1951 David Bradley first attempt at plowing
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- čas přidán 6. 05. 2011
- Here is my 1951 David Bradley that I recently brought back from the dead. These walking tractors were sold through Sears in the 1940's and 50's. This is the first time I used it, so I thought I would shoot a little video of it in action showing how it works. It has been re-powered with a Tecumseh 5 horsepower engine. It seems to work pretty well. I have several different attachments for it. Here it is with the single bottom 6" moldboard plow.
- Auta a dopravní prostředky
My dad had a David Bradley and all the implements needed to raise a garden. I was born in 1948 and can't remember him not having it. Don't know what year it was but I do remember it had a round gas tank you could fill without raising the hood, similar to yours. We had about 1 1/4 acres in the garden and after I was about 12 years old he put me to work with it. In the spring after I got home from school I would first disk all the garden, then use the flat breaking plow to turn the soil over. This would normally take me a week and a half. My dad wouldn't let me use the planter or cultivator, he wanted to make sure it was done right....LOL I did my thing every spring til I finished high school and moved away from home. Watching your video sure brings back a lot of memories.
I turned the hood of one of these into a cool rat-rod like bike trailer for my kiddo. We had some good times together in that. Wish I had the whole machine but I only had the hood.
Nice video! I loved plowing with my dad's David Bradley! about 40 years ago, good old days
Not too bad for a first attempt! Nice looking machine.
Cool video. Those Bradleys are some real workhorses!
@pinknorski Thank you. This is going to be a small corn patch I thought I would grow for fun. A friend of mine is giving me a little bit of field seed corn to plant here. I am going to plant it by hand in rows, and cultivate it with the David Bradley. If it turns out, I have a couple of chickens and ducks that I plan on feeding the corn to. I will have more video of the David Bradley as I use it more with different attachments.
Looks Great Dan, well done
Those are neat old tractors but only slightly better than a horse. you ought to plant some sweet corn also and enjoy the fruits of your labor. been plantin corn for many years...
Would you be able to do a video keying in on what is involved in repowering with the tecumseh engine? Especially the pulley (are they both 5/8, did you use the same one or buy a new one - what to look for, etc) as well as bolt pattern and any other things to watch out for. I would really appreciate it. I need to repower my DB. I've been thinking of a predator but I want to keep the hood.
It seems like the shaft size on the tecumseh is 3/4". I bored out mine on a lathe so i could reuse it. I have a sickle mower attachment also so the double groove pulley is needed. You could just use a standard single pulley though if you dont plan on using a mower attachment. The tecumseh is the only engine that fits under the hood. This is a 5 horse off of an old Sears Snowblower. Bolt patterns are standard size so its a direct bolt up. A predator engine would be a direct bolt up as well. I made some hood hold down extensions so the hood would latch after this video was made. The problem with the hood is you get a lot of exhaust out of the back. It looks cool, but isnt a lot of fun to run for extended periods. For function i would say go with the predator engine for ease of use. If your more into looks then find an old tecumseh.
Thank you! This is exactly the type of info I was curious about. I will go with the predator and keep the old engine and hood intact for future restoration. Does the predator shaft fit the original pulley? How did you get the original pulley off? Heat and Beat? Is there an aftermarket pulley I can get with the predator that works with the sickle bar (I have that also)? I think a lot of guys new to DBs have this question, so thanks for your help. Mr Dan O, if you see this and can chime in also that would be great!
matt s It's been a long time since i did this, but I may have heated up the pulley and tried to tap it off with a brass hammer. Don't hit it hard or you will destroy it. Unless you have access to a nice lathe or milling machine i would suggest buying new. Measure the distance between the belt grooves and start looking at ebay, amazon, etc. There is probably something out there if you look hard enough. I don't own a predator but i am sure if you look up the specs of one on harbor freights site it will give you the shaft diameter size (most likely 3/4").
City boy I see
Huh?
that's a young man's tractor I have 2 off them don't use--- use my case 448 instead and don't have a heart attack plowing and tilling my garden
It's good exercise. I think in general people were in a lot better shape back then.