International Harvester McCormick 423V
- 2,5L 3-cyl diesel 40HP
- 12 speed creeper gear 3 reverse
- Built in Neuss Germany
- 1.3M wide on the current wheels.
- Buildyear between 1966 and 1975
- Hours at moment of writing 37800
The international 423V was bought in the early 1970’s by our family already 2nd hand when it was bought but fully restored for ours. this was the first actual vineyard tractor on the farm and for it’s days it was a neat and functional tractor with alot of luxury. the creeper gear has proven it’s worth over the 50 years we got this tractor as it’s easy engaged and allows for lot’s of work which require a creeper gear. The tractor was the mainstream tractor on the farm until around 1980. as of 1992 this tractor is carrying the forklift all year as this tractor is a ideal forklift tractor due to being short, having no cab and a perfect weight balance. it also delivers a lot of oil for it’s age which makes the forklift go at a nice speed. due to it’s simplicity this tractor is very reliable to us and that’s favorable when you do harsh work outside.
2015 Required Restoration
In 2015 it was about time to fix up this tractor as the paint and overall look was in a really bad shape. the tractor had been used over 40 years without any care to it’s outside. the 423 is our tractor that get’s abused when there is something to abuse it at, and it’s more of a general carrier then just a forklift carrier meaning it get’s loaded however stuff fits on it.
We started by taking things of the tractor and stripping it down, it wasn’t our intention to take it apart completely, but just fix what got bad. So we stripped it down to have every red part accessible. since nothing was really broken there wasn’t anything to fix, however the steps required some welding as they were worn through from stepping up and rotating the foot. i painted the complete tractor in 3 paint runs of red and 2 runs on white for the rims after sanding down everything. unfortunaly we weren’t very experienced back then and so we got a bit of a rough paint layer however it’s lasting pretty well over time.
international 423 restoration
overtime maintenance
in the autumn of 2015 i also restored the perfect forklift which was still in good shape at the time, but it just required some paint and new bearings. This looked really good after painting it but unfortuanly lost it’s paint also quite fast as the tractor is a use tractor and not a show tractor.
in 2016 i fixed the front axle bearings, as it turned out there wasn’t a bearing that kept the axle up which made the steering that much harder. after fixing the steering and adding new tires the tractor steered really smooth again for a no power steering tractor.
in 2018 during harvest the head gasket blew out with a big bang while unloading a truck of empty bins. this was quite a bad situation and i had to use the oldest case2140 as backup tractor. during harvest we had the head of the 423 being rebuild so it would be in perfect shape again, and after getting it back 1 week later we assembled the tractor and got it running again to continue serving in harvest.
in 2023 i also upgraded the forklift with a new valve body as the old one was leaking and not functioning properly anymore. while i was on it i also added a accumulator to the forklift to give the forklift some forklift suspension which is great when driving with apples that should be driven arround carefully.