Massey Discussion Forums > Massey Talk > Massey Harris General Purpose Four Wheel Drive
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RE:Massey Harris General Purpose Four Wheel Drive

I got a nice surprise last Friday afternoon when Dale Birebaum stopped over to hand deliver me my award for the oldest tractor at the Viola Gopher Count show/parade. I would have gotten it at the show but they got behind things there and by the time they were to present awards I was already home.

This it the second show I've taken this tractor to since I owned it. I got this tractor in June of 2015 needing a lot of little things and the engine was stuck with broken off valves, but she runs like a charm now has a nice rusty patina look to it.

Joe
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RE:Massey Harris General Purpose Four Wheel Drive

G'day Joe, well done mate. None of us do this for the rewards but it is nice to be appreciated. Very few people realise the cost or effort that is nutty collectors go through to keep history alive.

Unfortunately the GP never came to Australia. New Zealand was the closest that I can find.  Just as well, or I would be talking to the wife a lot nicer and more often. It might even cost me a new kitchen or bathroom. I'll add my most recent to another thread.  Regards Buck

RE:Massey Harris General Purpose Four Wheel Drive

Buck,

I'm glad I don't have to put in a new kitchen or bathroom every time I buy another GP or I would be pretty broke....

Thanks to Damond, Wes and Debbie Armstrong I finally got my GP home I bought last April in Henford, California last Thursday evening. I am very pleased with it but it is going to take some TLC to get it back to it's glory like it should be. This tractor is very rare as it is the narrowest of the GPs made it is Serial # 303038-50. It was set up to run on LP many years ago but I removed all that as it was pretty much rotted off from years of sitting.

I spent about 3 hours power washing it today and amazingly a lot of the green paint now shows up instead of rust. The engine was stuck but I got it loose In about an hour but when I put a starter on it and cranked it over it had a bad knock, after further looking I could easily see why it had a knock.. Someone had pushed the bottom of the oil pan up about two inches so that will take a bit to iron that out.

Here are some before and after pictures so far.

Joe
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RE:Massey Harris General Purpose Four Wheel Drive

Good on ya Joe.  Looks like a beauty.  I can certainly see potential.  You will have a ball playing with this one. Bit of paint and new feet and she'll be right. Buck

RE:Massey Harris General Purpose Four Wheel Drive

Joe,

Malcolm and I are just back in from Holland after visiting one of the biggest tractor shows in mainland Europe.

We visited a very fine private museum whilst there and where there was one of these narrow 48 inch green side valve GPs.  It had been imported from South Africa.  Unfortunately it had a wrong serial number plate fitted - it was for a 76 inch!!  Non oiginal rivets were clearly seen.  The owner did not appreciate how rare it was.

John

RE:Massey Harris General Purpose Four Wheel Drive

John,

Glad to hear you and Malcolm had a good trip!! I heard you guys were on a walkabout looking for new territory to find the good stuff, any other interesting Massey/Wallis stuff on your search?

I don't know if you looked closely at the pictures I posted but this is not a 48 inch tractor but a 50 inch tractor measuring from the center of the wheels. If this was fitted with steel wheels it would be a 40 inch tractor. As of now I believe there are only 4 of these tractors in captivity that I know of. If I am correct two are overhead valve and two flatheads, this tractor, larrys, yours and one in Canada.

Do you have any pictures of the one you found on your trip? is it a 48 or a 40/50 inch like this one? I did have a picture of a rusty 48 inch in South Africa several years back but lost it when my computer crashed, wonder if it was the same one you found on your trip??

Did anything follow you home??

Joe
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RE:Massey Harris General Purpose Four Wheel Drive

Joe,

It was a 48inch.  The 50s are clearly getting to be common!

John

RE:Massey Harris General Purpose Four Wheel Drive

Joe,

Here are the photo's of the 48 inch GP at the museum in Holland, apparently it was missing radiator, fuel tank and hood, when found, the owner adapted a U frame Pacemaker radiator and made up the rest, never the less a very rare tractor in Holland.

Malcolm.
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RE:Massey Harris General Purpose Four Wheel Drive

John F,

Earlier on in this GP thread we were talking about the differences in the Flat head "1930-1935" verses the Overhead Valve "1936-1937" tractors. I just finished up working on a 1936 tractor I was working on " it is a bit cobbled as I put a flathead engine in it" because I don't have a manifold yet for the original engine for this tractor. I will switch the engines when I find a manifold. Anyway this tractor had problems with the right front housing as it was busted on the top so had to be welded up. When I took it apart the small bull gear was missing and a dummy bearing was stuck in there just to hold up the shaft. I think this was ran this way for many years so it wore the shaft so that I couldn't put a new bearing on it so had to replace it with another. I dug through my parts pile witch is very small for the GPs but did find a shaft I could use, or at least I thought I could. when I set it next to the other I noticed they are very similar but very different as the one for the 36 has the splines on the outside and the one I found had the splines on the inside, I thought I was at the end of the road on this one.... I looked it over and decided I could just pull the knuckle apart and use one half but the big question was how does it come apart?? After looking at for a long time and scratching my head I knew there had to be an easy way to do this.. I noticed there was a pin inside one of the knuckles so I tapped it out and the pin just fell out. Wow that was easy!
So the shafts are different and also the main wheel seals are quite different from the earlier ones. I think they improved them quite a bit. I have talked with many people on the phone about replacing these wheel seals and when they get done they still leak. I believe the reason is they didn't replace the wheel bearings when they replaced the seal so there is no way the seal can fill the gap as the sealing surface is jumping around.

Joe
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RE:Massey Harris General Purpose Four Wheel Drive

Joe,

Good to hear from you again after your long summer recess!!

Here I too am at work on two of my GPs.

My orchard ohv is letting a lot of water down into the sump so I reckon it's the head gasket at fault.  Anyway the plan is to get the head off soon with the help of a young and very able local mechanic who is in the spring of his yout compared to me in the stiffness of old age.  I will have to get a gasket made but there are plenty of firms here doing that.

My 66 inch side valve as you may recall has a snapped brake rod.  We have fathomed that the best way to get at it is to remove the wheel and vertical gear assembly, then remove the trumpet hosing and shaft..  Easier we think than removing it all in one piece.

With the help of the same lad I have also renewed the brakes on our two No. 2s this summer.  That proved much easier than expected and \I got each one re-lined in about a week.

Nothing but progress!  And I have had most of my magnetos serviced and the points ground down to remove the serious pitting that was present on most of them.  It makes a difference.

Late news!   My mechanic arrived as I was typing this.  We went down to the shed and within two hours we had the head off the OHV and the side valve wheel/axle unit off.  No obvious problem with the head gasket to be seen so we have left the block full of water to see if it goes down overnight.  Then we will investigate the head for a possible crack.

On the side valve a sigh of relief.  The brake rod has not snapped but rather one of the anchor brackets has broken off the brake lining.  I believe that I can get that fixed and at the same time re-line the band  Very interesting to see into the transmission guts of the side valve.  They packed a lot in there.

Onwards and upwards!

John