F-12 or F-14 Steering Pedestal

[Tired_Iron]

Hi all,

Have a question that has bugged me for a while. Last summer, my Pa bought me a 37 F-12 as a gift (no strings attached ) for helping keeping his tractors running I'm guessing since I refused payment for my services. It has the raised steering pedestal which has quite a few folks saying that it isn't an F-12, but an F-14. Tag under fuel tank shows F-12 and I am standing my ground. Anyhow, the PO had done the restoration a few years ago and it looks very nice, starts and runs just as good. I almost purchased a different steering rod and steering pedestal to return it to "original", but after reading the below, I do not think I will. I do not know much about the F-series tractors yet, but I've kicked that into overdrive as I am going to look at an 39 F-14 tomorrow. A bit rough around the edges, but as long as there aren't any big things that turn me off from it, it will be on the trailer

One of the books I have (The Big Book of Farmall Tractors, pg 55) states that the F-12 was replaced by the F-14 and that they were essentially the same tractor with the exception of the raised steering wheel and that this option had been available aftermarket for the F-12 for some time.

I did some digging around the web (Wisconsin Historical McCormick Collection and other places) and could not come up with definite answer about it, other than a mention of it in the above book. The operators manual (reprint from Binder Books) doesn't show this either. There are a few photos that show a raised steering wheel on an F-12, but there isn't many of them.

Anyone have any comments on this? I feel like I am going to leave it as it is.

[Jim Becker]

The steering shaft support can be moved between the F-12 and F-14 as long as you combine the F-14 support with an F-14 shaft (with U-joint). But this was just part of the change from F-12 to F-14. The seat was higher and the clutch/brake controls were changed as well. You may want to sort out what other F-14 pieces you have. The F-14 had engine changes, higher compression by changing the head. I believe it was turned up a bit faster. The F-14 had a crankcase vent on the right side of the valve cover.

[Tired_Iron]

Thanks for the reply Jim.

There are more changes between the two that I ever really thought of. I did read that the engine hp increased slightly due to what you said. I am going to look at and possibly purchase a 39 F14 this afternoon and will make note of the differences with this one. I don't recall lately looking at an F14 that I can remember (stroke a few years ago scrambled the short-term memory).