"Ancient" Gravely Tractor Stil Going Strong

"Ancient" Gravely Tractor Stil Going Strong TRACTORS Antiques 25-5-17 When Harry Worrell bought a used but Gravely walk-behind tractor about 30 years ago, it was already old even though it hadn't been used much. He had no idea how useful it would be or how long it would last. The tractor came with a single blade 30-in. rotary mower, a 28-in. rototiller and a rotary plow. He added a row marker for laying out rows in his garden. Along the way he turned the old Gravely into a riding tractor by mounting a seat in front of the engine and adding a short frame and narrow spaced front wheels where front mounted tools attach to the frame. He made the front axle steerable and made steering shafts to control it. To spot spray around buildings and fencerows, Worrell mounted a hand wand on a pto spray pump that he mounted on the tractor. He gets power to the pump from the Gravely's front power shaft with pulleys and a V-belt. He pumps from a 5 gal. bucket mounted on the left side of the tractor. As he uses up the spray mixture in the 5 gal. bucket, he refills it from a 55 gal. drum he pulls in a small trailer behind the tractor. To spray lawns or small lots, he has a front-mounted 4-ft. boom with four nozzles on it. He also made a weed "flamer" by mounting a kerosene tank and a pto powered air compressor on his Gravely. He uses air pressure to vaporize the kerosene as it comes out the nozzle. He's also made two dozer blades - one straight and one V-shaped - to mount on the front of the tractor. The V-blade is used just for snow, but he uses the straight blade for snow, dirt and maintaining his gravel driveway. For light maintenance on his driveway, he added a brush attachment with a deflector on left side."We've a crushed white stone driveway. With the rotary brush, the stray rock can be swept back into the tracks," he says. He says the Gravely also comes in handy for operating a bale and ear corn elevator. He does this by fitting a pto shaft to the Gravely's front power shaft. Finally, the old Gravely also powers a walnut huller that Worrell built from concrete reinforcing rods shaped into a cylinder with a corn picker roller inside that rolls the walnut hulls off. The hulls drop through the cracks between the reinforcing rods and the walnuts feed out the bottom. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Harry Worrell, 151 Dunn Dr., Mooresville, Indiana 46158-8684 (ph 317 831-3093).

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