[AT] Hottest tractor

[Greg Hass]

My vote goes to an IH 350 Utility.  This tractor also had the muffler under 
the left foot, as well as the transmission and hydraulic lines between your 
legs.  As some have mentioned, these lines would get so hot you couldn't 
even touch them.  You also could not rest your left foot on the 
platform.  Unlike the H's and M's (whose fuel tanks are in the open), this 
tractor had the tank enclosed under the sheet metal.

One year I was riding with my dad and we were plowing a 4-acre piece next 
to the woods where there was no breeze...in 90 degree weather.  The heat of 
the engine got the gas tank so hot that there was a heavy stream of vapor 
shooting 8-ft. above the tractor.  My dad got so scared it was going to 
explode that we got off the tractor and left it in idle to cool.  He said 
we had to get at least 75 ft. away in case it exploded.  The rest of the 
day he'd plow a couple of rounds, let it cool, and then plow a couple more 
rounds.  Years later I found out that newer tractors of the same model had 
a metal baffle installed between the gas tank and the engine so that engine 
heat could not radiate directly on the gas tank.

Greg Hass
Michigan