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Massey Harris tractors


U-C

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How good where the Massey Harris tractors? any favorite models? 

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they were good tractors with an OHV engine. its a deal breaker with me if anything has a flathead .-> too many of them used that  boat anchor

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I always thought their tractors were a bit crude.

Their combines were excellent!

 

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7 hours ago, U-C said:

How good where the Massey Harris tractors? any favorite models? 

Out here in MT, the 55 was their popular model.  I have a running 55 western special and a non running regular 555 with hand clutch.  Both diesels.  The 55 was a pretty stout tractor and bigger than anything IH or JD had and would have for some time when it hit the market in 46’.  The 555 that followed was pretty much the same tractor with slightly more hp.  They kinda got outdated towards the end with no live pto and only a 4 speed transmission.  

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well u missed the big sale by Red Deer AB, here .  i heard the scrapper chopped up 165 m.h. tractors at 1000.00 each. complete would be running tractors.  there was over 200 tractors for sale.  many many same models if you wanted it it was there.  some really nice looking originals , some painted.  the quonset was jammed full and lots outside. that was sick just thinking about it. lots of 33, 333, 44's up to the 444, 55 and 555's and lots of smaller ones too.   the 44 special was a good tractor .   they were all decent tractors.

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20 hours ago, U-C said:

How good where the Massey Harris tractors? any favorite models? 

I only have experience with the Pony pretty good machine imo

 

Edited by IH 340
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thats better

 

IMG_8022_3.png

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There are a few around here, mostly 44s. One collector around here has a challenger in its original attire, A very mean looking tractor.

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10 hours ago, rustred said:

well u missed the big sale by Red Deer AB, here .  i heard the scrapper chopped up 165 m.h. tractors at 1000.00 each. complete would be running tractors.  there was over 200 tractors for sale.  many many same models if you wanted it it was there.  some really nice looking originals , some painted.  the quonset was jammed full and lots outside. that was sick just thinking about it. lots of 33, 333, 44's up to the 444, 55 and 555's and lots of smaller ones too.   the 44 special was a good tractor .   they were all decent tractors.

Hope the owner was dead, gotta be sickening to see that after a lifetime of setting them aside

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Had a 44 D when i was around 18 years old. A

 Thought it was a good big tractoor after running a H for years.

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14 hours ago, hardtail said:

Hope the owner was dead, gotta be sickening to see that after a lifetime of setting them aside

no, i was told by a guy that knows him that he was there with his buddy . could not stand them being sold so he packed his bags and went back to the U.S.  and said call me when they are gone.  they must have been sitting for years in that quonset as there was lots of nice original units there.

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11 minutes ago, rustred said:

no, i was told by a guy that knows him that he was there with his buddy . could not stand them being sold so he packed his bags and went back to the U.S.  and said call me when they are gone.  they must have been sitting for years in that quonset as there was lots of nice original units there.

There must be more to that story.  Like divorce or something.  

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On 4/10/2023 at 11:13 AM, rustred said:

i heard the scrapper chopped up 165 m.h. tractors at 1000.00 each. complete would be running tractors.

Someone went broke then. Scrap in the middle of nowhere Alberta has to be nigh on worthless. It's got to cost a fortune to get it to the coast. For someone to have paid $1000 per tractor to cut them up and give them away, they for sure went broke. If some scrapper got a buyer to pay them $1000 per tractor AS scrap, that scrap buyer went broke.

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On 4/10/2023 at 7:41 AM, hillman said:

they were good tractors with an OHV engine. its a deal breaker with me if anything has a flathead .-> too many of them used that  boat anchor

  I always thought the 44's were pretty good but not on the level of an Oliver 88.

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I don’t know much about MH tractors . Nobody in neighborhood had any that I can remember. 
Tractor data says they sold a lot of them. So there’s your answer!

We had a MH 26 Combine , l liked it . 

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My dad had this Challenger when I was a kid,  I know it was a later model (38 or 39) because it was Red and had the Twin Power option.

I remember riding on it,  but I never drove it.

As far as I know, he had good luck with it,   it replaced a Wallis

MarkDad2ab (600 x 421).jpg

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Grandfather had a MH 44.  A 1950 model.  As Dad had an M when I was growing up there was always good natured kidding between Grandpa and me about the merits of both tractors.  When Grandpas will was opened after he passed there was a bill of sale for the 44 to me.  I still have it, but I still like the M’s better!

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I don't remember it, but my Grandpa talked about having a MH44.  I kind of remember him saying it had a Plymouth motor and how it would go quite fast down the road.  Can anyone shed some light on that for me?  Was this some type of a conversion?

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1 hour ago, IH Forever said:

I don't remember it, but my Grandpa talked about having a MH44.  I kind of remember him saying it had a Plymouth motor and how it would go quite fast down the road.  Can anyone shed some light on that for me?  Was this some type of a conversion?

The gas 44’s had a 4 cylinder continental ohv motor.  The combines of the same era had Chrysler flathead sixes so it is not inconceivable that someone might have put one in a 44.  A six is a smoother, higher reving motor than a four so could probably move down the road pretty good.  I put a 235 Chevy motor in a f30 once….that could move pretty good too!

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15 minutes ago, axial_al said:

The gas 44’s had a 4 cylinder continental ohv motor.  The combines of the same era had Chrysler flathead sixes so it is not inconceivable that someone might have put one in a 44.  A six is a smoother, higher reving motor than a four so could probably move down the road pretty good.  I put a 235 Chevy motor in a f30 once….that could move pretty good too!

I think 44s or 444s had a 6 cylinder engine option don’t know what engine it was. I do know some of the older Masseys used Chryslers like the 200 or 100 series 

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Tractordata.com says the 44s and 444s were either Continental or MH 4 cylinders.  I see the 101 and 201 models did use some Chrysler 4 cyl. engines, but I suspect that may have been the first ones before their own engines were ready.  Some of the larger models such as the 101 Senior and Super and the 203 did use Chrysler 6 cylinders.

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