Massey Discussion Forums > Massey Talk > M-H Tractors/Racine
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RE:M-H Tractors/Racine

John:

Nice picture of the Cub!! It must be an early sketch as it has the short frame with the front steering gear bolted to the front casting.  As far as I know there are only Eight and one half Cubs known to exist and possibly the half of a Cub may have been scraped with the high prices a couple years back.

It would be great to find out what the first serial number was of the Bear and Cub to be made at the Racine Plant as I believe they were making them both in Cleaveland, Ohio and Racine, Wis at the same time. I am thinking the bear that still esists (#203) was made in Racine, Wisconsin as the side cover on the engine has no mention of Cleaveland, Ohio but I could be wrong??

As far as I know there were Nine Bears made and Six Hundred Sixty Cubs made or at least that is what I was always told.

There had to have been some Cubs made in Cleaveland, Ohio as in the story of the 1000 mile run they just randomly took one off the lot and drove it to Freemont, Nebraska for the tractor tests.

Anyone else with more info don't be afraid to jump in here and educate us as I am always willing to learn more on this subject.

Here is a picture of the Bear Serial tag and a reproduction of the early square Cub tag with Cleaveland, O and Racine, Wis on the bottom, makeing me believe they were made in both places at the same time. Also the side cover on the Bear engine.

Joe
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RE:M-H Tractors/Racine

Graham,

I'm afraid I don't have any of the Wallis tractors coming off the line.  Now they would be nice!!

However I have had a bit of my own "Wallis assembly line" going this past month or so.  My 20-30, originally from Canada, had one of those Robin manifold and carburettor conversions and I wanted to get it back to original.  After years of searching I finally got hold of a carb and manifold set which was restorable together with one of Ervin's divertor valves.  Had a good friend and ace welder sew the exhaust manifold together with some precision.  Getting this on has been one minor snag after another with a constant need to get a bit of machining done on each part to make them all fit together.  Malcolm tells me he has had the same problems with 20-30s and I wonder if every single tractor was almost individually engineered as many of our early vehicles were.  Anyone else have views on this? 

By contrast I had to do the same for my red 25 - another long hunt for what turned out to be a superb original manifold set and this went together like Meccano.

On both I have put a circular "patch" on the bonnet (hood!) to cover over the whole left by the Robin fitment exhaust and I think these look quite smart and a bit of their history

John


RE:M-H Tractors/Racine

Joe,

Some useful  info there and I hope more comes in.

Today it's a 1915 Wallis J which I believe followed the Cub.  It's perhaps more commonly known as the Cub Junior and one which is on our list (or at least my son's!) to acquire.  I regret now not getting that one at the Yuma auction but you spend on the day and think you have spent enough in one day!!

I like the Cub Junior as it seems to be so obviously a forerunner of the Challengers but this would not have been forseen at the time??
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RE:M-H Tractors/Racine

John, I am very interested to see your patch on the hood as my Massey Harris 20 30 came with both original and MIA manifolds and did not know what to do with the hole in the hood. I am going to use the MIA manifold on the Wallis 20 30 pictured on the 25 thread and I have another hood with a hole for that one.
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RE:M-H Tractors/Racine

Graham:

That is a very nice looking late model 20-30 Is it a Massey Harris 20-30 or a Wallis?

The simple answer to fixing the hole in the hood is to just get a new hood from Ervin. It will look like a million bucks once it rusts up a little to match your tractor.

John, the job of putting a manifold on a Wallis is quite a challenge. The problem I have found with most is the holes in the manifold don't line up with the holes in the head. Usually the center two exaust holes are about 1/4 to 1/2 inch too high in the middle, I believe this comes from the hold down bolts being a little loose over the years and the manifold getting very red hot.

The reason the manifold is hunched up in the middle is because of the 50 pound air cleaner hanging on the end pulling down and hunching the manifold up in the middle when it is red hot. If the manifold becomes hunched up in the middle it of course will make the diverter valve bow up at the vaporizer end. I believe this is the reason we have problems mixmatching parts as each tractor has been worked and treated differently over it's lifetime.

Either way you have to be an Octipuss to put one on by your self... It is much easier to have someone help for ten minutes.

Joe

RE:M-H Tractors/Racine

Joe, The 20 30 is a Massey Harris, the hood is nice and straight and I don`t mind the hole I would just like to cover it and I am interested to see what John had done. I also think things like this give the tractor character. I have two Plow Works 20-30s that are going to get new hoods from Ervin, one is very battered the other is missing.

RE:M-H Tractors/Racine

Graham,

Here are two shots of my bonnet (hood!) patches on the red 25 and Wallis 20-30.  Simple, cheap and I think straight enough for one who doesn't believe in pristine restorations and likes them original.  As I said, they are now part of their history!

Also a couple of shots of my refurbished manifolds which I am rather pleased with after the long search to find them an, on the Wallis, the fitting snags

John
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RE:M-H Tractors/Racine

Joe,

You mentioned the single bolt on which the heavy air cleaner hangs from the end of the exhaust manifold.  Well here is a shot of it for those not in the Wallis 20-30 (and earlier Wallis tractors) club.

This submission should really be in the tractor design faults thread!  One wonders why those Wallis engineers didn't tumble to the idea of mounting the air cleaner on the block as they did on later tractors - so obvious really and what a nut idea to hang it on the end of a manifold knowing the frailties of that type of steel.

Hope viewers can see the single bolt head on the right end of the manifold on which the cast air cleaner below hangs

John
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RE:M-H Tractors/Racine

Here's another one for Joe or Malcolm to tell us more about - the Wallis model OK of 1922.  I think you both have one (or more!!!!)

John
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RE:M-H Tractors/Racine

Joe/Malcolm/Graham,

Here are two shots of  the "Certified 1927-1928".  I think these are Wallis 15-27s??  Over to you.

Note that one of them appears to have no Wallis badge in the top of the radiator

John
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