Our show will be the last weekend in august, 25- 26. We will feature the
small 15 high and wide tractor. This is a proto type machine that was never
sold as a unit. It was intended to go to hawaii to cultivate pinapple but never got there. It was shipped to Atlantic city N.J. and used on a large vegtable
farm until the finale drive mounting bolts gave way and then it was parked in a shed for more than forty years until I purchased it and then restored it to like new. We will have many more cat tractors as well as wheel tractors of every make present. Live music on sun pm and tractor pulls both days,
food on site and rest room , sawmill and earth moving as well . Ron and Bonnie Meeder farm 9279 N E Sherman rd Ripley N.Y. 14775. ? please call716-753-0056

So Ron why do you think the 15 is a proto type? It looks to me that if it was it would have a special serial#. I would guess that it is a special aplication machine like the 2 or 3 wide high 10's that are out there, that were made before a little 15. Just my 2 cents worth (maybe I am wrong) thanks leroy

I think that Ron's tractor is a great piece but i would tend to agree with Leroy. I know that the high-wide 10 that Bob Hill in Canada has pre dates Ron's tractor and that the conversion kits were available to convert both 10's and 7C 15's to high or high and wide. I know of one other 7C that is a high and was converted AFTER the production of the 7C was done, I believe sometime in 1935.

All that being said, Ron's tractor is very nice and would look good next to my 1D 12.

Ron, Very interested in the tractor/crawler show in AUG...I'm bringing the trailer,hope you got that 25 yet...I'm calling before i leave...Shawn

Hello Shawn, are you working on a 25 currently? I just picked one up at an auction a few days ago s/n 3C460 and am going to need a few parts. I see you are in the Poconos, I used to live near Stroudsburg,PA.

Just to give more information on why this tractor is special, There were only two set of the spacers made that are fourteen inches long. and Bob Hill's and mine are the only ones that I am aware of. The history of my tractor states that it was sent to Liepie Farms in Atlantic city N.J. to be tested in similar conditions to Pineapple plantations of Hawaii. The tractor was never used all that much, The main casting failed where the spacers attached it and then tractor was abandoned in a shed. The next experiment was with a spacer that was only seven inches wide and there are several of these tractors known to exist. I have talked to the son of the people that took delevery of this tractor when it was new and both parties stories are nearly the same and the history of Robert Hill's tractor is almost paralell to what I have learned about mine. There is no doubt that both of these tractors were put together in wide format after leaving the assembly line.
There are no part number or casting numbers on the spacer or the shaft and gears inside of it. These are parts that are special to the wide tractors only.
If anyone has better or more complete information I would be very interested in seeing it. Ron Meeder 716-761-6447

Ron and Tom,
Very interesting. I agree with both of you with the fact that this is a very interesting crawler. It was nice to see it in person last summer. Thanks for your hospitality Ron! I wish I could see it now that it is completely done. Like Tom said, there were "kits" available to make a high clearance TEN or 7C. If they truely made a kit to make the High and Wide TEN or 7C, you would think that there would be a part number/casting number on those peices somewhere or some sort of a trace of them in an attachaments manual. Did they mark either your HW7C or Bob Hill's HW10 serial numbers in any way indicating that it had been converted? Tom, the 7C that you know about that was converted, was it just converted to High Clearance or both High and Wide? Wish I could be there this fall at your show Ron!