[wjohn]

I made a trek into Indiana this afternoon to look at what was advertised as an L with gear reduction wheels. It turned out to be a 1963 LI, which is a plus in my book. Included was a 106 mower, sulky, 18" circular saw with guard and some literature. I also got the remains of a parts tractor and various spare parts.

The tractor smokes pretty badly after you start it up, but feels like it has halfway decent compression. It may need a cylinder job but I'll inspect it more over Thanksgiving break. I suspect it was originally a custom tractor, since it doesn't have a governor and the PO added the remote attachment control. Someone probably added the electric start to it at some point or possibly ordered it that way (cheaper than the Super Convertible package?). The hood actually stays on and seems to be in good shape. The serial number is either M94597 or M94547; I should have written it down. Either way, it's exactly 300 or 350 numbers away from my other '63 (SN 94897), which is an L8.

And, some green paint on the old C-spring sulky

 

[DJ in WV]

Nice haul. The tractor looks to be in pretty good shape too.

On a side note, the sulky has the original type tires on it that are the topic of discussion in another thread.

The parts tractor is a good grab too. :fing32:

 

[jrd]

Good catch! The tractor looks like it's seen some use, and has plenty left.

Is that at zerk in the middle of the cap on the GRW hub?

 

[Richard-tx]

The tractor smokes pretty badly after you start it up, but feels like it has halfway decent compression.

The old Gravely engine seems to run well even if the rings are worn badly. I was always amazed at how well they run even while generating a smoke screen. I remember one engine that seemed to run better while it was burning oil. It did have a lot more power after a ring job.

My father would get one or two ring and hone jobs out of an engine before a cylinder bore and new piston was required.

 

[wjohn]

The parts tractor is a good grab too. :fing32:

It doesn't look like much, but it may donate its engine's bottom end and spin-on oil filter bracket to my '52.

Is that at zerk in the middle of the cap on the GRW hub?

Yes! I noticed that too. I hadn't ever seen GRWs up close before, but I remembered from reading owner's manuals that "no additional lubrication is necessary" after you fill the gearbox with grease before attaching them to the tractor. I suppose the added zerk doesn't hurt anything as long as someone didn't just sit there and pump grease in until it oozed out.

The old Gravely engine seems to run well even if the rings are worn badly. I was always amazed at how well they run even while generating a smoke screen. I remember one engine that seemed to run better while it was burning oil. It did have a lot more power after a ring job.

My father would get one or two ring and hone jobs out of an engine before a cylinder bore and new piston was required.

I hope I'm lucky enough to get away with a ring and hone job on this tractor. For the time being, I'll justify my hope by saying that it does pretty much quit smoking when it warms up. Forgot to mention that it needs a fan and shroud since they got buggered up somehow.

 

[Richard-tx]

I
I hope I'm lucky enough to get away with a ring and hone job on this tractor. For the time being, I'll justify my hope by saying that it does pretty much quit smoking when it warms up.

It sounds like it isn't smoking too badly. I remember one Gravely engine that did that and the only thing that made sense was that the increased cylinder temperatures and expansion of parts when warm. Both of which contributes to decreased smoking. I certainly would toss a set of rings at it and see what that does.

 

[Fla Don]

Nice load. That is a newer hood. First hoods had just black Gravely lettering. Next ones had Super. Then they went with Super Convertible. Original 63 type shown below.

 

[wjohn]

Nice load. That is a newer hood. First hoods had just black Gravely lettering. Next ones had Super. Then they went with Super Convertible. Original 63 type shown below.

Aha! My other '63 has the older style hood. That means this LI almost certainly did get updated to electric start later in it's life.

The hood pivot design is much better on this hood. The first type doesn't seem to hold up very well. I remember reading dealer bulletins on Chip Old's site and being surprised at how many changes they made to the electric start hood. Looks like this design with the bar locking into the front of the battery tray finally worked.

 

[tracktortag]

Nice find! I guess that the GRWs really helped to get the tractor and saw into the back woods. I would imagine that the additional ground clearance helped too.

Don, thanks for posting the pic. I've read about Gravely hoods being painted biege at one point, but always invisioned them as being closer to off white, or at least a much lighter biege. There's nothing off white about that hood at all!

 

[arcam8123]

Nice find! I guess that the GRWs really helped to get the tractor and saw into the back woods. I would imagine that the additional ground clearance helped too.

Don, thanks for posting the pic. I've read about Gravely hoods being painted beige at one point, but always invisioned them as being closer to off white, or at least a much lighter beige. There's nothing off white about that hood at all!

Bear in mind that the color pictures in the old brochures were mostly colorized black and white pictures, not to mention that printing technology limited color reproduction. It's not very accurate to try to match real color with the printed version. The few beige hoods that I've seen in real life were not as beige as the picture. I don't know how much the ones I've seen have faded over the years.

 

[devans]

Yep. Look at the original black and white photo from power vs drudgery for 1963 below and you can see the color difference between the hood and the white rims are only slightly different where the color version Don put up shows a hugh difference.

 

[Fla Don]

Bear in mind that the color pictures in the old brochures were mostly colorized black and white pictures, not to mention that printing technology limited color reproduction. It's not very accurate to try to match real color with the printed version. The few beige hoods that I've seen in real life were not as beige as the picture. I don't know how much the ones I've seen have faded over the years.

It is a darker color than they really are. There is also a different color white that is more of a grayish yellow white. The white is lighter than the beige.

 

[Fla Don]

Yep. Look at the original black and white photo from power vs drudgery for 1963 below and you can see the color difference between the hood and the white rims are only slightly different where the color version Don put up shows a hugh difference.

You can see the difference in the b&w version but bear in mind, Gravely also painted things whiter white in some pictures for details.

 

[wjohn]

Nice find! I guess that the GRWs really helped to get the tractor and saw into the back woods. I would imagine that the additional ground clearance helped too.

That was actually one of the first things I noticed when I started using L's. Compared to the BCS 853 that I was used to, the ground clearance was awful. The tires are just a bit too small for my taste - I couldn't cross any drainage trenches or medium-sized branches like I was used to. GRWs should definitely help with climbing over those kinds of things.

 

[Fla Don]

That was actually one of the first things I noticed when I started using L's. Compared to the BCS 853 that I was used to, the ground clearance was awful. The tires are just a bit too small for my taste - I couldn't cross any drainage trenches or medium-sized branches like I was used to. GRWs should definitely help with climbing over those kinds of things.

20X10-8 Super Lug tires would solve that.