It has been about 10 days since I finished my last project the Flat Twin engine so I need to start another.
The Rumley Oil Pull was a tractor that I have always been interested in as it competed with the steam tractors of its day. The 30-60 was a huge machine that ran on kerosene with water injection and was cooled by oil not water.
There is a wealth of information on the net about the Rumley company if you are interested in the details.
My model won't be an exact reproduction of the tractor but should hopefully kind of look like the real thing.
I started by trying my hand at making the wheels. The front ones have 8 spokes and the rear have 16 spokes each. They turned out so well that it gave me encouragement to continue.
I didn't take many pictures at first but I made the frame from 1" X 1/2" channel iron.
The corners are bolted to 3/4" X 3/4" angle iron with 4-40 screws and I didn't break a single tap.
To power the tractor I chose the David Kerzel hit-miss engine I had built a few months back.
The front wheels were just too small for my liking so I added an aluminum ring to the rims. Now they are more in proportion to the rest of the tractor. I had not planned on adding cleats to the rear wheels but the smooth rim didn't have much traction and easily slid around the work bench so I needed something. I found this rubber material at Harbor Freight with a stick-on backing and cut some strips for the rear wheels. The adhesive was not up to the task to say the least so on to try number 2. I super glued the strips to the wheel which worked a little better but not a whole lot. Third try I cleaned off the mess and applied contact cement but I probably didn't let it dry enough before I put the strips on the rim so that was a failure too. Fourth try and I hope the last as it was quite a job to clean the contact cement off the rim was to apply some E6000 industrial cement. I have wrapped electrical tape around the tires to maintain pressure on them until the cement cures. It says 24 hours to set and 72 hours for full cure but if it works it is worth it. I will know tomorrow when I remove the tape.
Made the front axle from 3/16" square steel and the post from 1/2" square steel.
It swivels in the middle for uneven terrain.
I just had to paint the frame and front axle.
Made the rear axle mounts from 1/2" brass bolted to the frame.
I had painted the wheels red yesterday and I just had to see what it would look like together.
Way back in the mid ‘30s, my dad worked on a threshing crew on the Alberta prairies.
He told me stories of the huge Rumley tractor that powered the thresher.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
I just discovered that I am spelling the name wrong how embarrassing.
The name is Rumely not Rumley so that may make it easier to find information on the company.
Well since my tractor is kind of like the Rumely then I can kind of like spell it differently too. I will in the future adhere to the correct spelling.
David I did work on a threshing crew one time when I was younger. A neighbors daughter had just died from polio so my father and I and many of the surrounding neighbors got together and harvested the oats for them. It was all done in one day with a threshing machine powered by a John Deere tractor but not a Rumely.
I mounted the engine where I think I want it but until I get a gear reducer I won't know for sure. Bent some sheet metal to make a front radiator housing, painted and installed. There won't be a radiator on my version but it is a good place to put the ignition module and other wiring.
hman, I removed the tape from the rear wheels and the tread is holding on very well for now but time will tell.
I printed this on paper, cut it out and glued it to a piece of sheet metal. With a tin snips I cut around the outer line, the other lines are bend lines. There were some other corner cuts and a lot of fitting but this is how it turned out.
I put in a couple of pop rivets and painted it.
Here it is installed.
And a rear view.
I also installed the battery holder that has a built in Off/On switch under the front part of the frame.
The spark plug wire was not long enough so I added about 2" to it.
The ignition system is now all hooked up and working fine. If I would attach a gas tank I could run the engine now. I want to make a new gas tank for this tractor but that has to wait until I am further along with the build.
The front wheels were looking kind of bare so I added some rubber to them. The rubber is from a vacuum cleaner drive belt that was cut and glued to the wheel. This time the E6000 adhesive did not stick to the rubber like it did on the rear wheels. I ended up using super glue on the front wheels and it worked fine. Must be the differences in the rubber makeup.
I made a wood frame of maple for the tractor roof and covered it with a painted piece of aluminum sheet. Don't know why I didn't take any pictures of the frame but I just didn't. I used 3/16" round rod for the roof posts and they are in glued into the wood frame. The bottom end of the posts are slipped into holes in tractor frame and the whole unit just lifts up for removal.
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I will in the future adhere to the correct spelling.
