But, I guess going faster subconciously translated into getting more done.
Click to expand...

IH had them rated about the same at about 25 drawbar HP. Nebraska tests showed the M about 8 HP more. I was surprised when I looked them up that the F-30 wasn't much more than the F-20. There were a lot of F-20s around yet when I was a kid and most pulled either a 2x16 or 3x14 plow, same as an M. I don't remember any F-30s close to home. One of my uncles had an F-20 and traded for a WD-45 while I was in high school. He pulled the same 3x14 plow after adding a [u:60133ef60c]lot of weight[/u:60133ef60c] to the Allis, but pulled it faster.
 
I'd be lost without my 49 M/with DuAl loader, wide front and power-steering, and the Saginaw 3 pt.

I use it 4-5 times a week, and it always starts easier than my bigger desiel tractors when the weather is cold. (I just wish it had a cab)
 


LOL yea for what I'm looking for......something like the 60-70 model Ford 3000-4000 it will still be going in 50 -60 years! I sure ain't looking for a new one!


Rick
 
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