My loyalty is now in question IH vsJD

Wow, talk about a hard decision to make,I have a 41 JD H that I have been slowly restoring and always liked the green tractors,but now I have a dilemma...My father in law had 9 IH tractors from an A to a Super C,H,Super M F20 AND F30 etc. He was killed in a tree cutting incident 4 years ago and now his wife has decided to divvy up some of the tractors to his 4 kids 1 of whom is my wife. She decided to keep the M and H as well as a couple more but they drew for the A,Super C,F20 and F30. My wife's oldest sister drew the Super C her 2nd oldest the F20,and her brother the F30 thus leaving the A to my wife. We went over yesterday to look at it and I took a shining to the Super C. The F tractors need tires and paint but are complete and great shape otherwise. The A was inside a shed(un started for the last 4 years at least) and hard to see. When I took the flashlight in and gave it a look see,I realized this A, which is a serial number 33767 (1940) is pretty darn nice condition!The rear tires are worn but the sheet metal is absolutely wonerful as is everything I could see. I didn't see any fluid leaks on the tractor or on the cement floor below it. We are planning on getting it home as soon as this weekend and I have some things I want to do to it before I even attempt to start it. First,I want to change the oil in the crankcase,then check the rear differential lube level and swap it out. It appears the plugs,wires and cap are all new pieces,so I will also check the antifreeze in it as well as clean out the fuel tank.A new 6 volt battery and cables will also fit the bill. I figured out that I can have a nice addition to my fleet for under $200 bucks. I wish it had hydraulics or at least a front blade,but who's bitching??? lol Now my dilemma is do I favor my JD or the IH? I also have 3 Cub Cadets as well as a POS JD 165. For years I have been 2 cylinder JD man,but wonder if I can make the transition to IH's...lol
Is there any other thing that I should check while I am at it? I couldn't see good enough to see how to turn the motor over,but the brake and clutch felt fine as well..

I'm a International guy 100%. I would added the red tractors to your shop ASAP. You will not regret it.

Well my friend, you just came into posession of one of the more versatile little tractors ever made. Yes, hydraulics would be a bonus, but not a crisis.

before changing out all the fluids, take a look at them. IF they are clean and look hardly used, I would just flush out the tank and carb, and give her a whirl on the starter with fresh gas.

Let us know how it turns out. If I wasn't red, I would probably be green. However, I am red, therefore, I am not green. In all honesty, I haven't seen a piece of junk from either company. Different styles, different approaches, different options, but in the end, still good machines. Boils down to your preference or what you grew up with. There are some dual personality people out there that grew up with both, and have spent the rest of their lives wandering, aimlessly, trying to determine who they are.......

BTW, did I happen to mention, that I am RED! :wink:

I have several colors here.
While I am more partial to the red, the others have their place here.
All colors here get treated with the same respect.
I have 2 colors of green here - Oliver and JD.
I have 2 colors of IH red here also.
Plus a couple of Case yellow around.

Each has a task it does better than the others.
Now if someone wants to give me some red to sway my opinion my address is ***** :lol:

Congrats on the new addition to your family!


Maxx

would be no question for me.. greene ones are nice to look at in a parade.. but I think the red ones are more fun to work on.

and yes i do own greene ones..

I am an IH-Oliver guy but have alot of interest in MM. So, I color coordinated. )

In our family, we started with Olivers and then went to IH. I have decided to focus my efforts on finding similar tractors that my Grandpa"s and Uncle"s used on their farms. Those will be very special to me and will keep that memory alive.

They make a front blade for it that also doubles as a belly blade. I would love to get an A for just the belly blade. They are THE BEST for doing your driveway.

The green ones are nice, but there's just something about old farmalls. I guess for most people, myself included, it goes back to some impression made on you as a kid.

Despite the fact that I live in john deer country, and you can't swing a stick without hitting one, there was a friend of my father's we used to go visit and he lived on the most beautiful farm you can imagine, and he'd always be on a red tractor when we got there.

The image of that tractor coming over a hill surrounded by all that beautiful scenery always stuck in my head, and just defined "tractor" for me.

I was too young to even remember who the guy was, where his farm was, or what model the tractor was (assume it was an m) but when it comes to old tractors, that's the 'standard' I'm always comparing things to.

As for your A - if you get the urge to hand crank it before you get a battery, be careful - learn the right way to do it.

Start with the crank down around 6:00 to 8:00 position, and lift up quickly to about 12:00, but don't go past. To crank again, pull the handle out and start again at 6:00 - don't try to go all the way around with it - even (or especially) slowly!!!

If the timing is a little early, it can kick back at you really, really hard.
When you're lifting from 8 to 12, your much less likely to get hurt because if it kicks, it'd be pulling down and away from you.

If you go around and you're pushing downwards on it, it could really hurt you because it'd then be kicking back into you, snapping something in your arm/hand.

Also when you grab the handle, keep your thumb on the same side as your fingers, don't wrap your thumb around it. Feels funny at first, but you get used to it.

Also - I find it's more likely to kick if you turn slowly - make it a quick, solid pull up.

I grew on almost all of the brands, but mostly IH. I'm partial to Red but I love my Oliver 88. You'll like that little A, but I'd rather you'd gotten the SC. They were a handy little tractor. I have the C, SC, 200, and the 230.

My first tractor was a "39 F-20 that had been sitting in my pasture for 30+ yrs. The next was a WD Allis that I had learned to drive as a kid, but was sitting stuck in our barn lot. Then, one day, at a county fair, I saw a guy hand start a JD B, spinning the flywheel and making it pop. I was hooked and shortly afterwards, had a B of my own. I"ve been restoring primarily Deere for the last 25 yrs, with a few other colors tossed in occassionaly.
Last spring, I RE restored my first B. I still had the original receipts from the first time, and upon comparing how the prices had gone up, I found that some had gone up 800% Yes, EIGHT HUNDRED PERCENT!
That was my last Deere. I"m back to Farmall, and have now done three cubs, two H"s,and have a third H waiting. IH Parts USED to be higher than Deere, but Deere has become so GREEDY that that is not the case anymore. I hated to abandon my passion for the green and yellow ones, but financial pragmatism won out. You can still pick up a nice H for under a grand... but you can hardly touch a parts B Deere for that, let alone a decent running one.
So, enjoy the Deere you have, and work on the red one w/o the sticker shock. Truth be known, they all can make you smile.

I have red and green,The red is more user friendly,Im sure both has there advantages,but I never found a advantage from green to red

jimmy

I'm pretty much a John Deere guy, nothing quite like an old two cylinder. But I have two family tractors, an Allis B that was my Dad's and my grandfathers Farmall H. Guess you could say I'm becoming multi-cultural. I like 'em all,

I have one Red (IH) and one green (JD) the red one doesn't take much to maintain but the green one you need a lot of money.

ALL tractors are good! Hoss

I ,too,have IH&JD.I bought a JD G in'86 and restored it putting a little over 1000 hours on it since.In '88 I bought a JD GP which I mechanically restored but have used very little.In november of last year, I bought a Farmall 400 diesel which I have been working on when time and money permit.

......and BLUE ones.

I was raised with the JD being the bigger tractor on the farm and Farmalls the small ones. I have run several sizes and brands of tractors and never really met one I didn't like, just liked some better than others and it depended on what it was being used for. It would be hard to pick an overall favorite, but...
For a small tractor, the C/SC series is the handiest thing on wheels... enough power and traction to get something done, but nimble as a cat. Plus the Touch Control, and Fast-Hitch if it had one, are really handy.

I was raised RED and have an H ,M,Cub and 4 cub cadets I have gotten an Allis B and 2 Case DC. They all have made good and all have made JUNK!!!!! You dont have to be totatly JD or IH as long as we all save as many old equipment as possible. Or soon they will be gone for our future generations. My 2 cents worth. Kenny

and orange ones and red n grey ones..

Growing up on a farm here in Minnesota my dad had both IH and John Deere. They were both great tractor brands and they made each other better tractors by competion.
I now have a B, A and 3010 John Deere.
Farmall H, M and 560.
18 Cub Cadets.

Call me sick if you want to?But IF I couldnt own an IH,I would buy an Oliver Super 88 and go around and pull all of the John Deeres of the era APART with it!!!! lol

In my opinion the color of ones toys in not important, play with them all. Since the tractors are staying in the family why don't you all get together and celebrate father in laws tractors at a family reunion/tractor show. I bet he would smile down on you all.