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Massey Harris General Purpose Four Wheel Drive

As many of you know I have a soft spot for the Massey Harris General purpose tractors and for those of you that have been to my place have witnessed it first hand.

I thought we needed a thread for the GPs as this was the first tractor made by Massey Harris with all their own design. There are so many different things to talk about and try to figure out so I thought this would be a great place to do it. I know many people have not been close to or possibly have not really seen one in person so this will help out the participants and anyone else that wants to Lurk can possibly learn a thing or two.

The first picture is a couple of my GPs in a line up in my shed. The second picture is one I have a question about. I believe this tractor is in England as it looks like Robert Crawfords orange truck in the backround. I have seen many different styles of wheels on the GPs but have never seen one like this one in the picture. It appears to have a cast or steel ring in the middle of the rim all the way around has anyone else seen this style lug?? It appears to be a ring to hold the tractor from sliding sideways?? or is for better steering?? This tractor also has a 6 cylinder in it wich I think was put in there later as I have never seen a GP that I believe was made with a factory 6 Cylinder.

Any comments?

Joe
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RE:Massey Harris General Purpose Four Wheel Drive

....a "couple"...in my "shed".....

Holy cow Joe!  I knew you had a bunch of GPs, but it is always better to see pictures.  I will have to get up that way some day and see your nice collection.


Maybe the lug is like a road band for a smoother ride on concrete or hard surfaces???  Seems like it would still leave some good tracks because of the narrow band.  That is my terrible guess.

RE:Massey Harris General Purpose Four Wheel Drive

Drew:

It's not like an Addiction or anything but it is starting to look like Horders Buried Alive around here..... I just really enjoy the early Steel & Crank stuff.

Joe
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RE:Massey Harris General Purpose Four Wheel Drive

Drew:

Although I have alot of tractors in my shed and the walkways are getting narrow I have not had to resort to double stacking them yet like some others have.

Sorry John..... I hope you don't take this the wrong way but I just thought If we were going to Talk Massey Haris GPs this was the perfect spot for this little Mishap to let people know that sometimes things don't go as planned.....And you got to always be on top of your game when it comes to Safety and even then things like this can happen.

Joe
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RE:Massey Harris General Purpose Four Wheel Drive

Na, with rows that straight and everything organized, it can't be called horders!  IMO horders = junk.  Your collections is far from that!

RE:Massey Harris General Purpose Four Wheel Drive

So that is what it looks like when you throw tractors in the barn.   Geez John!

RE:Massey Harris General Purpose Four Wheel Drive

Well, Joe, since you have already thrown the photos out there for the world to see, you might as well share the story of how the heck that happened?!?

       JB


PS...   The website is making me sign in every day again...  That started this past weekend...

RE:Massey Harris General Purpose Four Wheel Drive

#1 - I hope everyone is ok
#2 - I am glad it didn't hit the #1

RE:Massey Harris General Purpose Four Wheel Drive

JB:

I am going to have to let John tell the story on the airborn GP as he got to experience it first hand and I don't want to leave out any details. But if I remember right there was alot of Coffee or Tea drank at halftime trying to figure out what to do next.

Everytime I look at these pictures it makes me cringe as it is a sobering reminder of what can happen when you least expect it to. This is one of the downfalls of owning something with a magneto, many years ago a fella who used to own one of our buildings had a cornshelling unit on back of a hand crank truck. He always bragged how the truck would start on the first crank so when ever someone would come into the shop he would have to show them by cranking it up. One day he was demonstraiting how well his truck would start and forgot to check if it was in gear. It started on the first crank and pinned him up against the wall and cut off both of his legs. three weeks later Gang Green set in and soon ended his life.  This is one of the reasons I always check and double check if a tractor is in gear before trying to hand crank it and usually look for an excape route before cranking.

Always remember "Stay Alert" "Stay Alive"

Joe

RE:Massey Harris General Purpose Four Wheel Drive

...and to think I was sitting near that spot sipping on tea at one time!!  I can hardly wait to here this story.  Looks like the GP has a great reverse however!!  Now it looks like there is time to spend on some tin work.  John, John, ...what happened!!

GTE