The Fordson Tractor Pages Forum

Hi Again,
Went to a rally at a town called Biloela on the weekend drove up on Friday and came back saterday arvo. its about 600 Kms away so a bit of a drive but well worth it, I've taken a few snaps and hope to post them over the next few weeks hopefully in the correct forums. I met a fellow who showed me his Farmall row cropper, very nice restoration from its original, he showed me the oblicatory before photo's. I can't give you year or models as its not blue but it had one interesting feature.

It has a system in place to widen the wheel base to suite the row width your working, apparently you just undo these retaining bolts and drive the tractor forward which causes the wheels to move out with thier axles along the guides welded into the wheel rim and tighten the retainers up when they are at the correct width. Simply reverse and the wheels and axles move back in. very clever.

Hopefully you can see from the photo's what I mean.

Regards,
Stevo

Stevo
That is a long trip for overnight.
Sorry but can't see the photo's.
Kiwi Kev

Hi Kev,
I did leave very early. it was about 6 1/2 hrs each way, Photo's are fine at my end I wonder if anyone else can see them?

Hello Stevo,

Great picture and clever system, but I think it's on a Allis Chalmers and not a Farmall.
By the look of the back ground it would be an interesting show for us European folks.

System was on MF and Ford tractors over here and known as PAVT, Power Adjusted Variable Track. MF had it on the 175 tractors as standard but Ford had it as a fairly expensive extra so not many were fitted with it. Could be a bit of a problem if the bolts worked loose, as they did, and if you did not get the wheels themselves quite right after adjusting. They went a bit egg shaped and the tractor was very interesting to drive. Plus they added a lot of weight.

We loved to go up against the MF595 with a 7000 when it came to working on fresh ploughed land. The 7000 would tiptoe over it whilst the 595 left great ruts. If you needed you could always add weight to the 7000 but you could not take it off the MF.

Stevo wrote:Hi Kev,
Photo's are fine at my end I wonder if anyone else can see them?

I can see them now.
Kiwi Kev

Looks like A WD-45 Allis from where I sit. That wheel width adjustment was a strong AC selling point back in the 40's and 50's over here in the states. Dandy Dave!

Come to think of it your right Dave and Henk, it was an allis chamers, I was a bit excited during the rally and neglected to write down the breeds of tractors there. I never thought to get some background shots for members that haven't been to Oz, I've got other pictures to post so Hopefully you can see a bit more in them, it'll take a while as its time consuming to send them to the site I use to shrink and then post. Brian(Grumpy) you should write an encyclopedia on Fordsons

Stevo

Stevo & Brian,

What about our favorite little tractor. The Fordson Dexta could be bought with Power Adjusted Rear Wheels.

Yes they did have them in the price list but I have never ever seen them in this country. We were too stingy to buy them and with the Dexta being used for mainly light work, would have added too much weight.

PAVT wheels did not really gain a following. The first ones I saw were on a 5000 in about 1967 and then on the 8 and 9000 tractors.

We did gain rather large muscles from lifting and turning wheel rims and discs especially when they were water loaded.

Hi Barry,
You know I didn't see a single one at the rally but it doesn't surprise me that Fordson would produce said adaptation. Come to think of it for such a great little tractor I only very occasionally see one.

Stevo