Where have all the IH crawlers gone?

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Stan Disbrow
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Where have all the IH crawlers gone?

Post by Stan Disbrow » Tue May 20, 2014 11:26 am

Hi,

I was at the Got To Be NC fair this past weekend with my local club, running some old engines with belt driven toys attached.

Not too many tracks around. I left mine home as well as there is too much pavement at the NC State fairgrounds. There were some Cat and Deere crawlers there, though. And a passle of IH tractors. But, not one IH TD anything.

Where did they all go?

The Oliver and Allis and Terratracs I can understand not seeing. They were light duty and worn to death long ago.

But IH? Really? Especially as the IH Chapter 37 was there in force. I asked a couple guys from that club about crawlers, and apparently there aren't any.

Maybe this is because there is no site like ours to help keep the IH tracks crawling?

I think I need a bare TD4 crawler to take to shows.

Stan
There's No Such Thing As A Cheap Crawler!

Useta Have: '58 JD 420c 5-roller w/62 inside blade
Useta Have: '78 JD350C w/6310 outside blade
Useta Have: '68 JD350, '51 Terratrac GT-25
Have: 1950 M, 2005 x495, 2008 5103 (now known as 5045D)

hydrogeo
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Post by hydrogeo » Thu May 22, 2014 7:50 pm

The IH crawler subforum here is quite active:

http://www.redpowermagazine.com/


TD-6s and TD-9s pop up for sale around here every now and then.

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Stan Disbrow
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Post by Stan Disbrow » Fri May 23, 2014 10:55 am

Hi,

This one thread is very interesting. All sorts of odd things sporting tracks

http://www.redpowermagazine.com/forums/ ... 018&hl=td4

Stan
There's No Such Thing As A Cheap Crawler!

Useta Have: '58 JD 420c 5-roller w/62 inside blade
Useta Have: '78 JD350C w/6310 outside blade
Useta Have: '68 JD350, '51 Terratrac GT-25
Have: 1950 M, 2005 x495, 2008 5103 (now known as 5045D)

oldtanker
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Post by oldtanker » Sat May 31, 2014 10:21 pm

The big problem is parts. I had TD5 that I got as a project. No track parts available. No rollers or sprockets. Few engine parts other than rebuild stuff. The older TD 6's and bigger had the gas start diesel engines and they had a tendency to crack heads (operator error) and new heads are unavailable. About the only new parts I could find for it were steering clutches and brakes. I got rid of mine because I need something to work with. No sense in keeping something that doesn't have parts support. The parts support died with IH. They sold the construction division to Dresser who was then acquired by Komatsu. Kinda sad that they don't have a Savoy getting parts made.

I'm still going to get a dozer but my efforts over the last couple of years is getting the family farm going again. With trying to do it debt free I just don't have the extra money to spend on a dozer. IH made an AG version of the T340 (replaced the TD5). It was available bare, with a blade or loader. It was equipped with a 3 point hitch and 540 PTO shaft. Now that would be nice one to find for on the farm.

Rick

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Stan Disbrow
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Post by Stan Disbrow » Sun Jun 01, 2014 5:24 am

Hi,

I had been thinking that there was a parts issue. The guys in the Big IH club at the fairgrounds did not seem to know anything about the IH crawlers. Just vaguely aware that IH had made some during their long history.

I used to see them come into our service shop just about as often as the Deeres did. But, that closed back in 82, so that memory is not much help.

It really seemed odd to see several makes, even a couple Cat, ag crawlers and not one IH. Especially with IH being the most numerous of the wheel tractors at the show (mostly in the Big IH Club area).

Stan
There's No Such Thing As A Cheap Crawler!

Useta Have: '58 JD 420c 5-roller w/62 inside blade
Useta Have: '78 JD350C w/6310 outside blade
Useta Have: '68 JD350, '51 Terratrac GT-25
Have: 1950 M, 2005 x495, 2008 5103 (now known as 5045D)

oldtanker
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Post by oldtanker » Wed Jun 04, 2014 9:29 am

Stan, IH made a lot of crawlers. But on all of the old ones, both AG and construction they are better off in collections, not being used. When the idlers, rollers, sprockets and chains are worn out they are done. It's scrap or a lawn ornament.

There are some really good sales films that you can find online for them and back when they were making the gas start diesels, prior to the TD4/5, they were selling a lot more than JD and made much larger ones. There are some vid on the large ones working on the Alaskan highway during WWII on utube.

We are just starting the family farm back up and this is our first year planting our own fields. I could use a small dozer but needing a worker IH and AC are out of the question. Gotta be able to get parts.

Rick

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Old IH crawlers

Post by NWJD fan » Sun Jan 25, 2015 10:26 pm

Check out King of Obsolete on the web. He keeps a small fleet of TD6's-TD9's and TD18's building ice roads and hauling cat trains in northern Manitoba. So far as AC's go there are still a few HD5's and 6's kicking around in northern BC. When high way maintenance was still done by the provincial government they ran a fairly large fleet of them. And then there is the one owner since new Oliver OC3 in Terrace.

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Re: Old IH crawlers

Post by oldtanker » Mon Jan 26, 2015 10:39 pm

NWJD fan wrote:Check out King of Obsolete on the web. He keeps a small fleet of TD6's-TD9's and TD18's building ice roads and hauling cat trains in northern Manitoba. So far as AC's go there are still a few HD5's and 6's kicking around in northern BC. When high way maintenance was still done by the provincial government they ran a fairly large fleet of them. And then there is the one owner since new Oliver OC3 in Terrace.
The King has found and scarfed up a lot of old stuff for parts. Here where I'm at (about 90 miles from Lavoy) finding used one to buy for parts can get expensive real quick. Most of these people around here think there is gold under the rust and paint. Plus finding a an old IH here with a decent undercarriage is about impossible. I'm here on Lavoy's site because I want a dozer. I'd really like to have an older JD. The 1st dozer I got to operate was an MC. That's about the size dozer I'd like to have an all I need. My farm tractors are Ford and IH. Without researching and not knowing much I bought an IH TD5 that was a basket case. When I started looking for parts there just aren't any. Farming took priority and it got sold. Had parts been available I would have kept it. I'm a member of several tractor forums that cover IH construction equipment. Parts are a problem with all of them. IH sold off the construction division to Dresser. Parts were available. Then Komatsu bought Dresser. I think more for the dealer network and existing factory capacity than anything else. Now parts for the old IH stuff just isn't available. I'm not complaining. Just stating things as I see it. It's like the gas start diesels. Allegedly they had head cracking problems due to operator error. New heads are not available at all. That includes for the AG tractors as well. Engine kits are aftermarket only. Sprockets, rollers, rails, pins and bushing NLA.

Rick

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Post by pop pop » Tue Jan 27, 2015 8:59 am

saw a nicely painted(red/white) IH crawler awhile back,
i dont remember what model,
but if ya painted it yellow it looked like a copy of a 440 w/602.
it had that big squared off nose like the ag tractors.
it was for sale for 2+ years.
the price came down to 4500 and must have sold it,,, trailer included.
440icd/602/8a,,440icd/831/ripper,,440icd/831/3pt.,misc. 440 parts, i have 5 of these now, but i can stop anytime :cry:

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Post by Lavoy » Tue Jan 27, 2015 2:29 pm

Probably a T340 with a 6 way.
Lavoy
Parts and restoration for antique and late model John Deere crawlers.
Owner and moderator www.jdcrawlers.com

oldtanker
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Post by oldtanker » Tue Jan 27, 2015 4:59 pm

Lavoy wrote:Probably a T340 with a 6 way.
Lavoy
The T/TD 4/5 series were red and white and the nose looked like the 60 series farm tractor.

[/url]https://www.google.com/search?q=ih+td5+ ... %3B480[url]

They were considered to be a decent little machine. The T340 doesn't have as good of a reputation. The T/TD4/5/340 were available with/with out blade, loader, bareback, winch, PTO and 3 point. I remember ADs in Farm Journal Magazine for them as a "great farm dozer". This is long before I got to run that MC. Heck I'd take any of the small JD crawlers or a D2 or 4 Cat.

IH kinda shot themselves in the foot on their crawlers from about 1960 on. A lot of them had problems that I've found out about in a couple of IH forums. Some minor and some major. They would put one out, fit a problem and it became the XXXB or C or D as more and more fixes were applied where the other manufactures subsequent letter were upgrades, not fixes. A large part of that was infighting between IH engineers and the bean counters. Management always let the bean counters win to get something new in the field and then paid for it in fixes and lost customers.

Rick

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Post by gus » Tue Jan 27, 2015 5:02 pm

Coyote hunting yesterday and there was one sitting in a field. I remarked to my partner that it looked like it'd been there a long time. Somewhere between a D4 and D6 sized machine. The only thing that looked bad was the seat was long gone. Probably parked until a scrapper finds it someday!!

oldtanker
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Re: Where have all the IH crawlers gone?

Post by oldtanker » Mon Feb 02, 2015 11:57 am

Stan Disbrow wrote:Hi,

I was at the Got To Be NC fair this past weekend with my local club, running some old engines with belt driven toys attached.

Not too many tracks around. I left mine home as well as there is too much pavement at the NC State fairgrounds. There were some Cat and Deere crawlers there, though. And a passle of IH tractors. But, not one IH TD anything.

Where did they all go?

The Oliver and Allis and Terratracs I can understand not seeing. They were light duty and worn to death long ago.

But IH? Really? Especially as the IH Chapter 37 was there in force. I asked a couple guys from that club about crawlers, and apparently there aren't any.

Maybe this is because there is no site like ours to help keep the IH tracks crawling?

I think I need a bare TD4 crawler to take to shows.

Stan
Stan from this morning on an IH construction site. "Tracks even at 50% are highly desirable". That kinda says it all. Add in the gas start diesel head issues and the fact that they are NLA kinda dooms them.

Rick

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Bret4207
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Post by Bret4207 » Fri Mar 13, 2015 6:34 am

It's kinda funny that you can darn near built a Cletrac fromthe ground up through Zimmermans but you can't get IHC crawler stuff. There are quite few red crawlers around me, all need undercarriage parts. Too bad, most are in nice shape north of the tracks.
40C, 420C, 1010C-L-BH, Cat D4

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Stan Disbrow
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Post by Stan Disbrow » Fri Mar 13, 2015 6:53 am

Hi,

Any for sale cheap with UC good enuf to get on and off a trailer for shows? I would love to be able to bring one for our Sandhills club display when the Big IH club never has one. ;)

Stan
There's No Such Thing As A Cheap Crawler!

Useta Have: '58 JD 420c 5-roller w/62 inside blade
Useta Have: '78 JD350C w/6310 outside blade
Useta Have: '68 JD350, '51 Terratrac GT-25
Have: 1950 M, 2005 x495, 2008 5103 (now known as 5045D)

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