Restored Antique Belly Dump Wagon
Volunteers at the Central Washington Ag Museum recently completed restoration of an antique belly dump wagon, believed to have originally been built around 1910. This type of wooden wagon is generally found in very poor condition due to the heavy and difficult work it was created for - hauling dirt, gravel and other building materials. They were called a “Belly Dump” for the metal-lined doors of the bed, which were opened and closed by a chain mechanism to drop the contents. The restored wagon is now fully functioning after hundreds of man hours.
To begin the project, all the lumber on the wagon had to be replaced, but the extra heavy 1 1/2-in. thick boards required can’t be bought in the necessary dimensions. Fortunately, the crew was able to use a working 1930’s vintage sawmill on site at the museum so they could cut and plane their own boards.
The part of this project that held up progress the longest was the wood wheels, because repairing them takes special skills and tools that are difficult to find. Fortunately, another ag museum, located in Pomeroy, Wash., had someone with this skill set.
What makes repairing wood wheels difficult is that the spokes on these wheels aren’t straight - they’re angled at 2 degrees, as is the hub. A special tool is required to rebuild the structure, and these types of outdated tools are not readily available in a standard toolbox. The crew started with checking the tool collection inside the Museum’s Magness Room, which displays over 3,000 vintage and antique tools of all kinds. They were pleasantly surprised to find that several of the exact tools they’d learned to use for this project were in the collection.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Central Washington Ag Museum, 4508 Main St., Union Gap, Wash. 98903 (http://centralwaagmuseum.org/).
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Restored Antique Belly Dump Wagon WAGONS/TRAILERS Conversions Volunteers at the Central Washington Ag Museum recently completed restoration of an antique belly dump wagon believed to have originally been built around 1910 This type of wooden wagon is generally found in very poor condition due to the heavy and difficult work it was created for - hauling dirt gravel and other building materials They were called a “Belly Dump” for the metal-lined doors of the bed which were opened and closed by a chain mechanism to drop the contents The restored wagon is now fully functioning after hundreds of man hours To begin the project all the lumber on the wagon had to be replaced but the extra heavy 1 1/2-in thick boards required can’t be bought in the necessary dimensions Fortunately the crew was able to use a working 1930’s vintage sawmill on site at the museum so they could cut and plane their own boards The part of this project that held up progress the longest was the wood wheels because repairing them takes special skills and tools that are difficult to find Fortunately another ag museum located in Pomeroy Wash had someone with this skill set What makes repairing wood wheels difficult is that the spokes on these wheels aren’t straight - they’re angled at 2 degrees as is the hub A special tool is required to rebuild the structure and these types of outdated tools are not readily available in a standard toolbox The crew started with checking the tool collection inside the Museum’s Magness Room which displays over 3 000 vintage and antique tools of all kinds They were pleasantly surprised to find that several of the exact tools they’d learned to use for this project were in the collection Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Central Washington Ag Museum 4508 Main St Union Gap Wash 98903 http://centralwaagmuseum org/
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