A little help with an M

Wemedeeres · Sep 28, 2014

As you can tell from my "handle" on this site I'm more of a John Deere two cylinder guy. This past week I had the opportunity to buy one of the tractors my grandpa farmed with. I drove it some as a kid and am somewhat familiar with it. I'm wondering how do I go about finding out what year it was built?

Bob · Sep 28, 2014

.
M on YT

rustred · Sep 28, 2014

pretty much the same as finding it for any tractor. just get the serial# from the flywheel housing on left side and then look here on left at the serial#'s and you will have it.

Wemedeeres · Sep 28, 2014

I maybe could have worded my question better, does IH have a way of tracking the serial number to get build dates, shipping dates and destinations, what options the tractor was ordered with?

Nebraska Kirk · Sep 28, 2014

(quoted from post at 15:18:59 09/28/14) I maybe could have worded my question better, does IH have a way of tracking the serial number to get build dates, shipping dates and destinations, what options the tractor was ordered with?

No, those records were lost in a fire years ago.

Wemedeeres · Sep 28, 2014

No, those records were lost in a fire years ago.[/quote]

Ok thanks!...I'll just go off what my grandpa has told me about it and that's about all I can do.

John M · Sep 28, 2014

Actually, there are some out there somewhere, I lost the bookmark when my old computer bit the dust, that did give the what I think was the month and year built, but it would take me more time than I have to find the page again.

FBH44 · Sep 29, 2014

Well there's more information available. If you'll look on the larger cast iron parts, transmission case, engine block, etc., you should see small labels about 3/4" x 4", cast in. You'll see something like 4.17.T, which is the casting date code meaning the part was cast at the foundry on April 17, 1950. The letter indicates the year. Started with A in 1931, as I understand, goes to H for 1938, , I for 1939, etc. Goes to Z at 1954, then goes back to A for 1955. V not used, and in 1951 they used both U and W.

Harry Klever · Sep 29, 2014

I am with you Wemedeeres, i wished for that same information myself, all us IHC guys can do is guess the month, and day,it was assembled.

mkirsch · Sep 29, 2014

I doubt IH even kept records that accurate in the first place... This was the 1940's after all. No computers!

Why is it so important to know the exact nanosecond your tractor was built anyway?

BTW, the Wisconsin Historical Society does have IH production and shipment records for 1950-1976 available online. However it only gets you down to the month, and has no records of what "options" your tractor was shipped with.

Wemedeeres · Sep 29, 2014

(quoted from post at 08:17:14 09/29/14) I doubt IH even kept records that accurate in the first place... This was the 1940's after all. No computers!

Why is it so important to know the exact nanosecond your tractor was built anyway?

I just thought that since John Deere had a record of build dates and shipping info which is now handled/owned by two-cylinder magazine that IH maybe kept track as well and maybe somewhere there was a club that had access to that info. I think is kind of neat to find out what kind of journey these tractors have been on. I own a John Deere A that my grandpa's uncle bought new, I haven't done the two-cylinder search on it yet since I know its history. Bryce Fraiser out in Idaho has the same year A. There's 444 tractors built between the two, it's just neat to see where they originally went.

David R Inman · Sep 29, 2014

Sadly, you'll never find info as detailed as the
JD 2 cylinder clubs research by SN.
Provided you have the sn on the tag, you can
however use this site to get the SN down to the
month it was assigned.
Untitled URL Link

A little help with an M

Wemedeeres

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Bob

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rustred

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Wemedeeres

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Nebraska Kirk

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Wemedeeres

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John M

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FBH44

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Harry Klever

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mkirsch

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David R Inman

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