2 wheel/walking tractors

Discussion in 'The Green Patch' started by plumberroy, May 30, 2021.


  1. plumberroy

    plumberroy Monkey+

    They are not much used in the US now , but small scale farming in Asia and central Europe the are still in use. I don't have enough room to grow most of our food . I do grow enough to help with groceries though. Plus gardening is good for my anxiety issues. I have 2 walking tractors I have a Grillo G85D with a tiller and mower deck this machine is Italian made , this is the same machine with different implements
    NCM_0187.JPG FB_IMG_1535544387962.
    Then I was blessed with this machine as a gift Gravely is the best of the American made machines these were discontinued in 2004
    OH5Ez37. HHTuobi.
    These types of two wheel tractors are capable of working areas that a tractor can't or isn't efficient to use
     
  2. techsar

    techsar Monkey+++

    Grew up using a couple Gravely Model L's, '50's vintage...different gear ratios, but dual tires and chains worked quite well on steep hillsides. Sickle bar, rotary mower, rotary plow (doubled as a great post hole digger), cultivator (combination of tines and discs). Had the sulky, but hardly ever used it. Rigged a trailer with seat, great for moving hay or other bulky items around. One scary implement was a 30" circular saw blade...you removed the guards from the rotary mower, affixed the blade and cut away...slowly!!! Snow blade was more trouble than it was worth.
    Overall, a versatile piece of equipment that was built to last.
     
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  3. TnAndy

    TnAndy Senior Member Founding Member

    I have the same Grillo 85D tiller with an 8hp diesel engine on it. Rotary plow and sickle bar mower attachments.
     
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  4. plumberroy

    plumberroy Monkey+

    My family home is just a few miles from Dunbar W.V. where Gravely's were originally made . Everyone had one I have ran them since I was able to see over the hood. That is the first one I have had that wasn't made in W.V. and didn't have a Gravely engine . In 2008 my job went away due to the factory closing. About the same time my 1962 Gravely Li died with no job I sold it and implements. Once I got back on my feet,the only Gravelys I found locally where either trashed or people though they were made of gold . That is why I bought the Grillo


    They don't even show Diesel engines available for them now . Mainly because of EPA B.S. The Grillo's are actually more user friendly than Gravely ,with Gravely only having the advantage of being heavier for traction . When I bought mine I was just getting back on my feet combined with the size of our property I upgraded to the biggest gas engine and biggest tires along with a tiller and mower deck was all I could swing at the time. I didn't have the money for a rotary plow. I just bought a quick hitch rotary plow for my Gravely yesterday . The gentleman I bought it from had a new Grillo G107D setting there he has a rotary harrow, flail mower and tiller attachments.
    He is building a market garden up and has saw a Groundhog in his gardens where he is located using firearms are iffy so I am going back with an air rifle both to rid him of the groundhog and teach him about air rifles capable of pest control
     
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  5. Illini Warrior

    Illini Warrior Illini Warrior

    we had the David Bradley tractors made locally - Sears bought the company and made Roper brand tractors also - they show up on the local used market on occasion - had a multitude of the attachments - had some oddball stuff I've never seen >>> they'd still have their uses especially if you like using & owning antique equipment .....
     
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  6. duane

    duane Monkey+++

    Were more common in 1950's and a lot had steering clutches and large wheels. Were capable of some serious work. Could do most of the work of a mule and you didn't have to feed it when you weren't using it. Used to be able to buy tractor gas, drip gas, or really cheap stuff that wouldn't work in anything but the old 4 cyl flat heads. Had a lot of different attachments, seeders, syclebars for cutting weeds in pasture, cultivators, were most common. In 1940's still had people who worked in "town" who had a few acres, a cow, a couple hogs and a large garden. Tractors were too big and expensive, with the steering clutches, single driven axle with dog clutches to each wheel which could be released, one wheel was free running and the other driven, they would turn in their own length. Replaced by ride on lawn mowers and roto tillers by the 1980's. Here is a you tube of a serious collector of the old 2 wheelers.



    Local AgWay carries BCS line of 2 wheel tractors, made in Italy and used on their small farms, hilly fields, small orchards and vineyard, and can order in any of the attachments. Very pricy but idiot kids often sell "dad's" old junk at a good price after he passes. Don't own one at moment, balance not good enough to use one at 83, still have Troy Bilt tiller, but wouldn't dare use it in heavy grass soil.

    BCS America

    And gardening attachments for units

    BCS America

    For a small place and short term survival, well worth keeping your eyes open and as we age, a lot of us with them are looking for some "help" in using them and in my case it is now in their place and he brings it over for a couple hours in the spring to "help" me out. My kids either live 2 thousand miles away or would not get their computer punching hands dirty.

    While I don't know how much of the stuff is available and its priced out of my budget, the CEO of the small tractor company wrote or had written a bunch of PDF's on small scale equipment that is interesting reading and supplies a lot of ideas for trying to build something for your own use.

    Article by Eugene Canales
     
    Last edited: May 30, 2021
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  7. plumberroy

    plumberroy Monkey+

    I have had and used in the past David Bradley , Bolens, Simplicity, plowtrac.( Montgomery Wards made by Midland). I have had others ,but not worked them. The largest BCS dealership in the United States is about an hour from me . Earthtools BCS . They also import the Grillo brand BCS and Grillo companies have worked together over the years . The BCS tiller is a Grillo design . Some of the early BCS machines were rebadged Grillo . Gravely was the best of the American made machines but , they really didn't develope much past the 70's because the market was dying here.
     
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  8. duane

    duane Monkey+++

    Would love to hear about and see any information that people on the forum have had in using 2 wheel tractors. Most people who try a roto tiller try a cheap front mount tiller and they just barely work, a good heavy counter rotating Troy built is several times more efficient and easier to use. The kids don't plant gardens so the cost of the older ones in southern NH is about half of what they were 10 years ago. The Troy built uses a belt drive from the engine and are very easy to repower with Honda or other good engine.
     
  9. Ura-Ki

    Ura-Ki Grampa Monkey

    No experience with these two wheelers, but plenty with the Gravely brand, as a user of their zero turn riding mower ( Non Kawasaki power) it's been bomb proof tough and has always worked as intended!
    That gets used for the smaller of the three fields I have to maintain, using the Thiokol Super Imp with gang reels to handle the other two for a total of 220 acres!
     
  10. SB21

    SB21 Monkey+++

    My Dad had an old Bradley,, he refitted it with an old Briggs motor,, I used that thing a time or 2 to turn an area for a garden one time . When you threw that lever up in drive and let that plow hit the ground,, you'd better hang on ,,, it was buckin and bouncing,, but she wasn't stopping. That ground was hard as a rock , and full of them ,,, but it cut thru and turned it like it was supposed to. Wish i still had that old tractor.
     
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  11. Wildbilly

    Wildbilly Monkey+++

    I have heard of walking tractors, but never thought of them as much more than glorified cultivators. However, after looking at the prices of some of these two-wheel tractors and the equipment available, I wish that I could go that route... but I already have a 40 hp JD diesel tractor and ALL of the 2-row equipment and would like to get a Ford gas tractor (mostly to give me another fuel option).
     
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  12. Seacowboys

    Seacowboys Senior Member Founding Member

    I bought a new roto-tiller from Lowes a few years ago and painfully turned my garden. IThe tines were flimsy, the machine was a designed to become obsolete POS. A year later, the one year old machine was removed from the shed and I tried to find where to change the oil but they had eleminated a drain plug, knowing the oil would outlast the machine. I pushed the rubber priming bulb they replaced an actual choke with and it was dry-rotted. I went to Lowes and bought a replacement. When I pulled the plastic ring that secured the priming bulb, the ring broke and they didn't have them at Lowes or anywhere else I could find so I replaced the Carburetor with anl old one with a choke and tried to start the machine but was getting no fire so I pulled the flywheel to get to the points and guess what? no points, some kind of little chip thing. One of my co-workers gave me an old Craftsman walking tractor tiller missing an engine. I took a Honda 10 hp gas engine and mounted it on the frame and that thing is a monster and ten years later is still running and tilling. Designed obsolescence is great for the economy, keep them Chinese working and makes sales jobs at the big box stores and garbage dumps, not so much for the consumers.
     
    Last edited: Jun 1, 2021
  13. Wildbilly

    Wildbilly Monkey+++

    I recall reading old issues of Mother Earth News that had articles about building your own tractors and such from scrap and repurposed/used materials. Rather than buy a new POS, in might be better to build your own. Mother Earth News used to be a great magazine, but I don't really care for the new glossy issues that are geared more toward the urban chicken rancher. The older issues were printed on construction paper and were for back-to-the-land hippies, off-the-grid survivalists and enviromentalist.
     
  14. plumberroy

    plumberroy Monkey+

    At on time I had every issue up until the bankruptcy ,back when they were good . Gave them to a friend when I had to move and didn't have room
     
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  15. Wildbilly

    Wildbilly Monkey+++

    I ordered the back issues on DVD several years ago, and the local university had back issues of the physical magazines and micro-film at one time (I need to check that out someday).
     
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  16. Gator 45/70

    Gator 45/70 Monkey+++

    I remember seeing some of these models
    Dont know that I tried any out
    I was probably to young and small and would have taken a whipping behind one?
    May of seen one at a flea market recently?
    Didn't notice a price,But I'll check one out if I ever see one again
     
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  17. Illini Warrior

    Illini Warrior Illini Warrior



    ran across this BBC "The Farm" - "War Years" reenactment of the use of 1933 British made two-wheel tractor - a "Trusty" ....

    won't paste "current time" >>> jump to 7:25
     
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