Denny, what can you tell us about your time at <FONT COLOR="ff0000">I</FONT><FONT COLOR="000000">H</FONT>?
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Denny's <B><FONT COLOR="ff0000">I</FONT><FONT COLOR="000000">H</FONT></B> Ramblings...
- Thread starter kmcconaughey
- Start date
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Denny,
I alsways read your posts about your experiences while working for IH. Gowing up during that time I would would have loved to get a tour of the IH manufacturing facility or facilities. Every week I looked forward to getting The County Today, AgriView and other farm related newspapers or magazines. So go ahead SPILL....
I alsways read your posts about your experiences while working for IH. Gowing up during that time I would would have loved to get a tour of the IH manufacturing facility or facilities. Every week I looked forward to getting The County Today, AgriView and other farm related newspapers or magazines. So go ahead SPILL....
Dennis My uncle was a welder at IH probly not the same place (It was a big place) His name was Lewis Olivier. i remember him talking about the "new" 86 series. Said the new cab had more insulation than his house. He saw them started but retired before they got the line going.
VINCE - I spent most of my time with IH at FARMALL in Rock Island, ag tractor production. I did work at the IH East Moline plant for six weeks in 1977, combine & corn planter production. IH Canton, IL made plows mostly. I handled the "Interworks Scheduling desk" in purchasing for 3-4 months and dealt with most of the other IH plants.
From where I sat in the office I could see all the tour groups leave the office and walk down into the "Tunnel" under the street & railroad tracks and into the plant about in the middle of the start assembly line. Most of the tours were groups scheduled in advance.
DAVE - Sounds like Your Uncle retired a couple months before I started at FARMALL. The cabs for the 86-series was made complete at IH E. Moline so He probably worked there. Even though I worked at E. Moline I really never got to know anyone besides the guys in my dept.
FRANK - I got a couple posts over @ RPM forum I'll copy & paste here today. We have a saved thread about the late 70's & early '80's and Archie McCardell's effect on IH. It'd be interesting reading for a lot of people here who don't know much about IHC.
From where I sat in the office I could see all the tour groups leave the office and walk down into the "Tunnel" under the street & railroad tracks and into the plant about in the middle of the start assembly line. Most of the tours were groups scheduled in advance.
DAVE - Sounds like Your Uncle retired a couple months before I started at FARMALL. The cabs for the 86-series was made complete at IH E. Moline so He probably worked there. Even though I worked at E. Moline I really never got to know anyone besides the guys in my dept.
FRANK - I got a couple posts over @ RPM forum I'll copy & paste here today. We have a saved thread about the late 70's & early '80's and Archie McCardell's effect on IH. It'd be interesting reading for a lot of people here who don't know much about IHC.
A post from 1-24-2009:
I started @ FARMALL in Oct. '76 after I got out of college. I actually hired in during a Wildcat strike @ FARMALL. I worked a couple weeks and got bumped onto 2nd shift which I really didn't like. I was doing subassembly on the wide frt axles for the 86-series. I'd get bored and would talk to other people in the dept. and eventually got to know how to do Their jobs as well as the stuff I was supposed to do. Main thing was I'd assemble the steering cylinders & hoses to keep the Guys assembling the axle extensions and tirerods, etc. running. They were running the main line on 1st & 2nd shift then so everything We ran went straight to the line. After about 10-12 weeks I got laid-off when assembly dropped down from 175/day to 145-150/day and 2nd shift assembly was stopped.
My Union Steward came by that night and told Me I could get on @ the East Moline plant which I did for six weeks being a helper on an 8 ft Cincinnati metal cutting shear, cutting & slitting steel sheet into strips & blanks for parts. I really didn't care for that plant like I did FARMALL so I'd keep going back to FARMALL and trying to get back on there. Finally I got hired for My Production Scheduler job, expediting & scheduling gears & shafts thru a gear machining dept. I really enjoyed that. Job lasted 8-9 months and I was laid-off again in Oct.'77. I was lucky enough to get on with UPS for X-mas help and got called back full time mid-Febuary '78 @ UPS.
I got called back to FARMALL Monday Jan. 3rd. 1979. I was in Material Scheduling, chasing parts into the plant at first from IH. E.Moline, Canton, Shadyside, Ohio, Melrose Pk, IL, and seems like I had some stuff from Memphis Fdy. After 3-4 months they reorganized the department and I was the new Scheduler on the TIRE Desk. MAN I loved that job! And I was REALLY good at it. Along with the tire & rim/wheel suppliers I released paint, couple stampings from a place in Dubuque, IA, engine clutch disc's & pressure plates from Rockford Clutch Div. of Borg-Warner, and O-Rings from National Oil Seal in California and a Minority supplier from Indy.
I started @ FARMALL in Oct. '76 after I got out of college. I actually hired in during a Wildcat strike @ FARMALL. I worked a couple weeks and got bumped onto 2nd shift which I really didn't like. I was doing subassembly on the wide frt axles for the 86-series. I'd get bored and would talk to other people in the dept. and eventually got to know how to do Their jobs as well as the stuff I was supposed to do. Main thing was I'd assemble the steering cylinders & hoses to keep the Guys assembling the axle extensions and tirerods, etc. running. They were running the main line on 1st & 2nd shift then so everything We ran went straight to the line. After about 10-12 weeks I got laid-off when assembly dropped down from 175/day to 145-150/day and 2nd shift assembly was stopped.
My Union Steward came by that night and told Me I could get on @ the East Moline plant which I did for six weeks being a helper on an 8 ft Cincinnati metal cutting shear, cutting & slitting steel sheet into strips & blanks for parts. I really didn't care for that plant like I did FARMALL so I'd keep going back to FARMALL and trying to get back on there. Finally I got hired for My Production Scheduler job, expediting & scheduling gears & shafts thru a gear machining dept. I really enjoyed that. Job lasted 8-9 months and I was laid-off again in Oct.'77. I was lucky enough to get on with UPS for X-mas help and got called back full time mid-Febuary '78 @ UPS.
I got called back to FARMALL Monday Jan. 3rd. 1979. I was in Material Scheduling, chasing parts into the plant at first from IH. E.Moline, Canton, Shadyside, Ohio, Melrose Pk, IL, and seems like I had some stuff from Memphis Fdy. After 3-4 months they reorganized the department and I was the new Scheduler on the TIRE Desk. MAN I loved that job! And I was REALLY good at it. Along with the tire & rim/wheel suppliers I released paint, couple stampings from a place in Dubuque, IA, engine clutch disc's & pressure plates from Rockford Clutch Div. of Borg-Warner, and O-Rings from National Oil Seal in California and a Minority supplier from Indy.
Con't:
About 10 months later was the BIG Strike, I got choosen to work in the Mat'l Handling dept. because of My prior truck driving experience to drive the semi-tractor the company leased to move trailers around the plant. I was working six 10 & 12 hr days per week. Strike ended and We started building tractors again, plus getting ready for the 88-series release. We also built ALL the Taco Tractors, big orders of specially equipped 986,1086, & 1486's for Mexico. There were 1200-1500 tractors per batch. All tractors were supposed to have GY tires with mounted duals so there were a HUGE amount of extra tires to keep track of.
The 88-series started production in late Oct. or Sept. if I remember right.....After problems with the pilot run were resolved, things were going good We thought. My Wife and I were expecting Our first child around Thanksgiving, but turns out He was late. On Monday Dec. 7th everybody in Our group gets called into a conference room and We're notified again that all but two of the 13 of Us were being laid-off AGAIN..... My Son was born of Friday Dec. 11th @ 7:04 AM, good excuse for being late Your last day at work I thought.
With the company time I had We weren't sure if I would even be laid-off but the cutback was bigger than anyone expected and eventually I worked My way back up to about third on the call-back list. But never got back.
But FARMALL was a great place to work, There were some people who weren't happy there but that's true of every workplace. On the street where Wife & I bought Our first house in five houses,, next door Neighbor was a General Foreman @ E. Moline, then Me, other next door neighbor was an Inspector at JD Parts Distribution Center in Milan, Next Neighbor was an IT person as various JD plants while We lived there, His Wife was in Production Control @ JD Plow-Planter, Neighbor next to Him was a lead person in Accounting @ Farmall. My Boss and His wife actually lived less than a block away from Us two streets over.
About 10 months later was the BIG Strike, I got choosen to work in the Mat'l Handling dept. because of My prior truck driving experience to drive the semi-tractor the company leased to move trailers around the plant. I was working six 10 & 12 hr days per week. Strike ended and We started building tractors again, plus getting ready for the 88-series release. We also built ALL the Taco Tractors, big orders of specially equipped 986,1086, & 1486's for Mexico. There were 1200-1500 tractors per batch. All tractors were supposed to have GY tires with mounted duals so there were a HUGE amount of extra tires to keep track of.
The 88-series started production in late Oct. or Sept. if I remember right.....After problems with the pilot run were resolved, things were going good We thought. My Wife and I were expecting Our first child around Thanksgiving, but turns out He was late. On Monday Dec. 7th everybody in Our group gets called into a conference room and We're notified again that all but two of the 13 of Us were being laid-off AGAIN..... My Son was born of Friday Dec. 11th @ 7:04 AM, good excuse for being late Your last day at work I thought.
With the company time I had We weren't sure if I would even be laid-off but the cutback was bigger than anyone expected and eventually I worked My way back up to about third on the call-back list. But never got back.
But FARMALL was a great place to work, There were some people who weren't happy there but that's true of every workplace. On the street where Wife & I bought Our first house in five houses,, next door Neighbor was a General Foreman @ E. Moline, then Me, other next door neighbor was an Inspector at JD Parts Distribution Center in Milan, Next Neighbor was an IT person as various JD plants while We lived there, His Wife was in Production Control @ JD Plow-Planter, Neighbor next to Him was a lead person in Accounting @ Farmall. My Boss and His wife actually lived less than a block away from Us two streets over.
Being in the Quad-Cities which was REALLY biased towards JD I think a lot of the IH people worked harder to make sure that the 6000-7000 IH employees in the area made sure JD knew IH was still around. Seems like nothing good was ever in the local papers about IH, and nothing BAD ever written about JD. Sound familiar?
There was probably a HUNDRED suppliers & machine shops who depended on FARMALL to keep their doors open. Companies like Sears Mfg. who made the seats for the 86-series and some of the seats for the 88-series depended on the volume of business with FARMALL. Add all the seats for the E.Molne Plant & JD Harvester works together then double it and You still wouldn't equal the number of seats FARMALL would use in the same period. The local trucking companies bent over backwards to make sure We always got Our freight on time. Just on My tires, wheels, & rims I needed 16 to 18 semi-truck loads of parts A DAY to keep the plant running. Plus there were three semi-truck loads of engines every day from Melrose, and daily shipments from E.Moline to FARMALL ran between two and four truckloads a day, plus two from Canton Plt. Company I ended up driving over-the-road for had the cab contract for hauling cabs from E.Moline to FARMALL. Think there was 7 or 8 cabs per load, so 18 loads of cabs a day. Company later bought 48 ft trailers special for that job, then they could haul nine cabs, so only 16 loads required.
There was probably a HUNDRED suppliers & machine shops who depended on FARMALL to keep their doors open. Companies like Sears Mfg. who made the seats for the 86-series and some of the seats for the 88-series depended on the volume of business with FARMALL. Add all the seats for the E.Molne Plant & JD Harvester works together then double it and You still wouldn't equal the number of seats FARMALL would use in the same period. The local trucking companies bent over backwards to make sure We always got Our freight on time. Just on My tires, wheels, & rims I needed 16 to 18 semi-truck loads of parts A DAY to keep the plant running. Plus there were three semi-truck loads of engines every day from Melrose, and daily shipments from E.Moline to FARMALL ran between two and four truckloads a day, plus two from Canton Plt. Company I ended up driving over-the-road for had the cab contract for hauling cabs from E.Moline to FARMALL. Think there was 7 or 8 cabs per load, so 18 loads of cabs a day. Company later bought 48 ft trailers special for that job, then they could haul nine cabs, so only 16 loads required.
Since that time, having worked for several small manufacturing companies from 25 to 350 people I realize how totally great IH was at manufacturing. They had processes & procedures for EVERYTHING. And this is 20-25 yrs before ISO 9000. I had My first FAX machine in 1979, most companies didn't discover the FAX till the mid-1980's. We had a private IHC only satelite phone sytem where We could call from anywhere TO anywhere and charge the call to Our personal work phone number. IH truely was world class. Their computer system for the whole corporation was centered around FARMALL. Each plant had a plant ID number, FARMALL was #1, E.Moline was #3. We could send e-mails or "Instant Messages to people any in the plant or any other IH plant. I could go into the other side of the computer system and see by part number WHERE parts were, how many there were, how m,any that place used, who the supplier was, costs, etc. Didn't make a difference if it was a truck part, Cub Cadet, You name it. And this was at least 10-12 yrs before Al Gore invented the Internet. The computer systems small and even mid-sized companies use now are primitive in comparison to what IHC had 30 yrs ago.
There really are dozens of reasons why IHC had to sell off divisions to survive. Any one or two reasons they could have dealt with but combine them ALL and they're lucky to still be around. It wasn't Archie's fault, or the UAW, or the Russian Grain Embargo and resulting ag. depression, or the 20+% intersst rates of the early 1980's, Heck, The company had survived much worse in the 80 yrs since IHC had been formed.
I'm kinda biased, having driven My Dad's '51 M when I was about four years old standing between Dad on the seat and the steering wheel.....But IH was VERY good at what they did. And people enjoyed working there. And they got paid very well for working there. And they were treated with respect, at least while there, some of that other ag equipment company's people didn't care for Us but then the feeling was mutual in most cases. And I'm not talking about people at the two J.I.Case plants or two CAT plants that were around the Q-C's.
There really are dozens of reasons why IHC had to sell off divisions to survive. Any one or two reasons they could have dealt with but combine them ALL and they're lucky to still be around. It wasn't Archie's fault, or the UAW, or the Russian Grain Embargo and resulting ag. depression, or the 20+% intersst rates of the early 1980's, Heck, The company had survived much worse in the 80 yrs since IHC had been formed.
I'm kinda biased, having driven My Dad's '51 M when I was about four years old standing between Dad on the seat and the steering wheel.....But IH was VERY good at what they did. And people enjoyed working there. And they got paid very well for working there. And they were treated with respect, at least while there, some of that other ag equipment company's people didn't care for Us but then the feeling was mutual in most cases. And I'm not talking about people at the two J.I.Case plants or two CAT plants that were around the Q-C's.
I thought Kraig was the one in charge of that?
GERRY - Thanks for that link. I don't get Belt Pulley and had not seen that.
Heritage Iron Magazine did a three section article on M&W also. Also went into their newer products of the 60's & 70's. They really kept up with leading edge products.
Heritage Iron Magazine did a three section article on M&W also. Also went into their newer products of the 60's & 70's. They really kept up with leading edge products.
kide
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Dennis:
I Googled the author, wandered around the 'net for a while and learned that Belt Pulley is now Vintage Tractor Digest... I am amazed how much historical info is available on IH related stuff....( I started the wandering because somebody asked something about a Farmall 140
)
I Googled the author, wandered around the 'net for a while and learned that Belt Pulley is now Vintage Tractor Digest... I am amazed how much historical info is available on IH related stuff....( I started the wandering because somebody asked something about a Farmall 140
GERRY - The closest I've ever been to an IH 140 was the one my elementary school district used to mow ALL the school property all summer. Must have been an early 60's vintage. It covered a LOT of ground every summer, had a 60 or 72" belly-mounted rotary mower, probably a Woods since they were based in Oregon, IL only 60-70 miles away.
I saw a few inaccuracies in the article. Super M's & Super M-TA's had faster gear speeds than those listed which were correct for an M. SM's & SM-TA's had 2-1/2, 3-3/4, 5, 6-3/4, & 16-1/2 mph speeds & the SM-TA's Torque Amplifier lowered the low side speeds 33%. Those speeds may be off by as much as 1/4 mph due to tire size.
Thing I'm impressed the most with in that article is the way people kept track of that Super M. The history of Dad's '51 M is easy, bought new & delivered 12-23-1951 and stayed on the farm I grew up on till Nov/Dec. '72 then moved 1/2 mile away and stayed there for another 34 yrs till I hauled it to Wis. 4 yrs ago.
The Super H has had a little more "Colorful" history. Was bought new by a teacher in spring of '54 to farm 80 acres in an early attempt of "Subsistsnce Agriculture". Corn, beans, oats, hay, and enough livestock to butcher & feed His family. From what Dad told me years ago he went bankrupt and the tractor & equip. was repossessed before the crops were planted that spring. The tractor sat for a year at the dealership, and was used to deliver a new IH 4-row corn planter to the Big Time Operator down the road 3-4 miles spring of '55. The Super H proved to be a bit too small to pull the planter with ALL the options so was replaced spring of '56 with a 300 because it had a T/A and a bit more HP and the Super H sat mostly unused. The Super H was traded for a 756 with the German D310 diesel in the spring of '68 and Dad traded a '39 H for it in May '68 just before starting to plant corn. It pulled our little JD 4-row planter with no fertilizer boxes Dad had much better than the loaded IH planter.
Dad & an old Buddy of his delivered the Super H up to me here in WI late summer of '95.
The pilot bearing problem the article mentions was a true weak spot in the H/M's. The Super Series about doubled the size of the stub shaft & bearing, but souping-up an H or M and trying to pull big tillage equipment in 4th gear would snap the stub shaft off the main transmission shaft or overload the pilot bearing quickly. Running in lower gears, 2nd & 3rd, moved the meshing gears away from the pilot bearing and they lived much longer & happier lives.
M&W also offered 1/2" longer stroke crankshafts for the M,SM,400,450 engines, 5-3/4" stroke instead of the stock 5-1/4". The crank was a package with the special pistons required, raised wristpin bores. There's a few M's around still running with those stroker cranks. 70 HP was common from those tractors.
We've had discussions on RPM's site about the fact IH should have made a rowcrop version of the W-9 series, 335 & 350 CID 4-cyl. engines. Later a version of the diesel engine was made @ 370 CID. Since the W-9 series was a totally different chassis design than the H/M it could have been redesigned to have live hyd, PTO, heavier drivetrain, more speeds, stronger axles, and hopefully T/A which the W-9 family never had, even into the late 50's with the 600/650. It would have been the logical chassis for IH's first 6-cyl. tractor engines instead of the updated M rearend used in the 560. Would have probably eliminated the 560 rearend fiasco which caused a lot of farmers to go green. IH was building some really good in-line-6 engines for trucks, 401, 450, & 501 CID. Even IH's biggest ever gas tractor only used a 301 cid engine. IH could have broken into the 100 HP ag tractor market a decade before the competition with both gas & diesel engines.
The article mentioned M&W brochures, they actually put out a nice catalog that I used to have of ALL their parts from about 1965. Most of the stuff for the letter series Farmall's was gone by then but they still had a LOT of cool stuff!
I saw a few inaccuracies in the article. Super M's & Super M-TA's had faster gear speeds than those listed which were correct for an M. SM's & SM-TA's had 2-1/2, 3-3/4, 5, 6-3/4, & 16-1/2 mph speeds & the SM-TA's Torque Amplifier lowered the low side speeds 33%. Those speeds may be off by as much as 1/4 mph due to tire size.
Thing I'm impressed the most with in that article is the way people kept track of that Super M. The history of Dad's '51 M is easy, bought new & delivered 12-23-1951 and stayed on the farm I grew up on till Nov/Dec. '72 then moved 1/2 mile away and stayed there for another 34 yrs till I hauled it to Wis. 4 yrs ago.
The Super H has had a little more "Colorful" history. Was bought new by a teacher in spring of '54 to farm 80 acres in an early attempt of "Subsistsnce Agriculture". Corn, beans, oats, hay, and enough livestock to butcher & feed His family. From what Dad told me years ago he went bankrupt and the tractor & equip. was repossessed before the crops were planted that spring. The tractor sat for a year at the dealership, and was used to deliver a new IH 4-row corn planter to the Big Time Operator down the road 3-4 miles spring of '55. The Super H proved to be a bit too small to pull the planter with ALL the options so was replaced spring of '56 with a 300 because it had a T/A and a bit more HP and the Super H sat mostly unused. The Super H was traded for a 756 with the German D310 diesel in the spring of '68 and Dad traded a '39 H for it in May '68 just before starting to plant corn. It pulled our little JD 4-row planter with no fertilizer boxes Dad had much better than the loaded IH planter.
Dad & an old Buddy of his delivered the Super H up to me here in WI late summer of '95.
The pilot bearing problem the article mentions was a true weak spot in the H/M's. The Super Series about doubled the size of the stub shaft & bearing, but souping-up an H or M and trying to pull big tillage equipment in 4th gear would snap the stub shaft off the main transmission shaft or overload the pilot bearing quickly. Running in lower gears, 2nd & 3rd, moved the meshing gears away from the pilot bearing and they lived much longer & happier lives.
M&W also offered 1/2" longer stroke crankshafts for the M,SM,400,450 engines, 5-3/4" stroke instead of the stock 5-1/4". The crank was a package with the special pistons required, raised wristpin bores. There's a few M's around still running with those stroker cranks. 70 HP was common from those tractors.
We've had discussions on RPM's site about the fact IH should have made a rowcrop version of the W-9 series, 335 & 350 CID 4-cyl. engines. Later a version of the diesel engine was made @ 370 CID. Since the W-9 series was a totally different chassis design than the H/M it could have been redesigned to have live hyd, PTO, heavier drivetrain, more speeds, stronger axles, and hopefully T/A which the W-9 family never had, even into the late 50's with the 600/650. It would have been the logical chassis for IH's first 6-cyl. tractor engines instead of the updated M rearend used in the 560. Would have probably eliminated the 560 rearend fiasco which caused a lot of farmers to go green. IH was building some really good in-line-6 engines for trucks, 401, 450, & 501 CID. Even IH's biggest ever gas tractor only used a 301 cid engine. IH could have broken into the 100 HP ag tractor market a decade before the competition with both gas & diesel engines.
The article mentioned M&W brochures, they actually put out a nice catalog that I used to have of ALL their parts from about 1965. Most of the stuff for the letter series Farmall's was gone by then but they still had a LOT of cool stuff!
jdiederichs
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Dennis,
Your thoughts on a recurring ad in the WI State Farmer paper...."Hard shifting IH", I'm sure you've seen the ad. Aimed at the 856, 1066 etc. Is that kit any good, why do they shift so bad with factory parts?
Your thoughts on a recurring ad in the WI State Farmer paper...."Hard shifting IH", I'm sure you've seen the ad. Aimed at the 856, 1066 etc. Is that kit any good, why do they shift so bad with factory parts?
JIM - I haven't seen that specific ad but I've seen a lot of things advertised to improve those style Farmall's shifting. I get FARM SHOW and there's something in every issue.
The first one developed I know of was done by M&W Gear, called "Tender Foot Shift Improvement Pkg".
The engine clutch & TA linkages are still connected on the newer tractors like on the old mechanical TA's like Super M-TA's, 400/450/560, even up to 686's. But the bigger newer tractors are hyd. assisted. I haven't spent much time on the newer IH's but the SM-TA, 450/560 I've run a lot, and if the clutch & TA weren't adjusted right you couldn't shift into or out of gear without pulling the TA back to totally release the engine clutch. The way I understand the newer tractors, the same problem occurs except the cure requires different dump valves and/or check valves in what's called the MSC pump/valve in the belly of the tractor.
The newer tractors all shift with internally splined shifting collars engaging splined hubs machined onto the gears, lots of the shifting problems were because the rounding of the end of the splines were ground off by trying to force the transmission into gear.
The operator's & service manuals have really detailed instructions on adjusting the engine clutch & TA linkages. And they should be closely followed. When properly adusted they really don't shift that bad, but worn linkages do cause false neutrals, popping out of gear, etc. The 56 & 66 series are considered to be the best shifting, the 06 series the range pattern was a straight shot and you had to shift thru low range to get to reverse. Lots of them got converted to 56-series shift linkage. And everyone complains about the left-side shifting on the 86-series because the levers make it tougher to get into/out of the seat, and the backward opening cab doors, pivoting from the front pillar of the cab get complaints too.
Probably the best people here to ask about that stuff would be Steve B and BIG Steve. They have a WHOLE lot more time running & wrenching on the newer Farmalls, in fact BIG Steve is a full time mechanic at a Case/IH dealer.
By the time the 706/806 was out lots of people where I grew up had gone green, Dad even followed that trend in Dec.'68. He bought a used '63 4010-D that turned into a HUGE money pit. He was shopping for a 756/806-D minus TA but just couldn't find one.
The first one developed I know of was done by M&W Gear, called "Tender Foot Shift Improvement Pkg".
The engine clutch & TA linkages are still connected on the newer tractors like on the old mechanical TA's like Super M-TA's, 400/450/560, even up to 686's. But the bigger newer tractors are hyd. assisted. I haven't spent much time on the newer IH's but the SM-TA, 450/560 I've run a lot, and if the clutch & TA weren't adjusted right you couldn't shift into or out of gear without pulling the TA back to totally release the engine clutch. The way I understand the newer tractors, the same problem occurs except the cure requires different dump valves and/or check valves in what's called the MSC pump/valve in the belly of the tractor.
The newer tractors all shift with internally splined shifting collars engaging splined hubs machined onto the gears, lots of the shifting problems were because the rounding of the end of the splines were ground off by trying to force the transmission into gear.
The operator's & service manuals have really detailed instructions on adjusting the engine clutch & TA linkages. And they should be closely followed. When properly adusted they really don't shift that bad, but worn linkages do cause false neutrals, popping out of gear, etc. The 56 & 66 series are considered to be the best shifting, the 06 series the range pattern was a straight shot and you had to shift thru low range to get to reverse. Lots of them got converted to 56-series shift linkage. And everyone complains about the left-side shifting on the 86-series because the levers make it tougher to get into/out of the seat, and the backward opening cab doors, pivoting from the front pillar of the cab get complaints too.
Probably the best people here to ask about that stuff would be Steve B and BIG Steve. They have a WHOLE lot more time running & wrenching on the newer Farmalls, in fact BIG Steve is a full time mechanic at a Case/IH dealer.
By the time the 706/806 was out lots of people where I grew up had gone green, Dad even followed that trend in Dec.'68. He bought a used '63 4010-D that turned into a HUGE money pit. He was shopping for a 756/806-D minus TA but just couldn't find one.
mhomrighausen
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- Marlin Homrighausen
What I recall with those "hard shifting" tractors was what the dealer mechanics told me some farmers liked to do. That is they liked to force the tractors into gear even if it meant pushing hard on the shift levers. After awhile things tended to get out of spec when levers and rods became bent from the continous movements the farmer put on the shifting mechanism. With our 966 my Mom purchaed new and then the 706 that Carol and I purchased from the original owner there was never any troublesome shifting. That is because we listened to what the dealer and the mechanics told us to do when shifting gears.
