A NEW BREED 1965 FARMALL 504

What International Harvester called the “New World of Power” launched them into their first line of six-cylinder tractors in 1958.

- JIM ALLEN

These were the now-infamous 460 and 560 lines. We have talked about the final drive debacle that put IH into panic mode for a couple of years and giving John Deere the edge it needed to race ahead in tractor sales. In order to beat John Deere to the six-cylinder punch, execs had dismissed the advice of engineers and launched the more powerful tractors with the old M-Series final drives rather than wait for the new drives that were in the engineering pipeline. That proved to be a very big mistake.

By 1961, the technical part of the problem had been dealt with by upgrades and recalls, all of which had slowed up future plans. It took IH a long time to recover from the reputational hit but they introduced new models that were ready for action. They started with the introduction of the 404 and 504 for ‘62, both fighting in the lower middleweight class. The 404 was a two-plow tractor that debuted only with a gas engine. The three-plow (plus) 504 turned out to be the hit of that pair. The 504 was the precursor to the new 706 and 806 models that would emerged barely two years hence and set International back onto solid reputational ground. The 504 embodied much of the new technology that would make the 706 and 806 such a success, mainly a stout final drive with a torque amplifier, hydrostatic power steering and a new 3-point system with draft control.