Accessories

You might want to add some things to your H. Of course plenty of old implements are available for sale all over. But you might want to add a 3 point hitch, or maybe a new belly mower. See also the Implements page.

3 Point Hitches

Farmall Hs long predate IH's adoption of the now-standard 3 point hitch. If your H has working hydraulics, it is quite possible to retrofit it with a 3 point hitch.

Chris sent along this photo of a Saginaw hitch on his 45 H. He reports no problems using it with the belly hydraulics - response is good and it easily lifts several hundred pounds. Click on the photo for a larger version.

Note that the H has transmission-driven hydraulics, the effect of which is that the tractor will have to be in gear to raise or lower the hitch. In addition, the hydraulic capacity of the H's belly hydraulic pump is not gigantic, so the hitch capacity might be disappointing. Nevertheless, I know of several people who have done this and are perfectly happy with the results. Your mileage may vary! More detailed advice on hydraulics is here. Also Dean Vinson has more information about Farmall M hydraulics - Ms are similar enough to Hs that this should be useful. See my Lift-All page for specifications and troubleshooting information.

Saginaw County Tractor makes a hitch which can apparently be used with the original drawbar. This sounds like an advantage to me, so if I were going to do this, I'd probably order theirs for that reason. Goodwrench put one of these on his 450 and is happy with it.

Worksaver also makes a 3 point hitch kit, and C and D Equipment in Missouri also provides 3 point hitches.

Mowers

Most Hs are used with a drag-type (trailer) shredder. You should be able to find a used one for less than $500 in most parts of the country. If you feel really adventurous, you could try turning your H into a very tall lawnmower, by adding a Woods belly mower. I have too many low-hanging trees for this to work, but the maneuverability of the H makes this a less silly idea than you might think! It can turn almost as sharply as a zero turning radius mower, and it has plenty of power to run a mower.

Overrun Coupler

The H's transmission driven power take-off makes certain implements, like a drag-type shredder somewhat dangerous. The reason is that the inertia built up by the spinning implement is transmitted back through the PTO and makes it hard to stop the tractor quickly. You can work around this in most situations by adding an 'overrun coupler' or 'overrun clutch' which is simply an extension which snaps onto your PTO shaft which has a clutch in it that allows the implement to freewheel when the tractor stops. I knocked the stack off my H 3 or 4 times on low-hanging trees before I got one of these - I just couldn't get it stopped in time. Worth the $50 or so it will cost you!

What other accessories are people looking for?

© 1999-2002 T.W. Cook - All Rights Reserved. Operating and repairing antique tractors is an inherently dangerous activity. In particular, Farmall H's predate many modern safety enhancements such as roll-over protection systems. Please, be aware of the proper safety procedures and take all possible precautions - be careful out there!

Some words, model names, and designations, such as "Farmall", mentioned herein are the property of the trademark holder, and are used for identification purposes only. This is not an official website.

This page last updated: September 27, 2003