For the Gravely guys, Now with pictures.

[clonelark]

www.GTCOA.com or contact the club registrar.
Richard Nichols, PO Box 194, Avondale, PA 19311-0194 (484) 223-8835
e-mail: Rich_Nichols@comcast.net
West Virginia State Farm Museum www.wvfarmmuseum.org, (304) 675-5737

[55 56 PREZ 4D]

Oh Man !
All the really cool stuff is back east.
Just down river from home. {Sweetwater, Pennswood}
Nothin like that around here.

[studeclunker]

Oh Man !
All the really cool stuff is back east.
Just down river from home. {Sweetwater, Pennswood}
Nothin like that around here.

Yeah, well we run into the same problem with horses. That's why I've been trying to move east for the past thirty years or so...

[63 R2 Hawk]

Yes, I wish it were closer too.... I think I could afford to restore an old Gravely L8. Those are some tough old tractors!

[Commander Eddie]

We still use a Gravely mower at the school where I work. I tell people they were owned by Studebaker for a while. Not sure if they believe me. I should get a photo of it next to my Champ truck sometime.

[studegary]

Yeah, well we run into the same problem with horses. That's why I've been trying to move east for the past thirty years or so...

In 30 years you could have made it east by horse, either horseback or with a wagon <G>.

[Bamajak]

A friend of mine owns the Gravely factory Champ truck used to run around town in Winston Salem,NC.

[HAWK64]

This lighter from my collection shows the connection when Studebaker owned Gravely

[53k]

www.GTCOA.com or contact the club registrar.
Richard Nichols, PO Box 194, Avondale, PA 19311-0194 (484) 223-8835
e-mail: Rich_Nichols@comcast.net
West Virginia State Farm Museum www.wvfarmmuseum.org, (304) 675-5737

I attended the first Gravely Mow-In at Dunbar, WV, location of the original Gravely plant. I think it was 1998. Then the show was limited to walk-behind tractors. Something like 70 accessories were available for the walk-behinds.
Gravely had a very long time relationship to Studebaker. When they first opened Benjamin Gravely used to load tractors in his Studebaker touring car and then he would sell them sort of door-to-door.
Benjamin Gravely had an interesting design system. He would sketch what he wanted in chalk on the factory floor and the engineers would make it happen. People touring the old factory at the Mow-In found some of his drawings still on the floor.
Gravely built their own engines- cast iron blocks, pressure oiling with a screw-on oil filter, magneto ignition. The crank case and transmission shared the oil so filling one required several quarts of oil.
After Studebaker bought Gravely they moved the factory to Clemmons, NC and "required" Gravely to use Onan engines since Studebaker also owned Onan. The Onan twin was OK, but the single-cylinder Onan was a poor choice- poor reliability and durability. If you think some Studebaker parts are hard to find, try to find parts for an old Onan engine. It took me over two years to find parts to rebuild their 12-horse engine and then I had to make strange choices. The piston and rod was a single assembly with a babbited bearing. I had to settle for a .010 piston with a standard size bearing. So, I had to have the cylinder bored to .010 and the worn crank shaft built up and turned to standard.

[studegary]

The last Gravely that I ran across was at an estate auction (about 10-15 years ago). It included about six attachments; mower, blade, etc. They couldn't get a five dollar bid for it. I had no way to haul it and no use for it.

EDIT: IIRC, it had a Studebaker name tag on it. That was my main interest in it.

EDIT II: I also had bad memories of using one of those in the 1950s to plow dirt and move soil. You couldn't kill it, but it could almost kill the operator <G>.

[gwood]

Thanks for that information

Yes, I wish it were closer too.... I think I could afford to restore an old Gravely L8. Those are some tough old tractors!

Thanks to clonelark for the information. That is about an hour away from me so I will plan to attend. I still mow with an older Gravely rider That is related to my grandfather being a Studebaker and Gravely dealer. But before getting in to restoring an old Gravely watch out for parts prices. My cousin is still a Gravely dealer and I get parts at cost, but even with that the parts are often much more expensive than one would expect. Top quality stuff to be sure and things last forever, but if you need a part be willing to pay a lot of money. It is possible that old Gravely "walker" parts are cheaper, I don't know. But as for rider parts, they make all Studebaker parts look dirt cheap.

[55coupe]

Not mine no interest just saw the post thought it might be of interest.Mar 27 GRAVELY 'L' TRACTOR W/CHIPPER, PLOW,TILLER,FLAIL MOWER,MANUALS (sfo > hercules, pinol

[clonelark]

Here is an image i found on facebook

and found a whole page full of Gravely's and a few Studebakers too

https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=studebaker%20gravely