1940 Farmall A - strange seat?

[w30bob]

Hi Guys,

Found this 1940 Farmall A online and was saving the pics to my A folder when I noticed a few things. First, it has the cool 3-spoke steering wheel I desperately want to find, although it's not in great shape. At least I can see what the side facing the operator looks like. Then I looked at the seat. What's with the holes around the outside of the pan? The parts books lists two seats, an upholstered pan and a plain steel pan. Didn't the upholstered pan just have the cushion crimped all the way around the seat like on a Cub seat? Maybe these holes are a bubba mod? Tractor was also white at one time.........demonstrator maybe? Don't even know if they had Farmall A demonstrators.....and not in 1940, right? I also find this one interesting because I'm putting together a timeline, as best I can, on when the unique early parts were replaced. On this tractor, which is SN 11280 it has the reinforced front implement square hole thingy, the SN plate is moved to the seat frame, the front axle adjustment pins are not welded and it has a cast rear wheel disc......but it still has the first belt gearbox design, 3-spoke wheel, and no provision for a starter on the bell housing. I need to stare at the pics a bit more.........but interesting stuff.

So what do you think about that seat?

regards,
bob

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

The demonstrators were 1950 as I recall. Cast wheel disk should be on the right side and is standard on an A to compensate for it being lighter on the right. The seat sounds like possibly from a piece of horse drawn equipment, not unusual if the original rusted out.

[Jim Becker]

Early style original upholstered seat. The holes were used to attach the padding before they went to the crimped edge. Cheap red paint that eventually fades to pink will probably fade to white if given enough time. I think that is what has happened here.

I've never seen a grounding switch in that location. I am not aware of the factory ever doing that. Looks like a few other holes got drilled over the years (axle extension housing).

[w30bob]

Jim,

Here's the link to all the pics of this tractor in case you're interested. If you see anything else that's strange please let us know.

regards,
bob

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1946-McCormick ... rk:22:pf:0

[muleboss]

The serial number plate looks to be in original position to me.

[w30bob]

Hi Guys,

Mule, the SN plate location was originally on the sheetmetal pedal guard between the brake pedals. This was changed to the left side seat frame sometime in 1940? My '39 has it on the pedal guard and this '40 has it on the seat frame.....so it changed sometime in between. Funny thing with the second pic.......I blew it up and played with the contrast and it looks like it has a SN plate between the pedals.....which would make no sense unless someone replaced the whole seat. It might just be my eyes playing tricks.....I'm going to ask the seller to get some more pics.

John, the early A's didn't come with the cast wheel center on the right side, they had two stamped steel rear wheel discs. Not sure when they switched to the cast one on the right side, but this one has a cast disc on the left side. I can't see the right side, so no telling if both wheels have cast discs (I believe that was an option), or somehow the right wheel got put on the left side at some point. Looks like all the rims got some red paint at some point too.

I thought it was funny someone put Cub decals on the hood.....if only these old workhorses could talk....imaging the stories they'd tell. I looked closer at that pic that shows the Cub decal and you can see the hood has the later "J" hooks, but the grille has the early Dzus style fasteners. Also looks like it has the later short oil filter housing. Quite a "Franken-A" I guess.

regards,
bob

[Jim Becker]

Hard to tell but appears the left wheel disk is stamped steel. It wouldn't be the first one I've seen where the wheels have migrated to opposite sides. Looks like the later style drawbar but also has had bracing added. Looks like the PTO shaft is the small diameter. Otherwise, I don't see much that is remarkable.

[AL Farmall Boy]

That is an early seat.........I have a couple of them. It also has a rubber shift knob rather than a cast iron knob like used on the earlier ones during the war. Looks like a pieced together tractor. Not much there for originality.

[w30bob]

Hi Guys,

Jim, you're right, nothing remarkable with this one. But interesting for me nonetheless, as I'm wanting to SEE all the parts that the early A's had before they were changed to make sure I have them on my A. I found another difference last night. The early seat had a different latch bar under it. Mine has a number of bends in it whereas the later ones were a straight rod with the latch rod welded on.

AL Farmboy.......tell me more about this cast iron knob you mentioned. I assume you're saying that during the war when rubber was scarce they switched to a cast iron shifter knob. Was that in 1941 when we officially entered the war, or before that when we were just sending supplies to Britain? I guess what I'm asking is should my '39 A have a cast iron knob........or was it made before they started rationing rubber?

Thanks guys,
bob

[Jim Becker]

The early (multi-bend) seat latch put the handle part of it in the center. The later one put the handle offset to one side. I don't know if that was the reason for the change or not.

The cast iron shift knob came along (on all models) somewhere around 1943. They seemed to be used off-and-on based on rubber availability. Most of them seem to be on '43 and '44 models. I have heard reports of them on tractors as late as '46, but haven't seen that first hand. A '39 would have a rubber knob.