International 674 baling

[@Mackeson3]

Yes The 475 was a good one. My neighbour lived and died Internationals , most of his other equipment was IH too ( round balers etc) But when the XL range came in he replaced them all with Fords because the New Inters were giving him so much grief. Funny thing, we had a IH B.450 between 1959 and 1977 and it was totally trouble free! Oh memories of having to get back on to the old Massey 168 ( which never went wrong ) with its draughty old cab cos the 674 had gone back to Platts yet again.

[@Mackeson3]

She sounds to be working hard doing that little job. They were a nice little tractor to drive, we had one, but put one beside a Massey 185 ( same hp ) in the same field with the same size plough and the Massey would eat it alive. That 239 engine just didn't have the amount of grunt as the Perkins. My neighbour told me his IH 574 ( 68 hp IH engine) did not pull as well as the IH 475, he had which was factory fitted with a 62 hp Perkins 212 engine.

[@robertstranaghan4540]

this is our 674 she is now baling with a class getting restored this winter we bought this tractor for £1000 pound eight years ago and the baler cost 500 great bit of plant and has bailed between 75-100 arces every year since great engine

[@Mackeson3]

@m0ogy We bought one of 'Doncaster's finest' in 1977, one of the last 674 tractors to come off the line . After the first day it went back to Platts for a new engine oil seal ( The first of many ) The TA gave us problems, the clutch gave us problems . We swapped it for a 78hp Renault 781s which was utterly reliable and seemed to half as much power again as the 'Inter'. Soon after we bought the Renault we bought an Accord seed drill. When the guy came to set it going for us he said

[@Mackeson3]

@m0ogy "You don't have any International tractors here then? ( The drill came from Platts ) " So when I said "Well, we had one of the last 674s ever built......" he replied "Oh THAT is why you have no International tractors here then!" He went one to say that they had no end of problems with the last few '74' series tractors and a lot of the '84' series that replaced them. Nearly all my neighbours had International tractors at that time and within a few years they had all but gone.

[@m0ogy]

@Mackeson3 Yes the 475 they bought new is a wreck on a farm only around half a mile from here.I would buy it and restore it as I remember it in 1978 as it was new on an "S" Plate, but it would cost a fortune as it has been left to decay. Massey 168......my dad was contracting in 1981 baling like this 674 and they also had a 168 with square balers and cooks sledges. Where are you based, i'm in North Lincs.

[@m0ogy]

@Mackeson3 Well a lot of the local farms had them.........infact my dads farm where he worked had 5 or 6 between 444 to 674, the best was the Perkins powered 475 (I think?) that was on an "S" Plate. Maybe i'm biased ,infact only yesterday I was using a 1977 674 that has been problem free for years, can't be too bad still going strong 35 years on. Platts, there's a name from the past, I remember them all been delivered from Platts in Brigg.

[@persand1337]

@Mackeson3: It should be said that the MF 185 was fitted with the Perkins A4.248 engine which had higher displacement to give it more torque. The comparable Perkins engine to the International D-239 was the A4.236. I wonder if those were more similar in practical use or Perkins just in general got it a bit better than the comparable International engines? Anyone?

[@Mackeson3]

Well according to my neighbour his Perkins 212 engined 475 rated at 62hp had more guts than his IH 239 engined 574 rated at 68 hp! We had a MF185 on demo and oh yes it had lots more torque than the 674. Having said that the MF 168 we had pulled grain trailers up hills better than the 674. On paper The Perkins 236 had more torque than the 239 International, in practice it had too. We put a 4 furrow 14" Kverneland conventional plough behind the 674 and it pulled it quite well. However when The 674 had to go back to Platts yet again for repairs so I put the plough behind the 168, thinking that I might have to take a body off.... which I didn't! I was amazed how it handled it. As I said below after about 5 years we got tired of the Inter and swapped it for a 78 hp Renault. That was an incredible little tractor! I used to pull a 6.3 metre Kv. 63 tine spring tine with that. My uncle was amazed when he saw it pulling that, as he was convinced only his 100 hp Massey 1100 would pull it ( and it used to smoke like hell pulling it, whereas the Renault pulled it without a murmur ) Previously if I wanted to pull it with the International I used to have to take the wings off it to reduce it to 4.5 m. The Internationals were handy little tractors and nice to drive, its just that during the late 1970's ,a time when IH was dogged with industrial action ( strikes!) that the rot seemed to set in and reliability went out of the window. Not only that, the Perkins engines had more guts (What engines do modern McCormicks use? ). I hear on the grapevine that the new Case IH tractors are good, so long as you keep away from those built in Turkey!

[@persand1337]

Ok! Nice to hear about some real-life experience with those engines! I've got a Volvo BM 2250 which is based on the IH -74 transmission and rear-end, but it is fitted with a Perkins A4.236 instead. Overhauled the engine about 50 hours ago with new liners, pistons, rings, con-rods, big-end bearings and cylinder head and of course changed all filters and fluids and fitted new injector nozzles along with lift-pump. Runs very well and has pulled a Fiskars FFK 397 reversible plough quite easily after the first approximately 30 hours and the engine hasn't nearly been run-in totally just yet, so I think it promises well for the future capability of the engine. So I tend to agree, that the engine in general seems capable. Got an IH 434 as well... Actually quite impressed with the BD-154 engine in it. Given its size, it pulls quite well! Thanks for your reply!

[@Mackeson3]

I think The BD154 started life in The B.250 tractor! yes that is a good old engine, IH used it for a very long time.. I thought Volvo might use their own engines. Having said that The Renault used to use MWM engines made in Germany, the same engines that Fendt used to use. Then they went over to using John Deere engines of all things. Apparently the old MWM was better, ours (MWM) would keep ploughing even if you dropped the engine down to tick-over.'.......You couldn't do that with an IH D239! .

[@Mackeson3]

@m0ogy S Yorkshire. Yes I picked up a vintage tractor magazine recently and someone had restored a totally wrecked 674 and he reckoned it had cost him £14000 ( Yes fourteen thousand ) in total. Actually I find that figure difficult to comprehend but talk about chucking good money after bad !

[@m0ogy]

@Mackeson3 Doncaster's finest ,doesn't seem to be working that hard to me