R Series Grill Questions

Since that NOS grill showed up on ebay, I've been taking a look at the grills on my trucks and have just some general questions about them. The emblem on my 53 is huge compared to the one on the 54. I also noticed that the center bar in the 53 is bolted and the emblem area is bigger than the 54, which is welded and smaller indentation. Does anyone know why they changed? And also, where to start looking for the larger emblem on the 53. The one I have, I got came from a guy on the old oldihc site a few years ago that I think lived in Arizona and sold it to me for the cost of shipping. Its nice to have an emblem, but its kind of rough and majorly pitted.

Is the larger of the two stamped rather than cast? IH used stamped ornament for a short time during the korean war. I think that it was just one year or part of a year. Not sure about the welded vs bolt in center bar. My R series parts manual only shows one ornament and the bolt in bar (MT-97 parts manual rev no. 2, 7/56), but I've owned them both ways (but always the smaller ornament). The ornament is the same through the line up to R-160, thought the grill itself is different R-100-130 and R-140-160.

I have noticed the same thing and always wanted to ask this.
The 53's have a larger IH emblem than the 54's and 55's.

I have one of each.

Interesting. I have both cast and stamped IH as well as stamped and cast R hood "V" trim. I must have 10 of the big IH and I never knew that any other size was offered.
BTW : The rough cast emblems can be fixed and rechromed. Place the emblem in an oven and bake at 250-300F for 30 minutes to degas the zinc (aka pot metal) then clean, body fill prime and paint with spray chrome. It will look just like new. The process is on You Tube might be available from Eastwood.
I've done this on a couple of IH before painting my favorite color.

The cast one looks ok, I want to keep it the way it is because I want to keep it as a survivor. It is the big stamped emblem I want to find. It so rusty that I can hold it to a light and see through parts of it. I have a friend that can access a 3D printer and might try making a solid plastic one but I would prefer an original. Its not really a priority right now, but with how long it took to find this one, I thought I should find out what trucks I need to look for to find the right emblem.

I have both sizes in the stamped metal. Also one small cast.

I used to have a grill (sold one) that had a large stamped zinc emblem. It was almost chrome. This one came off a 53 R-150 ?

Try Mike at magihc1@telus.net or 250 280 1474. Mike has lots of stuff for sale and he will most likely have something for your truck. Mike has never fail me on any request for bits and pieces.

These badges are on an IHC LB stationary engine.

The wheels are Dodge Ram 17 inch and we have two new dealer take-off sets. One set is going on my sons L110 4X4 with a Cummins 4bta and the other set, I am saving for my last Binder project, hopefully in abut a year. The tires we plan to use are 275/70R17 BFG all terrain. These tire should fill those big fenders, nicely. It will be wall to wall rubber on the road.
BTW: One set of wheels had new BFG rubber and the other set was just the wheels. Both sets came with caps and fasteners. I found the wheels on CRAIGSLIST and paid less than the cost of the tires for it all.