We had a 1940 IH Farmall model H that had the worst stuck piston encounter yet, the previouse fall we used it to run a PTO manure spreader and when finished parked it on the hill for the winter, next spring she was locked up tite, After trying several noninvasive methods of trying to free it up we did eventuall pull the head and impliment the 2x4 treatment just like you mentioned, we gradually went up in hammer size till we were useing a 10# hand sledge after we splinterd up 5 pieces of pine 2x4, we went to a stub of white oak sweep tooth off a buck sweep, and splinterd it too, one method we hooked up a PTO shaft to another tractor and engaged the PTO, the JohnDeer 4020 would have flipped the H over so we gave up on that idea, tried dragging it down the drive with a chain all we accomplished was digging up the drive, tried soaking the #3 cyinder with Kroil & used up the 1/4pt that we had, neighbor said try coke a cola, a 2 liter bottle that stuff for 2 weeks dident work. used a 18" pipe wrench & 5 foot cheater bar with two guy's bounceing on nthe handle nothing to show but pipe wrench tracks on the starter shaft out front, in a final bid to pop it free after four and half months of messing with it my father used a 10 ton bottle jack positioned right on the crank throw of the seized cylinder (had to remove the oil pan) useing heavy logging chain across the frame rails to support the jack, it finally gave way with a loud crack, that tractor ran well after that, sold it years later. Now days it sits in Atkinson Nebraska, It was the only H Farmall I ever seen with a Factory Cab.
