Ford 3600 year of manufacture/

Those are not serial numbers, they are casting numbers. Those numbers are raised up, which means they are part of the casting of the engine block or transmission housing. They can tell you about the specific model of engine and transmission that it has in it, but not much about when it was made, or even the specific model of tractor.

Look on the flat spot that is facing up on the transmission bell housing just toward the rear of the tractor from the starter, on the right side of the tractor. There should be 3 numbers stamped in to that area. They will be formed by depressions in the metal, not raised up like the casting numbers. If you're lucky, the original metal foil sticker might be on the under side of the hood. If that sticker is still there, it will have the same 3 numbers, plus a few more. Post those 3 numbers here and we can help you figure out what you've got and when it was made.

NRN how did you know Tomota's "8F09B" was a '88 and not a say '78?

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In my first response I said it was a 1978. My later response where I said it was a 1988 was a typo.

The first digit of the production code is the last digit of the year it was made, so since Tomota's production code started with an 8 it had to be made in a year that ended in an 8, and the 3600 was only made from 1975 through 1981, and the only year in that range that ended in an 8 was 1978. His serial number of C575849 is a 1978 serial number as well, so the 2 numbers agree that it is a 1978 tractor.

If yours is also a 3600, then the 7 at the beginning of your production code would mean that it was made in 1977. If your serial number is C532737 instead of 0532737 then that would confirm that it is a 1977 tractor. All Ford tractor serial numbers from 1975 - 1987 started with a single letter followed by a 6 digit number. The letter was either A B or C which indicated which factory it was assembled at, followed by a 6 digit number. The A was for Antwerp in Belgium, the B was for Basildon in the UK and the C was for the plant in Michigan in the US. Part way through 1987, all tractor assembly moved to Basildon in the UK and the serial numbers changed to 2 letters (BA, then BB, BC, etc.) at the beginning followed by a 5 digit number.

You can look up Ford serial numbers to see what year they were made in a few places on the internet:

tractordata.com - click on model number and scroll down to list of years and serial numbers

yesterdaystractors.com - click on model or series number. Not as complete as tractordata

By the way, there is no such thing as a 3600 9N. A 9N was a Ford tractor made from 1939 through 1942 and had a 4 cylinder flat head engine. The 3600 was made, as I said, from 1975 through 1981, and it had a 3 cylinder overhead valve engine. Can you find the model number? First place to look is on a foil sticker on the underside of the right hood panel, above the battery. If the foil sticker is no longer there or no longer legible, then look near where you found the serial number and production code stamped into the flat spot. It might be further up on the flat spot, in the rough part of the casting instead of on the part that was ground smooth where the other two numbers were stamped. The model number should start with either CA1 or CA2 (they switched partway through 1977) followed by either a 1 for a diesel engine or a 2 for a gasoline engine, followed by one more number and ends with a letter, where the last number tells you what kind of PTO it has and the letter at the end tells you what transmission it has.

6J27C is a date code. Depending on where you found it, it could be the date of assembly of the trator itself or of one of the major components like the engine, transmission , rear axle, hydaulic top cover, etc. 6J27C on a 3600 would be September 27, 1976 during the afternoon shift. The first 6 is the year. Since the 3600 was only made from 1975-1981, the only year in that range ending in a 6 is 1976.

The letter in the second spot is the month:
A=January
B=February
C=March
etc, but they skippped I, so J=September.

The next 1 or 2 digits is the day of the month, and the letter at the end is which shift:
A = midnight shift (midnight to 8:00 AM)
B = day shift (8:00 AM to 4:00 PM)
C = afternon shiht (4:00 PM to midnight)

So it isn't a 3600.

Model - BH213C - The first three characters are the model designator. BH2 is a Model 234 "Highway chassis" tractor. It was part of the 2600 series and was basically the same tractor ads the 2600 except that it came with shorter wheels and wider tires than the standard 2600 and was designed to be used as a highway mower. The next character, 1 says it has a diesel engine. The next character, 3 says that it has live PTO and the last character, C says that it has an 8 speed transmission (4 forward and 1 reverse speed on the main shifter and hi/low ranges on the shorter shifter giving a total of 8 forward and 2 reverse speeds).

Tractor Number (Serial Number) - B971251 - The B at the beginning of the serial number means that it was assembled at the plant in Basildon in the UK. The number itself starting with a 9 indicates that it was a "domestic" tractor, meaing it was built to be sold inside of the UK. "B" serial numbers built for export outside of the UK started and 000001 and went up to 799999, and ones built to be sold domestically started at 8000001 and went up from there.

Unit Number - 6K28B - date code specifying that the tractor left the assembly line on October 28, 1976 during the day shift

Engine - First part is the engine serial number:
B132686 - The B at the beginning says that it was made for a tractor in the 2600 series, and the 234 is in the 2600 series.
Second part of the Engine numbers is the date code for the assembly of the engine itself:
6K27B - engine was assembled on October 27, 1976 during the day shift.

The rest are date codes for the assembly of the other major components, like the transmission, rear axle, hydraulic top cover and hydraulic pump.

That sticker is on the under side of the hood, so the hood is from a model 234 tractor. It's more likely that a previous owner didn't know what they had when they repainted it and the original decals weren't on it any longer so they guessed or thought that it was a 3600 and put 3600 decals on it. The main differences between a 234 and a 3600 are:

1. The 234 has shorter wheels and wider tires. Those could be swapped to the standard 2600/3000 wheel and tire size and then it would be the same as a 2600.

2. The 3600 series has a slightly more powerful engine. The 234 & 2600 have a 158 cubic inch engine and 34 hp at the PTO, while the 3600 has a 175 ci engine with about 40 hp at the PTO. So the 3600 has about 6 hp more.

The transmissions, rear axles, and 3 point hydraulic systems are identical between the 234, 2600 and 3600, so it is hard to tell them apart if you don't know what you're looking for.

You could check the engine serial number that is stamped on the engine iself to compare to the number on the sticker to be sure. Look on the right side of the engine (as you're sitting on the tractor) down low, just above the oil pan is a flat rail that runs the length of the engine front-to-back, and about halfway along its length it gets taller for a short distance and the serial numebr should be stamped in that taller part of the flat rail.

Tractor # C536647 - This is a 1977 serial number

Model # CU212C - CU2 is a 335 Utility model (non-adjustable front axle which is stonger than the adjustable width front axe of the ag chassis) The 1 means that ist has a diesel engine. The second 2 means that it has non-live PTO and the C at the end means that it has an 8 speed transmission

Unit # 7D04B (April 04 1977 dayshift) - This is the date code for when th etractor was asembled and you decode is correct

The rest are manufacturing date codes for the major components:
Engine # 7B03A - February 3 1977 day shift
Trans # 6J07B - September 7 1976 day shift
Rear Axle # 7B10C - February 10 1977 afternoon shift
Hyd Pump # 6M08B - December 8 1966 day shift
Hyd Lift # 7604B (this number is hard to read) - The second character should be a letter, so my guess would be 7C04B, which would be March 4 1977 day shift.