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Cletrac Overhaul Project Advice

Cletrac Overhaul Project Advice

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andymoravec
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Hello Friends,

I am about to start an overhaul on my 1919 Cletrac W 12-20.

I inherited it from my grandpas collection. Sometime from his death till coming to me, the engine has had hard water in it. the crawler itself, like many, has been used and abused and is wore out.

I found another cletrac that I am going to use as a parts downer. My cletrac was built the first year they made this particular model and has a Weidley engine in it. The cletrac I found also has the weidley engine in it so I got lucky there.

I plan on saving the older dark grey crawler as that was my grandpas and it also still had the original serial number tag where as the light grey one does not.

In this adventure, I would like to overhaul the tracks as long as I have everything off anyways to swap out the sprockets. I have never restored a crawler and have no clue where to start with working on the tracks. do you make your own pins and bushings? if so, out of what material etc??? any help or recomondations on this before I get started would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Andy[attachment=45147]IMG_0659.jpg[/attachment]
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Wed, Oct 18, 2017 11:48 PM
andymoravec
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[attachment=45148]IMG_0659.jpg[/attachment][attachment=45149]IMG_0593.JPG[/attachment][attachment=45150]IMG_0592.JPG[/attachment]
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Wed, Oct 18, 2017 11:49 PM
Deas Plant.
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Reply to andymoravec:
[attachment=45148]IMG_0659.jpg[/attachment][attachment=45149]IMG_0593.JPG[/attachment][attachment=45150]IMG_0592.JPG[/attachment]
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Hi, Andymoravec.
You might like to try this site.

http://cletrac.org/

Tell Blake Malkamaki that I sent you. He'll probably launch an intercontinental ballistic missile just to get back at me. LOL. Seriously, I think you will find some helpful people over there.

That said, I don't think too many would mind if you shared your progress here as well. Who knows, there may even be a few people here who can help.

Just my 0.02.

You have a wonderful day. Best wishes. Deas Plant.

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Thu, Oct 19, 2017 12:01 AM
8C 361
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Reply to Deas Plant.:
Hi, Andymoravec.
You might like to try this site.

http://cletrac.org/

Tell Blake Malkamaki that I sent you. He'll probably launch an intercontinental ballistic missile just to get back at me. LOL. Seriously, I think you will find some helpful people over there.

That said, I don't think too many would mind if you shared your progress here as well. Who knows, there may even be a few people here who can help.

Just my 0.02.
Hi Andy,

My first tractor was a Cletrac so I am very supportive of them. I was shamed into going Cat because of the highly superior clutch and brake steering system, so I went Cat and never went back. Now I am not so sure, I think the tractor I had was to small and underpowered for the work I was asking it to do. I have a 20-C that would make a good parts tractor if it were needed. I still kind of yearn to try a BDH for farming our hill.

Tom
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Thu, Oct 19, 2017 1:46 AM
STEPHEN
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Reply to 8C 361:
Hi Andy,

My first tractor was a Cletrac so I am very supportive of them. I was shamed into going Cat because of the highly superior clutch and brake steering system, so I went Cat and never went back. Now I am not so sure, I think the tractor I had was to small and underpowered for the work I was asking it to do. I have a 20-C that would make a good parts tractor if it were needed. I still kind of yearn to try a BDH for farming our hill.

Tom
Those early cletracs have beautiful styling, really love the angled hoods,
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Thu, Oct 19, 2017 5:20 AM
gary ca
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Reply to STEPHEN:
Those early cletracs have beautiful styling, really love the angled hoods,
A good place to find Cletrac information is here:

http://www.calolivercletrac.org
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Thu, Oct 19, 2017 9:26 AM
BobPV15
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Reply to gary ca:
A good place to find Cletrac information is here:

http://www.calolivercletrac.org
The Cletrac was made by Cleveland tractor company. The owner of the company was Rollin H. White. The first model they made was the Model R then the model H followed by the W. These are all similar tractors, the models changed as major improvements were made. The best source of manuals parts and information would be Landis Zimmerman of Zimmerman OliverCletrac in Ephrata PA.
His number is 717 738 2573.
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Fri, Oct 20, 2017 12:01 AM
Deas Plant.
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Reply to BobPV15:
The Cletrac was made by Cleveland tractor company. The owner of the company was Rollin H. White. The first model they made was the Model R then the model H followed by the W. These are all similar tractors, the models changed as major improvements were made. The best source of manuals parts and information would be Landis Zimmerman of Zimmerman OliverCletrac in Ephrata PA.
His number is 717 738 2573.
Hi, BobPV15.
I think you will find that the first model that Cletrac made was model F with the high sprocket and the string of pearls track. The model F was also the smallest model they ever made.

Just my 0.02.

You have a wonderful day. Best wishes. Deas Plant.

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Fri, Oct 20, 2017 12:19 AM
Deas Plant.
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Hi, BobPV15 and Garlic Pete.
You are both 'kee-wrecked', BUTTT, so am I.

The 'H', 'W' and 'R' models were all built before the Model F. How-wevver, they were all built under the name of the Cleveland Tractor Company and carried the name, 'Cleveland', on the sides of the hood or elsewhere. The Model F was the first model released after the company name was changed to Cletrac and carried the Cletrac name on the side of the hood.

You can read more about it here:

http://www.farmcollector.com/company-history/cleveland-tractor-company

The slideshow carries the information about the name change in the caption for the Model F photo, 7th slide in the series, along with a lot of other information about various other models.

Just my 0.02.

You have a wonderful day. Best wishes. Deas Plant.

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Fri, Oct 20, 2017 6:30 AM
andymoravec
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Reply to Deas Plant.:
Hi, BobPV15 and Garlic Pete.
You are both 'kee-wrecked', BUTTT, so am I.

The 'H', 'W' and 'R' models were all built before the Model F. How-wevver, they were all built under the name of the Cleveland Tractor Company and carried the name, 'Cleveland', on the sides of the hood or elsewhere. The Model F was the first model released after the company name was changed to Cletrac and carried the Cletrac name on the side of the hood.

You can read more about it here:

http://www.farmcollector.com/company-history/cleveland-tractor-company

The slideshow carries the information about the name change in the caption for the Model F photo, 7th slide in the series, along with a lot of other information about various other models.

Just my 0.02.
spent a day and a half tearing down the cletracs this past weekend. made a tone of progress. had to order several parts that we are waiting on before we can begin reassembly.
The tracks were not as bad as I thought so we will be saving them. Gave the head on the engine that we are saving a valve job. Swapped out the front sprockets and did some greasing etc on them. Also got the steering to tighten up.

You can see the before and after picture. hopefully my parts will come this week and we can start putting things back together! I am eager to drive this little guy.
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Tue, Oct 24, 2017 9:36 PM
BobPV15
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Reply to andymoravec:
spent a day and a half tearing down the cletracs this past weekend. made a tone of progress. had to order several parts that we are waiting on before we can begin reassembly.
The tracks were not as bad as I thought so we will be saving them. Gave the head on the engine that we are saving a valve job. Swapped out the front sprockets and did some greasing etc on them. Also got the steering to tighten up.

You can see the before and after picture. hopefully my parts will come this week and we can start putting things back together! I am eager to drive this little guy.
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Your Cletrac project is coming along well. It is good your tracks are OK, as good ones are hard to find. Your Model W is a true Cletrac.

Hi Deas

the site your link leads too has a lot of errors!

Your are correct the model R was made as a Cleveland and the model H started as a Cleveland. The Cleveland Motor Plow company started Jan 20th 1916 and they built the Cleveland model R.
The company's name was changed to the Cleveland Tractor Company on June 18th 1917. The model H started production in 1917 as a Cleveland. The company filed for copyright of the Cletrac trade mark on Jan 22, 1919. On May 9th 1919 they officially announced the Cletrac trade mark and that all production going forward would be under the Cletrac trade mark. The last of the model H was made after this date so they were the first Cletrac's. The model W was always a Cletrac.

The Cleveland Tractor was always a successful company it was sold to Oliver in 1944 because Rollin White was old and wanted to retire and on one in the family wanted to run the company!

This information comes from articles written by Landis Zimmerman which appear in Oliver Heritage Magazine. Landis has a very large collection of Cletrac information and he was fortunate to meet with Betty King who provided Landis with a lot of inside information about the Cleveland Tractor Company from family records. Betty King is the granddaughter of Rollin White, so I am sure this info is correct.
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Wed, Oct 25, 2017 9:46 AM
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