Gibson Tractor Model M

[bc.gold 3,399]

My father on his Gibson tractor digging a hole to tip that large rock into.

 

My father in his 80's had some difficulty crank starting the engine

 

The tractor has a twin cylinder crank start Wisconsin, that I had converted to electric using a VW flywheel to turn out on the lathe for a ring gear, Bosh starter from the air cooled VW engine with the nose cone from an old Toyota starter from which the Japanese had copied. The only modification to the nose cone was to install a larger armature bushing.

 

The Bosch starter from a VW bug turns the right direction to start the Wisconsin engine then as luck would have it with slight modification a Toyota nose cone easily adapted to the Bosch. To finish off the project turned out the centre from the VW flywheel as the ring gear and billet are one piece it was easy to get a good fitting ring gear. The rest was just cutting a large hole into the back of the air shroud then finding that sweet spot before welding on the fish plate previously held on with one bolt. The fish plate gave added strength plus covered the excess of the hole cut to allow alignment of the starter to the new ring gear.

 

Father had a small Moody metal lathe and a larger LaBlond metal lathe that had a previous life at the British Colombia Penitentiary

 

My father purchased this Gibson tractor used in the early 50's. By shifting the selector on the hydraulic cylinder you could operate the front blade or draw-bar. With two spare sheaves on the engine pulley you could run the hay mower, buzz saw or one of those Princess Auto Army surplus aircraft generators sold as welders so many years ago.

 

    Edited January 28, 2019 by bcgold

[bc.gold 3,399]

Forty years later I now learn that the flywheel I had machined on the lathe was an aftermarket with the ring gear teeth hobbed into the billet.

 

https://www.scatvw.com/product/forged-12-volt-1-piece-8-dowel-200mm-chromoly-flywheel/

SCAT CHROMOLY 12.5 LBS. NEW FORGED STEEL & IRON FLYWHEELS

• Drilled for SPG offset pattern 8 dowel pins
• 130 tooth (12-Volt) ring gear is hobbed directly from forging and is induction hardened
• Clutch face is precision ground to insure quick, smooth clutch action
• Fits all SCAT VOLKSTROKER Crankshafts and 8 Dowel Pin Type 1-3 Cranks
• Increased engine life plus faster acceleration

[ACman 7,506]

 .... and history . I seen a model B AC with a flywheel and starter from a sbc mounted on the front of the engine.

 

I also like your avatar as I’ve got orange running through my veins. My grandpa and dad started selling AC in 1976 . My dad still runs the store as a independent and we still have shelves full of NOS parts . 

[bc.gold 3,399]

My father was  pretty smart fellow, when my brother in law used the small Moody Lathe for a pipe vice he broke several teeth off of the back gear the old man repaired the gear by using pins then filed them into the proper profile.

 

My dad could do almost everything on that old Moody, he even made thumb screws that had been lost from old crescent type wrenches. Once of his inventions or maybe something found in one of the Mechanics Illustrated magazines was a thing that made hose clamps from mechanics wire.

 

 

 

http://home.iprimus.com.au/stevor/gearrepairs.htm

 

 

Edited January 29, 2019 by bcgold

[bc.gold 3,399]

On the left near the shovel head you'll see the drill rod embedded into the large rock, my father used a hand held bit to make the hole. The drill rod was used as an anchor for the Australian bull winch to remove some cotton wood tress.

 

On our old property,

 

We had some very tall Douglas Firs on our property, my father would put on his climbing spurs then attached a cable halve ways up then pull the tree over bringing up the large root ball at the same time.

These Firs were well over 3 feet in diameter, one tree had been truck by lightning and died soon after, Danny Sailor a world champion tree climber wanted to purchase the tree to relocate onto his property so that he could practice up for the upcoming New York Worlds fair.

My father told him to limb the tree and use it where it was free of charge, we had a free show. Sailor before making the climb would drink liquid honey for that added energy. Where the tree was topped at 120 feet the diameter was a mere 10 inches across, Sailor would stand on the top swinging a holla hoop around his waist then suddenly toss his hard hat into the air then race it to the ground were he would catch the falling hat.

For those of you old enough to have taken in the NY world fair, Danny;s act had taken a turn he had broken his ankle as they say in show business the show must go one. In this case Danny had signed a contract to perform. And that he did.

He had a custom made fibre glass leg cast made up, with the cast he could climb but not endure the long drops in coming down the pole so he devised a long cable at an incline then from his top pole act faked a fall. I did not attend the fair so I'm unable to comment on how the crowd reacted to the performance.

The winch my father used was called an Australian Bull winch rated at 75 ton.

 

 

Edited January 29, 2019 by bcgold

[aghead 72]

Son of a Gun!!! You had a great dad, very smart and not intimidated by tasks at hand. Awesome pics and stories.

Thank you for sharing.

[bc.gold 3,399]

5 hours ago, aghead said:

Son of a Gun!!! You had a great dad, very smart and not intimidated by tasks at hand. Awesome pics and stories.

Thank you for sharing.

 

When he had wanted to buy a new Toyota I made a few telephone calls finding that the new wagons were $1000.00 less at a Chilliwhack dealer. it was a Sunday and the salesman agreed to meet us to show the car.

 

The old man had been into the wine but at least put a suit on for the trip, anyhow we're looking at a new Corolla in the show room when my dad crawls under the car then asks the salesman where are the grease nipples.

 

He wrote out a check, my wife drove the new car home then on Monday he looked outside then asked who was there, he had no recollection of buying the car.

 

After his logging accident the wine bottle became his best and only friend, then one day I told him that he should not drink so much and his reply to me was, what I drink you won't miss.

 

 

Edited January 29, 2019 by bcgold

[bc.gold 3,399]

Our first welder was a metal five gallon bucket with three iron plates that sat on a few bricks to keep it off the ground, the pail was filled with lye water I don't remember how the plates were wired. But you could adjust the amperage by moving the outer plates closer to the centre plate, it was a horrible welder and very difficult to strike an ark.

 

Using this welder would bring the picture on the television down to a pin point, the neighbours too. One day Hydro put a meter with a round graph paper inside or shack all this did was delay a few welding jobs as we did not use it while this spy was watching over us.

 

Sometime the two overhead power wires coming from the house to the shop would melt and drop to the ground, after blowing all your spare fuses a penny saves the day.

 

My first brazing was done using a carbon arc torch.

 

 

 

[bc.gold 3,399]

My fathers home made clamp tool in that the 1/2" pipe was flattened on the end with a grove filed in to hold the wire in place while tightening the wire up before bending it over then cutting the excess off, once you figure out how to use it these wire clamps make for quick and easy non intrusive repairs on garden hose and oxy acetylene hoses.

 

[Stormin 9,975]

  I found all that very interesting. Your father reminds me of my own. Not for digging holes and pulling trees down etc. But for the making and repairing etc.

  Thanks for stirring the memories.

[bc.gold 3,399]

Fathers home made welder made from a bucket of lye water has come full circle. was searching for an economical way to control the output voltage from a DC welder so that I may use it for nickel plating some of my Allis 920 parts, when I came across this salt water rheostat and another video with a fellow using a salt water welder.

 

This is the type of welder that I learned to weld with., the front blade, a trailer and a few other implements for the Gibson was also fabricated using the same bucket welder.

 

Instead of using salt for his electrolyte my father used lye.

 

 

 

Edited February 7, 2019 by bcgold

[bc.gold 3,399]

On 1/28/2019 at 5:50 PM, ACman said:

 .... and history . I seen a model B AC with a flywheel and starter from a sbc mounted on the front of the engine.

 

I also like your avatar as I’ve got orange running through my veins. My grandpa and dad started selling AC in 1976 . My dad still runs the store as a independent and we still have shelves full of NOS parts . 

 

If the starter was mounted parallel to the engine it would have had to be CCW rotation, normal small block chevy starter runs CW and would have been mounted facing the engine.

 

The Volkswagen starter I used was mounted parallel with the trans-axle which made it an ideal candidate, the only problem is the VW starter does not have a nose cone but rather uses an installed bushing located in the rear of the engine block. The Japanese copied that Bosh made starter with the addition of a nose cone from an old Toyota but with a smaller armature bushing. This I modified.