International Harvester 606D

1964 International Harvester 606D
International 2000 Loader & Howard Rotovator

8/7/04 - This was the tractor seconds after I got it home.


The following pictures are of the tractor after about an hour of pressure washing the grease, dirt and grime off of it.

History:

About Farmall & International Harvester

The McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, formed by Cyrus Hall McCormick, merged with several other manufacturers and formed the International Harvester Co. They were primarily known for the production of harvesting equipment. They began experimenting with tractors around 1905. These tractors were huge, powerful and clumsy and although they were useful for large areas, they did not work well for the small acreage farmer.

Their first attempt at a smaller tractor was the Mogul 8-16 and was a big hit. International Harvester continued to refine their small tractor line with several follow-on models. The famous letter series tractors, including the A, B, H and M begin production in 1939.

IH produced many tractors during their reign and were ranked as one of the largest manufacturers of farm tractors. In 1984 IH was purchased by Tenneco and merged with the Case Corporation.

This tractor was purchased new by my Grandmother's first cousin. After he passed away, the family held an estate sale and I was able to purchase the tractor and implements on August 7, 2004.

2005

	3/11/05 - Grill was taken off, dents pounded out, cleaned up, primed, painted and a logo installed.	3/11/05 - muddy and dirty from tilling. Dad took care of a couple of minor repairs. replace a sheared bolt on the front axel, replace a tire and rim. Painted the from rims and replaced the pins on the bucket.

2006

3/27/06 - Last fall I bought a truckload of crushed rock from a cousin. As he pulled into the barnyard he recognized the old tractor as it was from his side of the family. Anyway, he said, "There are a set of forks for the tractor up at the old homestead behing the skidder." Dad was playing at a family poker game with the cousin's dad and mentioned it. He said we should call another cousin as she was handling all of the estate that I bought the tractor from. She is the one I bought the tractor from in the first place. She said that we were welcome to go up there with her and if it was there, we could have it.

Sure enough, it was there, buried in the back of a bark, akwardly shaped, and heavy. I was not gonna waste the 20 mile drive into the mountains and determined to get it out of there. Dad and the cousin were leaning towards coming up on a weekend and getting the skidder running and out of the way. It was heavy and none of us needed to blow out a back so I was just about to give up when I saw an old rusty bolt. We scrounged up a wrench, some WD-40, and I got it apart into two pieces. I am guessing that each half was close to 150 pounds each. Anyway, got it home, as seen in the pictures above

5/28/06 - Dad had worked on replacing the batteries (as well as all of the battery cables and connectors) on the old IH-606D so it now fires right up, is easy to get moving, and is handy to use. I used it to turn a job that literally would have taken us days with shovels and wheel barrows, into a couple hour job. Click here for the project page.

Resources:

Parts:

International Vinyl Cut Decals

Fun:

Red Power Magazine

	Equipment Information Resources for Research Associates and Internal Use