Price of SMTA Grills

Hill-Billy Rock-Star · Feb 7, 2012

Whats the going price on a SMTA Grill in good shape?

Jason the Red · Feb 7, 2012

If I recall correctly, the last one I saw sell on EBAY went for about $400 with shipping. It was a little rough though.

mike1972chev · Feb 8, 2012

I cannot understand why those things "skyrocket" so high like they do? They are ALSO the replacement grill for ALL the M series that IH sold all the time,arnt they?

I would think that friggin longer hood would be the "Holy Grail" item instead of the "HOLY GRILL"

(I just made a funny! ha)

rustred · Feb 8, 2012

i didnt think the grill was any diff. on the t.a. compared to the super.
i know its brother the super w-6 has the same grill and hood as the t.a. model.

mkirsch · Feb 8, 2012

The grill with the two large holes is actually rare.

It was only used on the 20,000-odd SMTAs and about half of one year's production of Super Ms in 1953.

The classic M grill appeared on 250,000+ Ms plus all of 1952's Super M production along with half of 1953's.

For every 1 SMTA grill, there have been 10 M grills.

Numerically speaking, a lot more Ms have been parted out than SMTAs, so finding an M grill is easy. Very few SMTAs get parted out because they're so valuable.

IH 2656 · Feb 8, 2012

If you are buying I have a very good one get back to me

D Slater · Feb 8, 2012

Mike I think fuel is to high also. But the whole world wants it and is willing to pay the price. So they won't sell it to me cheaper than that unless the demand ends. Guess the demand for SMTA grills is still high. Another 10 to 20 years later from now maybe not.

Dalrymple · Feb 8, 2012

Only slightly off topic, I have a '52 Super MD that I'm going to need a grille for. Are these any different than another M or Super M? What should I be looking for?

mike1972chev · Feb 8, 2012

For those who were interested in the differences.

Yea I know Dslater,I get the point.Prices go up on all sortst of things.I just thought the "holy grills" would be more plentiful because they made them as replacements too.

Dalrymple · Feb 8, 2012

Is the IH emblem vs. the Farmall emblem as clear cut as M vs. SM?

sflem849 · Feb 8, 2012

Are we at the high right now? My neighbor has a SMTA grill he was sent when buying an M grill though the mail. Their bad!!! He is all mad because he wanted a plain grill and didn't want to "waste" the $20 to send it back and get a new one shipped. IIRC he has $125 after shipping in his SMTA grill.

mike1972chev · Feb 8, 2012

If it is correct,The "IH" ones are for the Supers and the "Farmall" ones are for the straight Ms. I have seen them swapped back and fourth between tractors.

"Veterans",would their be any LATE Ms with the "IH" bage on them from the factory???? (I have never seen one like that.)

Dalrymple · Feb 8, 2012

Your SM photo shows blanks where the holes are in the SMTA photo. My SMD doesn't have those blanks. It's like your M photo except it does have the IH badge. I guess it may not be original, but I have no reason to think it's not.

D Slater · Feb 8, 2012

Grill on the SMD is what came on 99.9 percent of SM tractors. Hopefully it was straighter then.

mike1972chev · Feb 8, 2012

No it very could well be correct!

The grill you have is the one I have on my 53 Super M. I believe right after these came the ones with the flat squares with NO holes(Chances are,LATER built in run?). I have seen the supers with BOTH of these types of grills.

The Super M TA needed the squaress WITH the holes because the NEWER style bolster had a wider mount for the cultivator braces.The grill with the blank squares were mostly used on the older style bolster that still had the NARROW mounting holes like mine and yours.

mike1972chev · Feb 8, 2012

DSLATER,

Would the late 1953 early 1954 Super M (NON MTA)Be most likely to have the "Blank" square grills???(NO Big holes????)

Dalrymple · Feb 8, 2012

(quoted from post at 15:15:53 02/08/12) Grill on the SMD is what came on 99.9 percent of SM tractors. Hopefully it was straighter then.

See why I said "I'm going to need a grill"? This one obviously had a farsighted tractor driver around it at some time in it's life.

sflem849 · Feb 8, 2012

(quoted from post at 12:38:04 02/08/12)

(quoted from post at 15:15:53 02/08/12) Grill on the SMD is what came on 99.9 percent of SM tractors. Hopefully it was straighter then.

Click to expand...

See why I said "I'm going to need a grill"? This one obviously had a farsighted tractor driver around it at some time in it's life.

You can fix that one. They sell that tool for like $70 and you are done. I never used it, but I saw it used on a grill that looked worse than yours at RPRU.

Dalrymple · Feb 8, 2012

You can fix that one. They sell that tool for like $70 and you are done. I never used it, but I saw it used on a grill that looked worse than yours at RPRU.

I had seen the tools on eBay and wondered if they were legit. My brother is an accomplished auto body repair man. I'm going to see what he says before I buy anything, grill or tools, but it's good to hear an eye witness say they work.

D Slater · Feb 8, 2012

Don't think any 53 models had the SMTA type grill holes drilled or not. Can't prove it one way or the other though. Some pictures of preproduction SMTA tractors have the holes drilled. Think some of the last SM tractors built in 54 came with the SMTA type grill. Grill was the same with or without holes. Don't know why IH decided to drill some and leave some undrilled or if both were used at the same time early in 54 or if all undrilled were used first.

Dean Olson · Feb 8, 2012

If they're as rare as a grill for a 1954 stage 2 super H, good luck even finding one. I've been on a 2 year scavenger hunt, coast to coast, and finally found one in excellent shape. Gladly pd $315 for.

mike1972chev · Feb 9, 2012

Yea,

I think the biggest issue would be all the "grill swapping" that has probably went on over the years? If a guy had a good grill off of an M Super M,Super M TA and needed it for a standard M,they wouldnt hesitate to use it because it FIT,not because wheather or not it was CORRECT? MO

D Slater · Feb 9, 2012

Most times IH changed the suffix letters on a part when a small change was made. In 1952 a SM grill suffix was DD. IH changed it to DE for SMTA tractors and that number is shown as the replacement grill # for most M and all SM tractors after that. IH used the drilled and undrilled DE type without a suffix change. Both types showed up near the change from SM to SMTA.
I don't know the answer to the question of why some were drilled and some not, or if some early ones were put on SM undrilled and some used were drilled at the same time period.

mkirsch · Feb 9, 2012

I just thought the "holy grills" would be more plentiful because they made them as replacements too.

They didn't sell many replacement grills. How many M's with thrashed grills have you seen for sale in your travels? Most any unrestored/unpainted M has some amount of grill damage. Clearly replacement wasn't a priority.

Price of SMTA Grills

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