Hammerhead 817 #1 Posted December 22, 2014 (edited) I finally got a chance to work on my 1930's Ford Doodlebug tractor today. I took out the old battery, removed the hood and gas tank. Cut the bolts on the seat spring and removed it. My buddy Packrat came over with his 3/4 drive socket set so we jacked up the front end and removed the front rims and old junky tires. We cleaned the heavy rust off of the rims and got them separated since they are the old split rim design. They came apart a lot quicker than we thought possible. During the clean up process I noticed on the inner part of the rim that it was stamped, Budd Wheel Co. Very cool to find stuff like that under all of the rust! We cleaned up the rims and mounted one tire on temporarily to check the ride height and to see how cool it looks. Well it looks totally cool! The other rim was in worse shape and we will have to weld it to fix it, so that will come later. We crammed the other tire on but couldn't get it on all the way but good enough for a mock up photo! Click on the photo's for a close up view. Edited December 22, 2014 by Hammerhead 11 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
diesel cowboy 263 #2 Posted December 22, 2014 Nice looking machine. I used to have one similar to it. If I remember right one of the back wheels on mine I ended up replacing with a non split rim from a 40's Ford F-4 or 5 and those were Budd wheels too. And they looked almost identical to the old ones 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shorts 182 #3 Posted December 22, 2014 the old winnebago motor homes on Dodge chassis used the same 5 lug bud wheels, IIRC they were also used on some of the older military rolling stock 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hammerhead 817 #4 Posted December 23, 2014 I think I will start looking for a set of dual wheels from a old Ford or something similar. The right rear tire is junk but still holds air. It wouldn't last long if it was a running unit, especially at top speed around 45 mph! Any body know of a set of duals for this with descent old school tires? Thanks... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
55rj35jr 623 #5 Posted December 24, 2014 looking good Keith 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BradyS 6 #6 Posted December 24, 2014 Nice those are cool little tractors. Saw this one at a tractor show over the summer and thought you'd like it. Cub Cadet 1200 Cub Cadet 109 Cub Cadet 149 Cub Cadet "O" Cub Cadet SO76 Plenty of attatchments to put them to work. Currently looking for an RJ35, if you know where I can find one let me know. 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
