[AT] IH Fast Hitch

deanvp at att.net deanvp at att.net
Sun Nov 24 22:09:12 PST 2019


As far as I know the Oliver Super 55 would have been the first Oliver with
draft sensitive 3 pt hitch and it was the first Super model introduced in
the summer of 1954. This would be consistent with the Ford/Ferguson
Settlement in 1952. JD's first full conventional 3 point hitch was on the JD
40 announced in the fall of 1953. Full Conventional 3 point hitches were
announced on the Waterloo built Row Crop JD Tractors for the 1956 models. 


Dean VP
Snohomish, WA 98290

-----Original Message-----
From: AT <at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com> On Behalf Of James Peck
Sent: Sunday, November 24, 2019 7:46 PM
To: Antique Tractor Email Discussion Group <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Subject: Re: [AT] IH Fast Hitch

My grandfather had M-H General Purpose and my dad drove it. If MH had put a
three point hitch on the back they might have had something.

1930-1938 - Massey Harris develops its M-H General Purpose tractor, the
industry's first four-wheel-drive, steel-wheeled tractor. It also has an
adjustable track width. Unfortunately, the benefits of four-wheel drive were
not yet fully understood. The machine was modernized in 1936 with the
installation of rubber tires, but sales failed to increase.

https://www.farm-equipment.com/articles/4269-feature-articles---timeline-of-
ag-equipment-firsts

[ James Peck]--]Oliver seemed to be following a pretty good strategy. They
started designing three point hitch into their post WW2 tractors but selling
it as an option. They did not seem to waste effort pushing a noncompatible
proprietary hitch.

In 1987 I paid about 7-8 K to get a Compaq 386 with 19 inch color monitor
and graphics card.. That was bargain basement price about then. All the
trade press was claiming that the market would follow the new PS bus that
IBM developed. Compaq the clone maker won that round. I bet right. IBM and
the trade press bet wrong and IBM sold out to the China based Lenovo. 

[Indiana Robinson] If they had Al they would have probably been too dumb to
make them cross compatible... :-) If they had gotten together and made them
fully cross compatible and maybe pulled in some decent third brand (like
Oliver) they would have had a good chance of walking away with control.
There was a couple of down sides to the IH Fast Hitch (like about anything
else on the planet) but as I mentioned recently we had a new International
300 Utility tractor in the mid 1950's with Fast Hitch. I always like that
tractor... About the only thing I would change if I had one now would be to
build an insulated heat shield over the top of the hydraulic tank under the
seat. That and the steel lines by your leg got really really hot during long
runs.
I also liked the Fast Hitch. The biggest down side I recall was that when
plowing if you crossed an old fence line, back furrow or ridge at a right
angle the tail of the plow would raise out of the ground or if you crossed a
dead furrow or dip it tried to bury itself a bit. Not a big problem really,
more of an annoyance.
The other downside was that we (like many others) already had a full stable
of 3 point equipment and IH was far more interested is selling new
implements than working at helping farmers adapt their existing implements
to the new Fast Hitch. We only had 3 Fast Hitch items... The plow, a sickle
mower and the drawbar. Yes, I consider the Fast Hitch drawbar to be an
implement. We kept a long drawbar extension on it and I loved being able to
release the lock on the lever and drop the drawbar down and back into an
implement hitch, like a wagon tongue and lift it up off of the ground
without climbing off of the tractor. I used that extension tip as a jack for
all kinds of things.
After plowing and disking we put the most hours on the 300 U pulling the hay
chopper (AC), the combine (Deere) and the corn picker (Woods Bros. then New
Idea). One thing I liked about the 300 U we had was that it had wider rear
tires than I ever see on them now at shows. I don't recall but it must have
been an option.
I recall several dealers we knew ordering all of the tractors with a few
options already on them from the factory that they kept on the floor. Wider
tires and rims was one of those frequent options here. Another such option
was often a more deluxe seat.
One big advantage the Fast Hitch had over AC's Quick Coupler was that you
could see the Fast Hitch at a glance (The same for Case Eagle Hitch) but on
the AC hitch couple you were flying by the seat of your pants and guessing
at what was going on down there under the tractor out of sight.

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