Tractor of the week. Week 10: 450

[acem]

I've never seen a 450 in person. Those were drought years round here and I doubt any were sold. 

[E160BHM]

From sledgehammer’s pictures:  Is that a 560 TA center section?

Edit:  After a second look it seems to have a 6 cylinder engine and a longer hood as well.

[HMR]

My 450 with its two brothers on our South Dakota farm

[JDpartsman]

My 450 was probably my dumbest purchase. Widefront was Junk, Governor wasn't set right so they cut throttle linkage to try and fix it, wiring was a disaster, brakes where non existent, they put brand new BFG 15.5x38 on it and filled the tires with calcium and ruined the rims (still have to put those tires on some new rims yet), and the fast hitch doesn't have a spot that hasn't been welded. Then after a year of owing it, it started putting antifreeze in the oil from a cracked head. It is a pretty nice tractor now but it has made me pull my hair out a time or too. 

Here is my 450 when I first brought it home.

This is what it looks like today.

This is it's sister tractor (next serial number after mine) that I found at Rantoul

Last one here is a random 450 at rantoul that I parked my 400 next to for the night. 

[MacAR]

A 450 is my grail tractor. I've wanted one for years, but as Ace said, none to be had in these parts. Always thought they were the best tractor IH ever produced, the last of the big 4 cylinders but with all the modern conveniences. Best of both worlds you might say.

Mac

[Diesel Doctor]

17 hours ago, MacAR said:

A 450 is my grail tractor. I've wanted one for years, but as Ace said, none to be had in these parts. Always thought they were the best tractor IH ever produced, the last of the big 4 cylinders but with all the modern conveniences. Best of both worlds you might say.

Mac

I did an overhaul on a 450 for a local family many years ago.

They say it runs perfect put it is very thirsty.

They will park it for haying and go to the H for mowing/raking as it runs on about 1/2 as much gas.

Power takes gas.

 

[MacAR]

7 hours ago, Diesel Doctor said:

Power takes gas.

That's very true, and probably why I don't have one! My 300 gets about 3 gallon an hour mowing, baling, plowing, and disking. I understand a 450 uses about 5 gallons an hour whatever it's doing. 

Mac

[Old-F20]

Got a couple 450's around here....

The Gasser is my Dads that we restored a few years back. His uncle bought it new

My 450D i scored in Idaho couple years back, Its one of the few tractors out in the wild that still had the entire tel-e-depth FH setup still on it and functioning

My450LP I love plowing with. restored that about 10 years ago

[Rusty_Farmer]

Parted out a couple of row crops, but , the best one I had was a W diesel . ser # 583 . Don't know why I can remember that number. It is now down under with friends.

[bitty]

1 hour ago, Old-F20 said:

Got a couple 450's around here....

The Gasser is my Dads that we restored a few years back. His uncle bought it new

My 450D i scored in Idaho couple years back, Its one of the few tractors out in the wild that still had the entire tel-e-depth FH setup still on it and functioning

My450LP I love plowing with. restored that about 10 years ago

I'm having trouble keeping my heartbeat in check looking at these 

[ole 815]

Here is mine.  Everything works as it should, even the Dash light 😁

[Sledgehammer]

On 3/10/2023 at 7:16 PM, E160BHM said:

From sledgehammer’s pictures:  Is that a 560 TA center section?

Edit:  After a second look it seems to have a 6 cylinder engine and a longer hood as well.

I believe you are correct. Does that make it a 4560? Very rare like a Super H-T/A? 😉

[iowaboy1965]

Fuel use story. I'm not sure if they were 400s or 450s now but my uncle had 1 with m&w high compression pistons. He said he could plow 1 gear faster than grandpa who had one that was stock. He also said he couldn't make it to lunch without refueling where grandpa could.

 

[forwhldrv]

Took mine for a ride out in the snow today 

[hillman]

On 3/12/2023 at 5:18 PM, MacAR said:

That's very true, and probably why I don't have one! My 300 gets about 3 gallon an hour mowing, baling, plowing, and disking. I understand a 450 uses about 5 gallons an hour whatever it's doing. 

Mac

I am here to help you Mac. go ahead and buy a 450, Nebraska Tests puts a 350 at 10.08 hp hours per gallon of gasoline and a 450 at 10.46 hp hours per gallon of gasoline. 🙂

[nepoweshiekfarmalls]

The story of Grandpa's 450 had an interesting new chapter.  I received a package from my cousin.  She sent me the original Owner's Manual for the 450 that Grandpa Gorsh purchased new.  Here is Grandpa with the 450 in the photograph She sent me last month.

 

[nepoweshiekfarmalls]

The package included this letter. 

A promising sign that Grandpa's 450 will be entrusted to me in good time.

The manual is in good shape.  My Aunt wrote Uncle Greg's name on the cover. (Her writing looks just like Mom's.)

The delivery report is a wealth of information:  Grandpa purchased the 450 new May 10, 1958 from Leo Kelly Company,  Marengo Iowa.  Traded in a Super MTA.  Shows that Grandpa farmed 160 acres of livestock and corn and he owned a second tractor. (Likely the M with 33 loader he had years later,  that slipped away from me.)  Grandpa's signature appears at the lower left corner.  I am honored to have this piece of family history!

The serial number is 17,261 which would make the tractor a later 1957.

 

[forwhldrv]

Here’s mine just got it tiger yesterday trying to take it to a plow day next weekend  I have bigger rubber and spin out wheels all set to go on but have an axle seal that is weeping so want to fix that before putting the new tires and centers on it 

[DR.EVIL]

17 hours ago, nepoweshiekfarmalls said:

The package included this letter. 

A promising sign that Grandpa's 450 will be entrusted to me in good time.

The manual is in good shape.  My Aunt wrote Uncle Greg's name on the cover. (Her writing looks just like Mom's.)

The delivery report is a wealth of information:  Grandpa purchased the 450 new May 10, 1958 from Leo Kelly Company,  Marengo Iowa.  Traded in a Super MTA.  Shows that Grandpa farmed 160 acres of livestock and corn and he owned a second tractor. (Likely the M with 33 loader he had years later,  that slipped away from me.)  Grandpa's signature appears at the lower left corner.  I am honored to have this piece of family history!

The serial number is 17,261 which would make the tractor a later 1957.

 

AARON, that's quite a nice little surprise there, the picture and especially the owner's manual with some of that information filled in.

   It's stuff like that,  that makes collecting family tractors so neat. I used to know where all of Dad's owners manuals were at, I think they got sold at his last auction or maybe a household auction later, but none of the information was filled in. I've got some service manuals, Complements of IH, I ordered the operator's manuals shipped with new tractors, and whatever other publications about one every 2-3 months, if the Westmont, Illinois print shop had one. 

    Dad got a 450 gas in late April 1965, tractor had a Fast Hitch so it came with a 4F-43 4-14 mounted plow, was nearly impossible to drive till Dad made a frt weight bracket for two 145# wheel weights and two 50# scale weights, and the bracket itself weighed almost 100#. No problem then. We switched to a Case 4-14 trailing plow a couple years later with a Midwest plow harrow, no more light front end problem. I forget if it was 1966, or '67, or '68 that we were WAY behind on fieldwork when spring vacation started, think 20 acres of corn stalks disced to sow oats, and when I started back to school 9 days later we had 40 acres of oats sowed, 140 acres plowed, burned most of TWO 300 gallon barrels of gas, and were waiting for the ground to warm up to plant corn.  Out of the 9 days off school I was in the seat of that 450 for seven or eight of them. Dad didn't like to work Sunday's but we would if we were behind, the Sunday I was Confirmed into Church I disced 40 acres of corn stalks to plow that afternoon.

   Yep, the gas Guage on the 450 determined our lunch schedule, especially plowing, 5 gallons per hour, 21 gal tank, every 4+ hours you visit the gas barrel. After lunch you got another tank of gas about 4:30 or 5 PM and a snack, and called it a day about 9-10PM. The 450 was probably overhauled just before we got it, but I always checked the oil, it had a dipstick, but I never remember adding oil. Yes, they were a really good tractor, maybe even great!