Plowing in Maine with a 1948 Farmall H

[Halfwayhomestead]

Also posted this over in the Farmall section. Been lurking on, and learning from this site for a while now. Thought I'd offer a contribution through what I've learned as a first time owner of a farmall h.

Short story long:
Bought my first tractor last fall to plow a half mile of rough woods road that leads to my homestead. Put minor work into it including carb rebuild, ignition switch, fluid changes, and loading the tires myself with calcium. Starts up first or second compression no matter how cold. Pretty amazing for a seventy year old machine.

Machine came with a homemade rig to hold a old style 8' 6" fisher plow and a hydraulic pump hooked up to the side pto via belt. TSC hydraulic controls where the right headlight used to be. Only controls up and down, angle is manual. She also came with a decent set of chains.

Outcome now that winter is almost over is pretty positive. Once I filled the tires she was a brand new machine. Able to clear me and my neighbors driveway plus a half mile of road in 30-45 minutes on a good day. Road was closed one weekend due to a iCy hill on the road the tractor just couldn't get up.

Not too bad for an old broad. We named her Darlene, my girlfriend has become jealous.

 

[4get gto]

Also posted this over in the Farmall section. Been lurking on, and learning from this site for a while now. Thought I'd offer a contribution through what I've learned as a first time owner of a farmall h.

Short story long:
Bought my first tractor last fall to plow a half mile of rough woods road that leads to my homestead. Put minor work into it including carb rebuild, ignition switch, fluid changes, and loading the tires myself with calcium. Starts up first or second compression no matter how cold. Pretty amazing for a seventy year old machine.

Machine came with a homemade rig to hold a old style 8' 6" fisher plow and a hydraulic pump hooked up to the side pto via belt. TSC hydraulic controls where the right headlight used to be. Only controls up and down, angle is manual. She also came with a decent set of chains.

Outcome now that winter is almost over is pretty positive. Once I filled the tires she was a brand new machine. Able to clear me and my neighbors driveway plus a half mile of road in 30-45 minutes on a good day. Road was closed one weekend due to a iCy hill on the road the tractor just couldn't get up.

Not too bad for an old broad. We named her Darlene, my girlfriend has become jealous.

Well tell your girlfriend that " Darlene springs into action at a push of a button...! :thumbsup:

Good story. Nice to see these tractors still working

 

[fried1765]

Also posted this over in the Farmall section. Been lurking on, and learning from this site for a while now. Thought I'd offer a contribution through what I've learned as a first time owner of a farmall h.

Short story long:
Bought my first tractor last fall to plow a half mile of rough woods road that leads to my homestead. Put minor work into it including carb rebuild, ignition switch, fluid changes, and loading the tires myself with calcium. Starts up first or second compression no matter how cold. Pretty amazing for a seventy year old machine.

Machine came with a homemade rig to hold a old style 8' 6" fisher plow and a hydraulic pump hooked up to the side pto via belt. TSC hydraulic controls where the right headlight used to be. Only controls up and down, angle is manual. She also came with a decent set of chains.

Outcome now that winter is almost over is pretty positive. Once I filled the tires she was a brand new machine. Able to clear me and my neighbors driveway plus a half mile of road in 30-45 minutes on a good day. Road was closed one weekend due to a iCy hill on the road the tractor just couldn't get up.

Not too bad for an old broad. We named her Darlene, my girlfriend has become jealous.

Bad idea to put CaCl in Darlene's tires.

 

[Halfwayhomestead]

They're tubed

 

[farmeratheart]

Sounds like you could use chains for Darlene. IIRC the rears are 12-38’s. Chains would make her laugh at most icy roads!

Frank

 

[Halfwayhomestead]

She has a set in her. Albeit not the newest ones. One of the rear tires is pretty dicey too.

The only time she couldn't make it up the hill was when it had warmed up and the hill had become smooth glare ice then got coated with a couple inches of fresh powdery snow.

Now I park her at the neighbors on top of the hill so if nothing else I can plow my way down and pray I make it back up.

 

[deserteagle71]

Spent a lot of hours on a Farmall H back in the 50s and 60s. Great machines! Don't remember ever having to do anything but routine maintenance on ours.

 

[Jstpssng]

That's pretty good. Considering all of the snow we've been having this winter you must be glad that you have her.

One thing though; We love looking at pictures of old working machinery.

 

[farmeratheart]

That's pretty good. Considering all of the snow we've been having this winter you must be glad that you have her.

One thing though; We love looking at pictures of old working machinery.

I’ll second that! My first tractoring experiences were with Farmalls so I would love to see pix.

Frank

 

[Halfwayhomestead]