(OK...So it's not really a 'Farmall', but it's RED and it's COOL!)
If only the Old Man could see this! He always
wanted a big piece of RED IRON to keep up with some of the larger JD standards
in the Club. At right, Mike, Joe, and Bill discuss the finer points of our
newest (until the F-12 came along) family member. The W-9 is not as tall as our narrow fronts, but its
squat, bulldog-like stance is very appealing. Mom thinks it's cute.
CUTE!?
Joe full pull! This is the W-9's first outing after acquiring it at an auction in August 2003. The Fun Pull at the Centerburg, Ohio Old Time Farm Days gave us the opportunity to see what kind of shape the big beast was in. We are happy to report that the Super M in the background was needed to provide added resistance. Despite the pull back driver standing on the Super M's brakes, the W-9 didn't seem to care. The standard styling of the W-9 and its handling characteristics are quite different to us that cut our teeth on row-croppers.
Joe,
and Mike's son, Jake, strategize for the next pull. Jake says, "Just put
the hammer down, Uncle Joe!" The W-9 was bought in restored condition, and
we haven't had to do anything to it at all. Well...ONE thing. When
we first brought the W-9 home after the auction, Joe
When is the rain going to stop?
During the Centerburg pull, the new (used) manifold was shedding its skin
out of the 3" stack resulting in a hot metal shower. We were a bit
leery of working the W-9 real hard; we didn't have a feel for the tractor
yet. It performed admirably that day (Joe had a blast!) prompting
quite a few spectators to ask questions about the W-9. IHC wheatland
style tractors are somewhat rare here in central Ohio especially one of this
size. The W-9 has no hydraulics. We have an APB issued for a set of
4-bottom trip plows so we can give her a workout during plow days.
Need to get some wheel weights!
Mike took the W-9 with the F-20
to the Pataskala Antique Power Show in September 2003. One of his
goals was to get both tractors belted to a Prony brake. Before the
test run, Mike s-canned the W-9's Champion plugs and put Autolites in.
The W-9 turned in a factory-fresh 50 flat before the belt began to slip. (Mike
adds the W-9 had 'more' left in it).
The Big Beast has proved to be a good buy.
The W-9 was introduced by IHC in 1940 to top off its line up of tractors. Its 335 CID 4 cyl engine turned in 49 BHP and 45 DBHP at Nebraska U. in 1941. The W-9 was IHC's 'big dog' in terms of HP and weight. John Deere matched the W-9's performance nine years later with their Model R Diesel. The W-9 is in the wheatland style family of tractors made by IHC complemented by its smaller brothers, the W-6 and W-4. Although the W-6 and W-4 correspond to the Farmall M and H respectively, there was no equivalent W-9 row-crop made by IHC. After all, the M was considered very big for its time!
There is nothing dainty about the W-9. It is very 'manly' looking from its huge engine tub casting to its 2" thick drawbar. Jockeying this tank around in tight quarters is not for the flabby-armed. The W-9 was made for the wide open spaces of the Great Plains and small grain producing provinces of western Canada indicated by the 36 gallon capacity of its fuel tank.
The W-9 was tested with rubber tires at Nebraska, but steel lugged wheels were optionally available. Ordering the W-9 as a distillate burner was also an option.
There were several variants of the W-9, most notable the diesel-engined WD-9. The crawler versions of the -9 tractors are the T-9 and TD-9. IHC did not follow on with a Super W-9. The Super WD-9 was introduced in 1954 with a larger 350 CID engine boasting a robust 65 BHP. The Farmall 600 and 650 were simply updates of the Super WD-9. Some publications do not list HP ratings for these later models, but my research has found that IHC used the Super WD-9 test scores for the 600 and 650 Diesels. --Joe
| W-9 Vital Stats | ||||
| Engine | Bore x Stroke | Rated RPM | Compression Ratio | Weight |
| IHC 4-335 Gas | 4.4 x 5.5 | 1500 | 5.4 : 1 | 6560 # (actual) |
| Belt HP | DrawBar HP | Tires | Fuel Capacity | Coolant Capacity |
|
49.15 (Nebraska) |
44.15 (Nebraska) |
16.9 x 34 Rear |
36 Gallons |
10 Gallons (approx.) |
| Crankcase Cap. | Carburetor | Years Produced |
Qty. Made (all types) |
|
| 11 qts. | IH 1-3/8" Updraft | 1940-1953 |
67,418 |
|
Some W-9 updates: Joe used the W-9 at this year's Plow Days but was only able to find a set of three-bottom plows to use. This was hardly a test for the Big Gal, but it was neat to use it for something useful. After a couple of rounds however, Joe was heading to the truck for some ear plugs. That straight stack decibel level gets old real fast! Mercifully, John Shannon needed some disking done in another field, so Joe parked the 9 and mounted up the 460 and Oliver disk.
There are some indications that the W-9 is not what it appears to be--STOCK. The W-9's consigner at the auction where we bought it is a tractor puller. The rear tire's lugs have been cut, and this was confirmed by a fellow Club member who does some cutting on the side. Some gas has leaked from the carburetor onto the engine block enabling some of the red paint to slough off exposing some tan-colored engine paint. To us, this indicates the engine has been rebuilt. The real barometer to confirm whether or not the W-9 has been 'massaged' is when we get it belted to the Baker Test Fan and tach the fan RPM. Mike and Fred DID hook up the W-9 to the Fan during Plow Days but did not have a tachometer available to get a reading. 'Field Reports' from this inaugural Fan demonstration are very intriguing. Initially the W-9 was connected to the larger of the two fan pulleys, and the Big Tub ran this at full throttle with relatively little effort. The smaller of the two pulleys was then used. Apparently, the W-9 took this in stride, too! Friend, Brad Fraley, who is the Fan caretaker and has seen many a tractor run this thing, told Fred to back the W-9 down. Brad got a bit scared as the Fan was running VERY fast. Fred insists the Big Tub had a lot more throttle left when Brad kiboshed the test! Hmmm....is there a beast hidden under the hood of the W-9! It needs to be said that these reports may be a bit 'sexed-up' as they say in Great Britain. Allegedly there was a grand amount of adult beverage consumin' goin' on that evening. We'll get a better read on the W-9 at the Fair using a tachometer.
Right: The W-9 is the Champ! Joe entered his W-9 in the antique pull at the 2004 Hartford Fair just for the heck of it, and the Big Tub made Papa dang proud! Entered in the 7500# Classic Division, the 9 whipped several JDs in the process despite weighing light for the Class, worn tires and only one set of rear weights. Joe signed up for two pulls--if one gear wasn't the answer, then he would try another on the second shot. His second pull was the longer of the two, but he was disqualified: you're not permitted the same driver in the same class on the same tractor. It didn't matter as the first pull in 2nd gear was good enough. Winning his fist-ever tractor pull has given Joe a case of terminal 'fat head'. Funny how the W-9 gets a wee bit more attention than before! RED POWER, BABY! See Beginner's Luck for a full report.