1929 - International/Farmall 15-30 Tractor or McCormick-Deer

My dad turns 90 next month and he remembers that his father bought a new 1929 International/Farmall 15-30. They used the tractor until 1937. His dad and 4 of his 5 brothers who were married and farming on their own all used the same tractor to plow under the wheat stubble every summer during those last years they owned the tractor. Dad was 13 years old when they bought used 22-36 at a neighbors farm sale because they had wore the 15-30 out running the tractor 24 hours a day plowing every summer farming 5 farms. All my research on internet only shows a 1929 McCormick Deering 15-30 but my dad was old enough to drive the tractor in the field and is sure is was an IH/Farmall. If anyone can help me clear this up I would appreciate it.

I am in the process of writing a book documenting 100 years of Tractor History for my Eberspacher Family. I am starting with my grandfather's 1929 15-30 then all the tractors my dad and his 5 brothers & 3 brother-in law's owned. From there I have gone to the 13 grandsons and to the 9 great grandson that are still farming. My dad is the last one living of 12 children. He was the youngest of a family of twelve. His brothers were the first 5 out of the first 7 born. So they were all 12 to 20 years older than he was.

When I stated this project I was just going to start with my grandfather then my dad and then myself and write a story and list all the tractors the 3 of us had owned with their specifications. but when I interviewed my dad at the age of 88 in 2012 I found that not only did he remember his dad's tractors and his own tractors but also his 5 brothers and 3 brother-in laws. He was able to list the years, makes and models for everyone up to the late 1940' and in some cases the early 1950's. So I contacted all my first cousins that are still involved in farming and had them continue the list of their dad's tractors from where my dad left off. Then I had all the grandsons and great grandsons turn in their information sheet that I made up for their tractors and I am putting all this data on a spreadsheet This spreadsheet has the make, model, year made, year bought, years that model was made by the company, whether it was bought new or used, what type of fuel it ran on, what type of drive it had (ex. 2WD, MFWD, Tracks), what kind of wheels it had (ex. steel, rubber, duals.) I also had the Nebraska Tractor Test Labs results for the Drawbar Horsepower and Belt Horsepower or PTO Horsepower for each tractor and finally the type of transmission. An example would be a IH 1456 which would be listed as: PRPS(16-SP)(4-G)(2-R)+TA. This would read as: partial power shift with 16 speeds, 4 gears, 2 ranges plus a Torque Converter.

As of the end of 2013 we now have a complete family history for the last 84 years with 251 tractors documented. The only problem is whether the first two tractors the 15-30 and the 22-36 were IH/Farmall or McCormick Deeering. I plan to send out update sheets for the next 16 years to up date the spreadsheets then when we hit the 100 year mark to have a book made of this and made available for the family.

Just this last month I have learned that my grandfather and his 2 brothers bought a Russell Steam Tractor and a Nichols & Shepard Separator. so far I have found 1 picture of the steam tractor that was dated 1918. After posting it on one of the forums on internet one gentleman responded that he thought it was an 18 hp Russell Tractor made before 1912. If I can find more pictures in the family of the steam tractor or separator so we can get a better date on the year my grandfather and brothers bought the steam tractor, I would have to check with the 25 family members who are helping gather the information for this book and see if we should stay with the 1929 15-30 as the first tractor or move it to the Russell Steam Tractor which may be a 1912 which would mean we would already have our 100 years for our book.
Again Thanks for any help,
Gary

Gary, first off, absolutely fantastic thing you are doing, and you are darn lucky to be able to do it!! You should consider publishing it when you are done. I for one would certainly buy it.

Now, on to your question. All the wide tread tractors were McCormick Derring. Farmall started as a row crop, multi-purpose tractor. Now, wide front ends were made for them, but in the end, anything like a 10-20, 15-30, 22-36, W30, WA40, WK40 were all McCormick Deering. Regular, F12, F14, F20, F30 were all Farmalls.

If I have mis-stepped on one of these, someone will correct me, but for the most part, I am right.

They were all McCormick-Deering , Farmall name was on row crop tractors, Regular, F-12, F-14, F-20, F-30. The International name was put on tractors exported to other countries, and I think the Industrial versions of the 10-20s and 15-30s but I'm not sure on that.I'm distracted by football right now. But a 15-30 or 22-36 would have been a McCormick Deering labeled tractor, not a Farmall. Also remember some people refer to anything IH as a Farmall, and he was 90 so I would say he was doing pretty well to remember as much as he did, I can only hope I am that sharp at 90.

well first of all, there is no farmall in the 15-30 tractor. it is called 15-30 mccormick deering.
as you refer to this 15-30 as a 1929 model then it is the updated version called the 22-36. the 15-30 gear drive tractor came out in 1921, after the titan models.
in 1929 the 15-30 had a bore increase of 1/4" to 4 3/4" bore. this gave it 425 cu.in.from the 15-30's 382 cu.in. a water pump and oil filter was also added to the 22-36, along with larger radiator cores. the serial # tag showed it as the 15-30 model but the h.p. ratings showd 22-36 instead of 15-30. the 22-36 was built till 1934 and replaced by the wa40.
the farmall model is a totally different tractor which was originally the farmall regular which the farmall models originated from in the early 1920's
all the standard tractors used the name mccormick deering till around 1949 then they used mccormick only in the decals. then when the w-400 came out in 1954, replacing the super w6 ta, the international name was used and no more mccormick.

I want to thank: rusted, robgIN and Tom Fleming for the answers to my question. It looks like the error is my dads memory. If this was a John Deere I would have know the answer. My grandfather traded 2 draft mares and a colt for a trade in on a 1941 John Deere B and since then my dad and I have only had John Deere on our farms except for our wives - "And They were the Case". I tell this with permission from my wife. But when it comes to other brands of tractors my knowledge is limited.

I have just sent out a letter to my family to see if they want to do the same thing with the combines my family has owned. I have had several family members ask me if we could do it so I'm asking the rest of the family if they would be willing to do the research. Then I got to thinking that since the combines added corn heads in the late 50' and early 60's that we should also include the corn pickers too. But the corn pickers should be the easiest to do because we picked corn by hand until 1944. That year my grandfather and 4 of his sons who were farming on their own applied for a permit to buy a corn picker that was rationed during the war. Since there was 5 farmer asking for one picker they were given a permit for a 2 Row Mounted Allis Chalmers Corn Picker. Then they also bought a 2 Row Pull-type Oliver Corn Picker on the Black Market for around $100 to $150 more than list price. Up until almost 1950 the 6 sons worked together every year to pick corn just using those 2 corn pickers.

I wouldn't argue with with your dad. The 15-30 could have even been repainted and had "Farmall" decals on it. Who knows? But anyway the 15-30 was a McCormick Deering from the factory. The Farmall name was reserved for the row-crop tractors as mentioned.

what size plow were they using with the 15-30"

Gary,
Here in Wisconsin we have an annual spring "Plow Day". A few years ago a guy showed up with his 1927 15-30 and a 2-bottom plow. I don't know the year but the owner says it is a 1927. That tractor easily pulled a 2-bottom plow in black soil. Since it was the oldest tractor, we had it lead all the other tractors for the first round of plowing...the tractor on steel like that was fun to watch leading 45 other tractors.

We have a video of that day. If you would like to see that tractor in operation, let me know.
The sound of that tractor is on the video.
LA in WI

Here is a video I took while plowing with my 1929 22-36. I was pulling an IHC 3-14 plow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKshV5nuL9U

I know it may be difficult, but while you have everyone in "research" mode, you might ask if anyone can provide any serial numbers for the tractors from bills of sale, auction records etc.
The only reason I bring this up is my cousin & I were going through an old box full of pictures & papers when his father ( my uncle) passed. We actually found the bill of sale from when my Grandfather sold out in 1958, and was able to record the serial numbers of the tractors he & his 3 sons ( including my father) used until they were sold at that auction.
I am still looking for those 3 tractors, but at least with this information I now know what specific tractors I am looking for.