Windolph crawler

[Lawn Ranger kid 14]

Does anyone own a Windolph crawler or has seen one somewhere. I will try and get some pics of mine. I am just curious to see how rare they are because i have seen very few of them (all on the internet). They are very interesting machines, mine is a model c and has a twin cylinder Wisconsin engine.

[Lawn Ranger kid 14]

I got the pictures as promissed. As I said it has a 15hp twin cylinder Wisconsin model TF. It has a three speed trany and optional equipment including hydro lift, belt pulley, and rear pto. I hope to make a blade an do some much needed track work(rebuild pins, sprockets, and tubes).

Enjoy Josh

[perry 82]

pretty neat old machine . did you get it running ?

[grnlark 479]

I think that's totally cool - and the fact that its not in MY garage makes it even cooler

Would love to see it running

[Lawn Ranger kid 14]

I don't have it at my house yet because it over 1400 pounds and I don't think my winch will pull it onto the truck. I will be working on it today, I got the magneto fixed and that should be all it needs. The same uncle that gave me my RJ is giving me this.

Josh

[trettig 0]

I am sure it must be valuable ... in scrap metal.

[bell 11]

That is AWESOME! I have never seen one.... :thumbs2:

[CasualObserver 3,407]

Interesting. Any literature? What sort of attachment availability was there?

[Lawn Ranger kid 14]

There are few peices of literature out there. Search on google for windolph tractor or crawler and you should come up with a few things. They also made a walk behind crawler. Lots of attachments avaliable such as dozer blades (angleling and strait), rear tillers 20" and 30", 12" and 14' moldboard plows, electric start, belt pulley, rear pto, hydralic lift, 10" double bottom plow, disc, cultivator, harrow. My crawlerwould have cost $1,818 in 1953, exspensive compared to the Farmall cub that cot about $700 in 1947 I think. Three speed transmission speeds are 1 3/4, 2 3/4, 6 mph reverse 2 mph. Has 520 square inches of ground contact. This is about all I know right now (learned this from litterature on the internet.

[Lawn Ranger kid 14]

I got it home yesterday and got it running. It runs great but I think the clutch will need new friction discs because it is slipping. It will need a new muffler anyone have one simmilar to mine

[shorts 182]

:thumbs2: cool looking piece of history,

have you tried to identify the various components that were used like the live hydraulic pump, clutch, right angle pto drive, transmission, looks like a model T rear axle center section :banghead:

[Lawn Ranger kid 14]

I have a price of paper that says what they are . I will see when I get a chance. I do know that the trany is from a crosley car.

[tbbahner 27]

That's a great piece of machinery/history. Keep us posted on what you do with it.

Tom B

[02sierra 0]

thats awesome

[nbsproducts 0]

I just purchased 2 crawlers, 1 is a Perrin and the other is a Windolph model c I think. It has a Wisconsin 2 cylendar engine and no transmission. I'm looking for any information on the crawler. The Perrin has a transmission but it appears that it is only forward and reverse. Any info would be appriciated.

Thanks,

Joe

[smokin joe 31]

There just happens to be a story in the latest issue of lawn and garden tractor magazine.

[Lawn Ranger kid 14]

Well sorry for not updating my progress in a while. All i know about the tranny is that most Windolph model b and c used a 3 speed with reverse tranny out of a crosely Car. Let me know if you would like to know anything else.

Now so far with my machine I have gotten quite a bit done. I had the torsion spring welded and it has not broken yet. We were afraid that welding the spring steel would weeken the spring and it might break again. I found out that the clutch just needed ajusted it now works fine. The progress on the tracks went better than expected. I welded all the tubes up on each track and ground the welds in about two days (around 40 pins/tubes per track I think) What I did was I got a thick wall pipe with a 1/2 inch inner diameter and cut it in half and welded it over each tube.

The next order of buisness was to replace the pins to reduce the amount of slopp. Now the original pins were like a 3/4 carrige bolt with no threads and they stuck them in the track links and welded the end without a head so that it did not move and in turn it reduced wear and tear over the years. I just cut the end with the weld and poped the old pin out (easier said than done). I replaced them with a 3/4 bolt with nylok nuts. This reduced the slop tremendosly. I have done about half of one track.

The last few times that I have drove this I kepped loseing the right track. The last time I was driving it I watched closely and noticed that the rear track idler was not spinning. This was because it was not touching the track and in turn it was not keeping the track in line and it would become misaligned and fall off the rear drive sproket. I tore apart the two right hand idlers and the rear one one was pretty bad. The thing that was bad about it was that the bronze bushing inside was badly worn and the pin it spun on was also worn. So while it sat out in the wheather for the last ten years or so the idler was pushed up and became stuck and rusted in place so that it now does not keep the track in line. Kind of hard to understand without a picture ill try and get some sone. I have taken three of the Ideler pins and the idlers to a machinists to be fixed and that is were I am at right now. The forth idler was fixed recently and was in good shape.

I would love to know what this crawler was used for because the tracks and sprokets are in terrible shape. Makes me think it was used in sand or something. The engine sure does not show the same amount of wear. It started today with the temp mid 20s with only 1/2 -1 turn and I have not ran it in about three weeks. Its nice having a good magnito.

[Lawn Ranger kid 14]

[Lawn Ranger kid 14]

Close up of the track pins and tube.

[SousaKerry 501]

I saw the one in Lawn and Garden Collector Magazine, neat machine

[Lawn Ranger kid 14]

I got the pins and rollers back from the machinist. They did very nice work. They made new oversized pins and bored out the old bushings. Ill get pictures soon. I hope I have it back together by Saturday and I might get some pictures or video of it pulling logs.

[Lawn Ranger kid 14]

Here are the new pins I had made. Made them for only $185.

[eb in oregon 28]

Good deal on the "new" return rollers. Mine were bored for roller bearings, as well as being welded for diameter and center section wear. I read about your re-building the tracks, which is different. Here in the Pacific Northwest, that "track" (which is actually industrial chain) was commenly used in timber products manufacturing plants. While a majority of the plants are now closed (federal regulations and closing a majority of federal land to logging) that chain is still available, if one looks hard. I'm just starting to look as your chain looks a lot better than mine. I think the majority of wear is a result of the rather wide kerf of the rollers from being welded. All the covers and the fenders are on at present, but here is a picture of my rollers, which demonstrates the profile I've mentioned. It is much wider than yours because of the large radius.

 

Mine

 

Yours

 

 

How did you, or what did you use, to compress those front axel springs?

 

Oh yea. As I have a small shop that precludes spray painting (and I've got three spray guns) and that I worked on a single component at a time, I went "all old school" and painted most things with a brush.

Edited November 21, 2013 by eb in oregon

[eb in oregon 28]

I am sure it must be valuable ... in scrap metal.

Some machines are just a little too big for a particular piece of property, or the terrain. I looked at Oliver OC 3's also. Just a little too big, and I couldn'd find one in decent condition for a fair price. This Windolph will just do what I want and just a little more. But I'll have to look for a 48 inch bucket for the front end. A "Dozer" blade only does so much.

 

I don't understand the major equipment manufacturers of today. I believe there is a strong market for smaller crawlers, however, no one but Struck makes them. I might have bought one of those if they offered a diesel engine. Regardless, this small gas powered Windolph will fill the bill, after I finish working on it, fixing the stupid stuff.

[Lawn Ranger kid 14]

I'm actually restoring mine right now for my senior project at school. what spring are you referring to. the torsion spring on the front idler shaft or the small spring on the side of the machine. Any luck finding new or slightly used track? Out here in pa there is nothing for these machines. Ive had to had a lot of things made. My final drive gears were shot had those rebuilt. pinion and ring gear are extremely worn. stumped with those to.