Found this one in the blackberries. Articulated tractor (hinge under the seat), Wards engine, disk plow was made by E.B. Moritz Foundry of Santa Ana, California - which makes me think it is SoCal manufactured. Had a lot of hydraulics on it. I've taken off the plows and have found that it only takes a finger under the seat to tip the whole thing over...the plows doubled as a counterweight. Unique steering I have not seen before
Welcome to GTT. That looks to be a homemade tractor or a modified walkbehind. Either way it is very cool. Put a cap on that powersteering pump. The sooner you drain any water out of the hydraulic system, the better. Please post more pics to better identify the components. The engine is a Wisconsin with a PTO clutch set up. That is real nice. The back actually looks like a sulky from a walkbehind tractor. Good Luck, Rick
Another pic with the seat, steering column and hydraulic levers removed. Definitely an odd steering mechanism. Looking at Dave Baas book, it's possibly a modified Nichols Tractor. I'll be pulling the wheel weights and fenders tomorrow night.
That is a Pacific tractor. I'd like to have the serial number if you don't mind. We've been trying to determine the number built. You will find the number here:
It's on the right side under the front engine mount.
Some more pictures of a Pacific tractor. they all seem to have the same steering wheel that looks to be from an old car. Originally these had a hand pump for the hydraulics.
Thanks Doug, it is definitely a match. I'll look for the serial number tonight and let you know what i find. Mine has a Wards Engine on it, does yours? Duane
Mine doesn't have the Wards tag but some do. We also found evidence that some were sold through Wards. If I get some extra time, i'll look and see if I can find it.
Stripped the paint where the serial number should be, nothing there. Although comparing your photo to mine, the welding on yours looks great while mine looks like it was repaired. I put some stripper on the rest of the frame to see if the number is hiding somewhere else.
I've been doing a little digging on the Pacific Iron and Machine Co. of San Diego.
Owned by Robert R Jones and Estal Render Bourne, the company first appeared in the San Diego City Directory in 1950, located at 3105 Hancock (the building still exists). The 1952 Directory notes that the company is "machy mfrs" while the 1953-54 Directory states they are "steel fabricators."
Tracing each owner backwards, Jones, in 1942, was manager of the Motor Hardware & Equipment Company while Bourne was an aircraft worker for CACorp. in the 1944-45 Directory, both men are listed as owners of the Pacific Tool & Die Company located at 917 University Ave - R.R. Potter was the 3rd owner.
Estal Bourne is credited with patent (#1,707,456, dated April 2, 1929, originally filed May 20, 1926. for a 'Pipe Threading Means" You can search for this on the Google Patents website.
That is a Pacific tractor. I'd like to have the serial number if you don't mind. We've been trying to determine the number built. You will find the number here:
I've only started to collect info the last year or so. There aren't a lot of these tractors out there so finding numbers isn't easy. So far I've got 5 numbers. the lowest is 113 and the highest is 512. They all have an H prefix. An interesting note is that 3 numbers are in the 100s and 2 in the 500s nothing in between so far. I was hoping to add this number to the list but for now I'll have to list it as a verified tractor without a number. From talking with some of the guys on the west coast there may only be somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 of these even known at this time.
I am corresponding with a guy in Salem Oregon who has one and says 3 of these have passed through his hands over the years. I've asked him about his serial number and number location as well as where the other 3 went..
I hope to go back up that way for my B-day next month , I will ask my uncle to go and look , he knows where it was , we stopped and looked at alot of stuff there .
but no one was home that day to ask.
It was a strange looking thing that is why I remember it , and the crazy steering .
I will look for a number on it if do get out there.
This one was pretty rough shape , but looks like it was mostly all there compared to these others.
Slowly taking the tractor apart. No surprises so far. Found a nice patch of original orange-red paint in the brake cylinder. So repainting will be accurate. I would appreciate getting close-up views of the hydraulic system so I can figure if i have the original set or if i need to reconstruct it.
The hydraulic pump on the engine of yours isn't original. Can't tell what you have for a valve. Below is the factory set-up.
This is the hydraulic reservoir.
This is the pump. It is manually operated with the black handle. If you look close you can see a rod coming out of the center of the lever. The lever has a knob on top to operate the rod and that is how the pressure is released.
These are a couple pics of the valve assy. It's connected to the pump cylinder. The pump is on the left side of the pic. You can see the bottom of the black handle.
This is the hydraulic cylinder. Looks like you have the same one.
I'm not sure what it is. Both of the ones that have been through here have the same set up. I'm fairly sure that is the original factory set up. It looks to me like someone has modified yours with a power steering pump off the engine so they didn't have to pump it by hand.
I was leafing through my 1949-50 Red Tractor Book published by Implement and Tractor in Kansas City, Mo., published in 1949. On page 161 are the specs for the Pacific H6 and the image that appears in Dave Baas' garden tractor book. If there is any interest, I can scan this page and upload to the forum.
In keeping with my west coast focus, there are two other garden tractors that appeared in this book that I had not heard of:
The Universal by Universal Machinery Corporation, Portland, a walk-behind with a Briggs & Stratton 1 stroke
and
The Buicat by Western Implement Company in Salt Lake City. The 3HP version was a single track walk-behind while the 6HP version was a dual track rider with articulated steering much like the Pacific H6.
Anyone know of these?
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