Unusual Sulky Design

4394 Views 5 Replies 4 Participants Last post by Tractor-Holic, Jun 13, 2009

Loremaster72

Discussion Starter · Jun 11, 2009

I just went and picked up a find last night - a new to me sulky. Found it on Craigslist. The attached photos were from the add, and I'll post new ones as soon as I get a chance to take them. I had to go get this after work last night, and it was a long way off. I didn't make it home until dark, so it's still in the back of the truck. The steering is frozen up, but I'm guessing I can get it fixed. For $25 I couldn't resist something this unusual.

I've never seen a sulky like this before, and hope to use it on my Gravely 5265 Commercial. I haven't measured the mounting fork, but it looks like it will work, or that I can modify it to make it work. I doubt that this is a factory Gravely attachment. I did see one foot steer sulky at the Gravely mow-in last year, but it was modified from a conventional steering sulky. Any information anyone can provide on this unit is welcome.

A few interesting design notes:
1. The leaf spring is mounted using 4 bolts passing beside the tube, but the spring is still drilled with two centered mounting holes as a standard Gravely spring.

2. The tires are Goodyear, 4.8-8, but I've never seen this tread pattern before. It's larger than the standard "Stud" pattern that they used to use on the Gravelys. One of them is completely shot, so I'll probably have to replace them. Does anyone know if this pattern is still available from someone else?

3. The rims are a heavy split rim design, so new tire installation should be fairly easy. These are not typical Gravely split rims, as they have a center hub

Please let me know any information you may know about this item. I love to study old equipment. I hope to restore this sometime mid-summer, after I finish my roller rebuild.

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Loremaster72

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jun 12, 2009

I've got wide duals on my Gravely, so I'm hoping it will work OK with the fixed style hitch and my relatively level ground. Steering with the feet should be interesting. I'm used to a standard riding sulky, and never did like the normal wheel style steering sulky. I'll have to wait until I get the time to free up the mechanism to see how sharp the steering can turn.

One good thing is that it uses the same size tires as the Gravely (4.8-8.0), so even if I don't end up using it, the tires are reusable. Yet another use for my tire changing machine.

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Loremaster72

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jun 13, 2009

I finally unloaded tonight and took some MORE PHOTOS, so here they are. The front fork mount will definitely fit a Gravely, based on the spacing. The steering bar has a good bit of wear on it, so someone got a good bit of use out of this. The design has quite a few grease fittings, so this unit was designed to work

I was wrong about the tire size. They are 4.8/4.0-7, so they will be unique tires for this unit. I'd love to match the tread pattern on these old Goodyears, but know they don't have this in the Carlisle catalog. The rims are very heavy and an unusual design to my eye. The screws also show a bit of wear, so they have been apart at least once.

I'm also curious about the history of this. There is red paint on the seat spring, indicating that it could be a Gravely spring. The base frame has traces of dark gray or faded black paint. It could have been all original, or maybe someone's project. It could also be that the Gravely spring was a handy replacement and matches some broken original. I'd try to match original paint color (if I knew what it was), but I'm guessing this thing is in such bad shape that a paint color change and maybe some bushings on the control rod won't affect the value at all.

This is going to be a neat project.

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Unusual Sulky Design

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