Looking for a Wheel-a-Matic expert

[hydriv 0]

:USA:

Hi guys,

As you can see, this is my first post. What brought me here is my curiousity about the 875 and 1045 Horse Wheel-A-Matics of 1965. According to some information I have, these two models were produced with hydraulic drive instead of hydrostatic drive.

First off, I would like for someone to confirm if that is true. If it is true, how much information is out there regarding these two models? For instance, does anyone have the sales brochures showing those models? How about Operator's Manuals? And finally, does anyone have the parts manual for them?

At this point, I think that I need to confess something. I am actually a Case collector/restorer but I have great respect for many of the old marques out there including the Wheel Horse tractors. As some of you may know, the Case tractor line sprang from the Colt tractor company and it was Colt who patented the first hydraulic tractor back in 1963. Case did not buy them until late in 1964 and release the first Case models in 1965.

As a Case fan, I am interested in those models because of their apparent similarity to the drive system used by Colt, then Case and then Ingersoll, which is still relatively unchanged today. I also wonder if Wheel Horse got themselves into some conflict with Case over these tractors so if anyone has any history to that effect I'd love to know about it.

So that's my story. I'm just looking for all the help I can get on these issues and I'm hoping that none of you will hold it against me just cuz I don't own a Horse. :D

[TT-(Moderator) 1,147]

:D and the world of !

The 875 and 1075 models were not hydraulic drive. They were the very first (two) hydrostatic drive models produced by Wheel Horse though. (They used Sundstrand HydroGear units)

The same configuration remained virtually unchanged up until early/mid 1973 when the gear (drive) motor was replaced by a piston motor unit.

[Duff 206]

Don't have any answers for you but do want to say, !

No one here will hold it against you for not having a . The mere fact that you respect this make and other classic tractors makes you a stand up guy in our eyes!

Glad to have you among us!

Duff :D

[rickv1957 73]

Hello and Rick

[JimD 3,345]

:USA:

sorry I don't have any answers for you, but you already have a couple, and probably more to come. :D

[hydriv 0]

Well ok then. Since this thread has had 101 hits and no one has refuted what TT said about these models, I guess I can take his info to the bank.

I think that you guys should know that the source of my inquiry stemmed from the current book authored by Ocar H. Wills, titled "Garden Tractors". This book has been touted on LAGC and that led me to buying it. To be honest, I was deeply disappointed in the innacuracy of some of the information about Colt, Case and Ingersoll tractors.

Thanks to TT, I am now finding out that the book is wrong about some Wheel Horse facts as well. On page 61, Wills says "Wheel Horse's big news for 1965 came in the form of a pair of hydraulically driven tractors. These so-called automatic drive machines featured a lever-operated direction and speed control. Intially available as 8- and 10-hp units, the model 875 and 1075 Wheel-A-Matics made garden tractor history as the first hydraulically driven (but not true hydrostatic) production machines to hit the market. "

I found those statements quite interesting in light of the fact that the Johnson brothers who started the Colt Manufacturing Company in 1961, were the people who developed the hydraulic drive system that is still in use today in Ingersoll tractors. The brothers applied for and received numerous patents to cover their drive system and those patents would have been valid in 1965 when the Wheel-A-Matics were released to the public.

In order to get around those patents, Wheel Horse would have had to come up with a significantly different method of propelling these models and that was something I wanted to explore thoroughly.

I'd like to thank all of you for your warm welcome and the information that was provided by TT. I hate to be a "wham-bam, thank you ma'am" kinda guy but in truth, this may be my final post here at Red Square. As much as I'd like to stay, my heart is elsewhere and I think that you guys will have no problem understanding that. I will check back to see if there is anything further but I suspect that this thread will continue to fall down the page and head off into the archives.

You have a really great forum here. Keep up the excellent work and keep on bringing those old Horses back to life. All of us have to do what we can to preserve the past so that the future can learn from it.

Cheers,

Tom

[boovuc 1,090]

HyDrive,

Welcome and believe me when I tell you this..........if TT wrote it, you can bank on it.

PS.........I'll confirm he's correct though!

BooVuc

Mill Hall, PA