Torque History and Present Challenges and Solutions
From May/June 2026 Issue
By Brandon Holcomb
“You better drop a dollar in a can every time you pull that TA lever”, “There are two types of TAs, out and going out.” If you are a red guy with friends who own “other” colors of tractors, I’m sure you have heard those phrases, plus a few more when it comes to poking fun. While I hate to admit it, they weren’t exactly wrong, but in this article, I’ll talk about how a good number of the failures over the years could have been prevented or at least prolonged.
Let’s step back a bit and talk about the history of the torque amplifier. First introduced in 1954, the Farmall model MTA was the first red tractor to introduce a shift on the go 2 speed option known as the torque amplifier. These units are referred to as a “mechanical” torque because the shifting was done with a lever attached to a throw out bearing that engaged a small clutch and allowed a set of planetary gears to pull the tractor at a reduced speed while maintaining engine rpm, allowing for more “torque” from the engine It’s not often we find a torque shaft with this kind of wear. Normally the unit has an internal failure before it can wear this bad. to the ground. This revolutionary setup could be found in many different models of IH tractors up until the introduction of the hydraulic torque introduced in the 06 series in 1963.