BN Wide frontend

[Dave F.]

Just curious would a wide frontend from an A or Super A fit a BN. Thanks Dave F.

[Urbish]

As far as I know, yes. The A, Super A, B, and BN are about 90% common and you can swap front ends and final drives around to make a Super BNA or other frankenstein creation.

[Gary Dotson]

It seems that I've seen an A with a B front before but I think there might have been some fab. work involved. Not sure about going the other way.

[Urbish]

Keep in mind that the front axle from the A will be biased to the right side of the tractor. I don't think there would be enough adjustment to get the left front tire inline with the left-rear without significant modification.

[Don McCombs]

The BN is an offset tractor, just like the A and Super A. But, I think the entire bolster would need to be changed in addition to the axle.

[Ike]

The B and BN are two-row tractors with Culti-Vision, but aren't really offset tractors other than the seat, are they?

[Don McCombs]

I guess it depends on what characteristics you consider to make it offset. The seat and steering are offset. The front and rear axles are centerline. It’s a mongrel and we’re trying to make it even more mongrelized.

[Jim Becker]

I guess you can more or less pick a definition for "offset" depending on what pieces aren't centered on the tractor. I've certainly in the past heard people call a B offset because of the seat. From anything I have seen, it doesn't look like IH (or CaseIH) made much use the word until they got to models 274 and 265. IH did coin and heavily use the word "Culti-Vision" and apply it to the A, B, AV, and BN. Offset was used in some descriptions of what Culti-Vision meant. They, appropriately didn't use Culti-Vision for the C even though it shared a lot of A/Super A parts. Oddly, although it was used in some Cub advertising they didn't put much emphasis on it for the Cub. They pointed out that the seat was offset but didn't mention that the engine was. "Culti-Vision" dropped off the Super A decals during the production run but it continued to be used in marketing through the 140.

[Ike]

It’s a mongrel and we’re trying to make it even more mongrelized.

There you go!

[T-Mo]

From the 1940 IH Farm Equipment book.

The Farmall-B is a three-wheel tractor adapted
to the cultivation of two crop rows spaced 34 to 48
inches apart. In all other respects this tractor is
like the Farmall-A—has the same engine and engine
accessories, same transmission and operating speeds,
same offset seat, etc. The engine is mounted on the
center line of the tractor.