Educate me before i try and start if for the first time. looks all there except the fitting and float bowl are out of the tank.
I got this super Convertible and don't know a thing about gravelys.
attorney_barnabas_collins
21 - 40 of 45 Posts
It's only far fetched when you sink it all the way down.I didn't know it was far fetched to use it to dig post holes....
![Image]()
Joined
·
1,568 Posts
Digging it down isn't too bad, getting it back out is the fun part....
(now back to your regularly scheduled thread)
Joined
·
7,760 Posts
Took me awhile, but I finally played with it this afternoon for the first time since I unloaded it. Hooked a battery up to it and it cranked. Put some gas in the cylinder and it fired. The starter clutch was slipping bad though and it would only spin half a turn before it would disengage. Then it got over that and wouldn't engage at all. So I removed the starter clutch gear and took it apart. I looked up repairs and found a thread mentioning it, and a link to the gravely manual. Well, some previous owner managed to take it apart and put all the cams back in upside down & backwards. The springs were stretched to put it back together right, so after sanding doen the smaller half round side to get rid of the tiny flat spot, I put it all back together. (after an hour long search for the 6 cams missing after it came apart on my workbench edge..the last 2 were hiding in a tray of open screw boxes.)
Got it back in just before dark and it cranks perfectly. Managed to get it running off gas down the aircleaner. I'll have to do some clever repair to the head where one exhaust manifold ear was broken off. The PO had it goofily rigged with wire to sort of hang where it is supposed to be.
I'll clean, repair or replace the tank and move on to getting it actually running & driving next time I get a chance. Whenever that will be. At least I know more than I did this morning.
Got it back in just before dark and it cranks perfectly. Managed to get it running off gas down the aircleaner. I'll have to do some clever repair to the head where one exhaust manifold ear was broken off. The PO had it goofily rigged with wire to sort of hang where it is supposed to be.
I'll clean, repair or replace the tank and move on to getting it actually running & driving next time I get a chance. Whenever that will be. At least I know more than I did this morning.
Joined
·
8,828 Posts
I don't believe it either. It is just too far fetched.
Joined
·
7,760 Posts
I guess that's better than not agreeing with your own post.
Joined
·
8,828 Posts
I still don't believe it. It just flies in the face of logic.
Many things Gravely fly in the face of logic.
How so? Digging a furrow across a yard is exactly what it does ...
Joined
·
8,828 Posts
A post hole digger is not a plow.
Some of these guys (including myself) might disagree with you:
http://www.mytractorforum.com/showthread.php?t=108494
Joined
·
8,828 Posts
I don't care. The claim the BF Gravely was trying to make a post hole digger and from "it got away from him" and a perfect furrow was made is ridiculous for several reasons.
Joined
·
464 Posts
I Tend to agree it might not have made a perfect furrow. hec, it could have gone in a circle even. but it made a furrow which gave him the idea of a rotary plow.
Several reasons which are what? I'm just not seeing any logical problems here.
Joined
·
8,828 Posts
Let's look at the story
"It is believed that Gravely was trying to invent a post hole digger, when it got away from him. It dug a furrow from one end of the garden, to the other, before he got it under control. ([...]this is how he invented the rotary plow.)"
To which I say "nonsense". It never happened.
The reasons are:
1 - The depth of a post hole is significant. To get the dirt out of the hole, a screw is needed, not 4 blades at the end of a shaft. 4 blades at the end of a shaft would cause the excavated dirt to entrap the blades at the bottom of the hole making extraction difficult at best. BF was enough of an engineer to know this.
2 - For the rotary plow to work, the axis of the shaft for the blades has to be at a significant angle. Certainly not straight up and down as is required by a post hole.
3 - If the tractor did get away from him thus creating a straight furrow, (there would have to be multiple failures/errors at once) he could have stopped it long before the alleged furrow was complete. It just isn't possible to move than much dirt is such a short period of time with the <7 hp that was available to him. It take a certain amount of energy to move dirt from one point to another and 7 hp isn't going to do it at a ground speed that is greater than a man can run or even walk at.
4 - BF could not have possibly made a proper post hole digger no matter what. There just isn't enough clearance between the plow drive and the ground to get an auger down deep enough to make a useful post hole; Not without the risk of auger entrapment.
5 - BF first and top priority was gardening and growing food. Not making fences.
The story is a complete fabrication, plain and simple.
"It is believed that Gravely was trying to invent a post hole digger, when it got away from him. It dug a furrow from one end of the garden, to the other, before he got it under control. ([...]this is how he invented the rotary plow.)"
To which I say "nonsense". It never happened.
The reasons are:
1 - The depth of a post hole is significant. To get the dirt out of the hole, a screw is needed, not 4 blades at the end of a shaft. 4 blades at the end of a shaft would cause the excavated dirt to entrap the blades at the bottom of the hole making extraction difficult at best. BF was enough of an engineer to know this.
2 - For the rotary plow to work, the axis of the shaft for the blades has to be at a significant angle. Certainly not straight up and down as is required by a post hole.
3 - If the tractor did get away from him thus creating a straight furrow, (there would have to be multiple failures/errors at once) he could have stopped it long before the alleged furrow was complete. It just isn't possible to move than much dirt is such a short period of time with the <7 hp that was available to him. It take a certain amount of energy to move dirt from one point to another and 7 hp isn't going to do it at a ground speed that is greater than a man can run or even walk at.
4 - BF could not have possibly made a proper post hole digger no matter what. There just isn't enough clearance between the plow drive and the ground to get an auger down deep enough to make a useful post hole; Not without the risk of auger entrapment.
5 - BF first and top priority was gardening and growing food. Not making fences.
The story is a complete fabrication, plain and simple.
Joined
·
5,922 Posts
Well, what about the story where BG was trying to invent an attachment to make bite size hay bales to feed cows. He was driving it out to the barn for the winter and lost control, driving it right into a snow bank. It cleared a path out to the field and that's how we got the square chute snow blower.
Joined
·
7,760 Posts
It does have the high-low lever. It'd on the inside of the left handle. Does that make it a super convertible. It does have the mounting ear broken off the head for the muffler on one side. I haven't thought of any way to work around that one yet.
Joined
·
2,543 Posts
Every Gravely L/C walkbehind has that high/low lever you're talking about (unless somebody took it off!). "Super Convertible" was just a package that included electric start, a governor, and maybe something else I'm not recalling at this point in the morning. You could get it with any of the speed ranges.
The lever down by the gas tank for the Swiftamatic (2 speed axle, giving you 4 total forward speeds) is desirable. I don't see it there in your pictures. As Roger mentioned, your tractor will be fairly fast.
21 - 40 of 45 Posts
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
