Ive began to collect walking tractors. My Father had a old Sears David Bradley with a breaking plow 50 some years ago. I bought the remmants of a Montgomery ward Midland that has a cycle bar mower on it at the hubcap auction. Then I seen a Troy built on face book that is a garden tiller. So I bought it. Then I bought a Chore Master single wheel one. and a couple of days ago I bought a 1960,s 8 Hp Gravely model L that has a bush hogg / mower on it. Wierd T head engine. It has a front mount pto that drives the attachments. The attachment fasten on with 4 bolts. no belts needed. So now Im looking for attachments for the Gravely. I want a rotary plow , tiller, & sickle bar mower. and I want a Sulky but I can build one easily enough. Ive researched and watched a lot of U tube videos. And I now think the Gravely is the best of them all. They where made by the Studebaker co. If I can find the desired Gravely Attachments I will not need a tiller or lawn mower etc. That way only one engine to keep running. Ive actually got the chore master running and used it to plow a trench to drain a mud hole.
My old man always wanted one of those walking rear tine tillers, a neighbor had one and tilled a large garden spot with it for years. The old man had a front tine Wizard, Mom still has it, still runs good for being over 50 years old. He eventually bought a Merry Tiller and the optional rubber drive wheels, but he hated it, said it was too fast with the tines and wouldn’t pull a plow with the rubber tires, it would just dig holes spinning. It still runs good for being probably 40 years old. My bro in law and nephews used it for a few years after the old man died, but it’s sat the last 3 or 4 years.
The walking tractors came out about the same time a cars & trucks. The walking tractor was designed to replace a team of horses. gas was easy to obtain and much cheeper than the cost of feeding a team of horses. and the walking tractors could pull the horse drawn implements. I have a couple of front tine tillers you get a real workout trying to break new ground with one. Several companies manufacture rear tine tillers. However none of them are even close to being as good as a Troy Built. Ive got a real old worn out Troy built that I used a few seasons. but it leaks the gear oil out as fast as you pour it in. the bearings shafts & seals it needs cost as much as you can buy another tiller for. The Troy Built pictured I just bought. I paid $35 for it. it has a few parts missing. but has a electric start 10 HP Kroler engine. It don't show signs of wear. Its just been setting out in the weather. I paid $80 for the Gravely. I haven't even seen one till I got this one. Ive seen pictures but never seen a actual machine in the flesh before..
Congratulations on your Gravely! You did well to get that for $80. What is the Serial number? This will tell you the year made. The S/N tag is on the advance casting just below the PTO. You can see the tag in the first photo on the left side of the tractor. You will notice a shield on the left side in front of the cylinder. There is a matching right hand shield that is missing. It is important to have this to ensure proper cooling. Do you have it running? I recommend that you join the Gravely tractor club. Their website is GTCOA.COM and you can join on-line. Dues are $30 and the quarterly publication is excellent.
Yes I got it running. The guy I bought it from had already worked on it. He got the mag firing. cleaned the carb ect. But couldn't get it to start with the pull rope. I took my impact wrench & a socket on the crankshaft nut. and it fired right up. I think its a later model because of the vertical spark plug and aluminum carb. there isn't a tag on the fuel tank. Yes I can see there is a air deflector shield missing. I also didn't get a air filter. I seen a video on U tube that's about 6 months old. A guy in Zachary louisana has a huge collection of Gravely stuff that's being liquidated. Im trying to get more info. A 400 mile one way road trip might be happening?
Tell me about it! I remember fighting that damn Wizard on many a hot spring and summer day! And that Merry Tiller would walk your ass to death, you were in an almost run mode when you used it. You had to make sure there weren't any large rocks or roots there, if it grabbed one, lookout, you could almost break an arm trying to hold it!
I have according to paperwork I recently found my grandfather's 1952 Planet Junior Model B walk behind tractor. Green chassis, black Briggs and Stratton 2 1/2 horse. Green and red wheels with standard tractor V lug tires. According to the receipt, the tractor cultivator, and single bottom plow, tool kit, set up and delivery was $257.00 supplied with half full fuel tank and one quart of 30 weight motor oil. Delivery charge included review of owners operating manual and a 15 minute operator orientation. Gramps had an acre of land and planted 3/4 of it in sweet corn, pop corn and decorative Indian corn plus a patch of potatoes, carrots peas and green beans. The Planet Jr was used. To cultivate those crops and a 1/4 acre plot of my father's yard where we grew onions peppers tomatoes radishes cucumbers summer squash and turnips. $250.00 was a bunch of money in 1952 but he figured with the sale of sweet corn and bags of popping corn it would offset the cost. Some how my father raised it to the second floor of the barn where it has been sitting since the mid 60's. As I recall there is a home made snow plow the Gramps ab dad built and mounted also stashed somewhere izn the barn.
From What Ive read it seems that the army used a lot of horses in WWI. and they shipped them overseas So there became a shortage of horses and the price got very high. Walking tractors where then in demand by small farmers who couldn't afford a regular tractor. The walking tractor could very easily pull the horse drawn implements if they where modified a small amount. So they became popular and for several decades building them was a viable part of the USA Manufacturing industry. Many of the would be future mechanics got their first experience tinkering and fixing on the various one cyl engines on walking tractors, lawn mowers & washing machines ect. When I was a little kid the neighbor woman cooked with wood. They had a walking tractor with a belt drive to a mower. They had turned the mower vertical and set it in a wooden frame. a circle saw blade about three feet in diameter was installed. and they used that rig to cut sawmill slabs into short pieces and split them into one inch sized sticks with a heavy hatchet. The amazing thing about it was the job of making this cook wood and being certain that the wood box was filled. That dangerous job was relagated to the pre teen boys. No guards or safety equiptment. And none of them where ever injured. and when that engine wouldn't run. those same little boys would get it running again.
I've got a 1959 Gravely L series that I've rebuilt twice. Starts every time and runs all day. I've got the rotary plow, too, and once had the sickle bar attachment, but junked it decades ago. Rotary mower could do pretty much anything the sickle bar could do, faster and without constant clogging or breaking teeth. Yes, make your own sulky, and be sure to get wheels with replaceable ball bearings or needle bearings. Gravely's wheel bushings wear out in a couple of seasons, then wobble like hell. You've got the right rotary mower deck. The old ones with only four bolts, or four bolts and a supplementary U-bolt, just couldn't handle the torque season after season. Get that missing heat deflector replaced. You can make one if you're handy with 18-gauge sheet metal.
I lost a fair amount on money one a walk behind that may have dated back the early 1930's, had huge spiked rear wheels. Bob
Or possibly could have been made during the War Years. Rubber was all used by the Army. Even the Farmall tractors made during the war used steel wheels and the shift knob was cast instead of rubber.
Ive seen attachments for sale on the Facebook Market place. However they are all hundreds of miles away. and priced for more than I paid for My gravely. Its hard to justify spending more than I paid for my gravely on gas to buy a attachment that is higher priced that my $80 initial purchase price, Yes I plan to make a heat shield. I think mine was removed because there is a exhaust leak at the engine mounting flange . and the heat would be trapped behind the shield.
The attachments for those Gravely's seems endless. Years ago I had a 40 inch dual blade mower, two single blade rotary mowers, one modified with hanging chains to act more like a brush-hog than a finish mower, a sulky, dual wheel conversions, a 40 inch plow for snow, a sickle bar (that scared the hell out of me!), and a rotary tiller. The tiller worked best in reverse, walking backwards, seemed the weight was used better. Sold it all when I moved to the city. Only real problem I had was spitting out governors, went thru a few of them. All in all the best piece of garden equipment I ever owned!
The exhaust leak at the manifold is common. There are a number of U-Tube videos dedicated to this repair. Check out "Oh jug it" and you will learn how the exhaust flange deteriorates and how to repair it. The exhaust flange is part of the jug. Mine was repaired by building up the ears with weld and welding the studs in place. It has held up for more than 9 years.
Another common problem is the shipper shaft and shipper shaft assembly. That's basically the throw-out clutch that engages and disengages the mower. There's a piece that rides in a groove like a clutch fork that wears out, and the shipper shaft has a small quarter-inch nipple that fits into that little piece. For years I thought that it was the nipple that engaged the clutch, and was wearing it out on a regular basis, replacing it with a small piece of bolt. Then I went to get a new assembly and realized I wasn't working with all the parts. I fabricated the fork piece and it still wears, but lasts longer. Remaking it in tool steel would solve that problem, but I'm not a machinist, only a guy with a drill press, a bench grinder and a bastard file. Working slowly and using a micrometer, I get what I need.
I remember that when I was around 8 to 10 I would see the David Bradley walk behinds in the Sears catalog and think that they were so cool. I had no idea what I would do with one, they were just cool. One came up in an auction the other day around here but I didn't bid on it. That would just add to the too many projects thing.
My dad has a David Bradley that he still uses to disc the garden. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I reciently bought a newer Pony Troy built. Its a poorly engineered design. Ive decided to junk it and put the tines engine and other parts on a badly worn older Horse Troy Built.
I rented a container, and brought the complete walking tractor, ( with the exception of the motor), back from Japan in the late 80s. They were very common over there, but were being replaced by the Kubota tractors. I still have it, never did anything with it. I also brought back a Kubota B6000 4x4, including the rototiller. It an extremely well built unit and is driven by a 2 cylinder Diesel engine. One of the other things I brought back, was a pair of rice combines on tracks. They were like new, and a guy I knew, would keep jacking up the offering price so that I finally sold them both. I didn't want to sell both, but the offer covered the complete cost of the rental, freight, and duty. I would have been insane not to sell them. I had the dream of putting a snow plough on the machine for winter, and a tipping box on the back for hauling around the yard. Bob
My Dad built his own walk behind tractor back in about 1955 , had a AKN Wisconsin engine on it with two transmissions and angle iron cleats on some fairly large wheels. He used it to work our 1/3 of an acre spot in Southern California. Some how he got it bogged down close to one of our fruit trees , he put it in reverse and the handle bar threw him up into the tree before he could clutch it! I didn’t get to see it, but I heard about for years! I still have that AKN engine! Bones
As long he didn't get hurt. Just watch some youtubes, to see the kinds of things people do and walk away from. There is a chainsaw compilation that makes me cringe when I watch it. They break every rule and live through it. Bob
My Dad was the toughest man I ever knew, but it was a good thing he was young at this time , because as he told it , it thrashed him pertty good! Lol Bones
Hi! An impressive collection and very unusual! It's great that you make it your hobby and try to keep things like that. Besides, I'm sure all this will be very valuable in a few years. As for adding to the collection, you could look for what you need on machinerydealer.co.uk. I sometimes buy tractors and excavators from them for my farm. They have all the machinery in excellent condition and quite good prices. So you can use the purchase even on your plot of land. Good luck to you!
Old Wolfe, you do realize this is a sickness and there is medication for it. I think I have 7 Cub Cadets and don't use any of them.
Sadly, @Old wolf got his ass banned a couple years ago. I always liked his amazing "down-home" knowledge, as well as his rants. I miss him.
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