Vintage but How old?

   / Vintage but How old? #1  

theboy2011

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Jun 11, 2011
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Tractor
Gravely Model C Super Convertible
I recently purchased a Gravely Super Convertible. I believe that it is the 7.6 engine. It is the 8 speed. Im new to the Gravely world and im wondering how i can figure out how old it is exactly. Ive been told it is from 1972 to 1976. I am planning on fixing it up and I dont want to look like an idiot when I go to get parts and don't know what year I own. Any Help?
 
   / Vintage but How old?
  • Thread Starter
#3  
Hey thank you very much. I'll have to get the serial off of it and match it up. do you know of any flaws that these old brutes had?
 
   / Vintage but How old? #4  
There were a few design issues aka flaws with the Convertible.


1 - No charging system. The battery will require periodic charging. If you have a manual start model, then you don't have to worry about this.

2 - The push button stop switch in the handlebar. This switch can and has caused the flywheels to become misaligned. Every single tractor I have seen with the pushbutton stop switch in the handlebar had misaligned flywheels. I have one in my backyard now.

3 - The PTO controls. The whole shipper shaft control mechanics are iffy at best. They finally fixed it when they made the 5000 series of tractors. It is this design issue that caused me to swear that I would never own a two wheeled Gravely tractor. Now that they have properly fixed it, I now have two 5665 tractors and a Pro-8.

4 - The hood to battery box mechanical design is a little iffy.

5 - Major engine parts can be expensive. The cylinder always has been expensive even when the engine was in production.
 
   / Vintage but How old?
  • Thread Starter
#5  
Ok thank you. im still a little unfimiliar with these things. what is the shipper shaft control?
 
   / Vintage but How old? #6  
Ok thank you. im still a little unfimiliar with these things. what is the shipper shaft control?

Tony S posted a link (above) to OldGravelys.Net. Go there and print out a copy of an illustrated parts list for the Gravely model C. I believe there is one for the 1972 model year which will apply to your tractor. If you look at the PTO section it will show you all the parts including the shippershaft. I often wonder how Gravely came up with their part names as some are quite creative. You should become familiar with these names as you will have to use them when communicating with the experts in the Gravely on-line community. I do not consider myself among these experts.

RichardTX gave a nice summary of some of weaknesses in the L/C tractor designs. I might add that the governors that appear on the Super Convertible are also problematic. I have a '73 Super Convertible and ended up doing a repower with 13 HP Honda clone. I dont recommend this if your engine still works well.

One last thing - there are two other places where you can interact with the Gravely on-line community. One is at MyTractorForum.com and the other is the Yahoo Gravely Club. There sites, along with this one, are great resources to use in getting help for your 2-wheeler.

Good luck with your tractor!
 
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   / Vintage but How old?
  • Thread Starter
#7  
Oneaxepony, thank you very much for you help. Im goin to try to get the old girl running today. New oil, filter, spark plug, battery, and gas. Hope she works. the motor is free. I replaced the plug with and Autolite 216 which is what was in it. Is this a correct spark plug for it?
 
   / Vintage but How old? #8  
Oneaxepony, thank you very much for you help. Im goin to try to get the old girl running today. New oil, filter, spark plug, battery, and gas. Hope she works. the motor is free. I replaced the plug with and Autolite 216 which is what was in it. Is this a correct spark plug for it?

I went out to OldGravelys.Net and looked at the service manual. Its says the correct plug is Champion H-3 with a gap of .025 inches. The Autolite 216 may very well be an acceptable substitute but I dont know that for sure (you may have to talk to someone at your auto parts store).

In addition to what you already did you may have to time the magneto. That's also in the service manual I described above. Good luck. Hope you get it running.
 
   / Vintage but How old?
  • Thread Starter
#9  
Well i changed the oil, put in the new plug, put on a new battery and nothing. I did run the serial number and it is a 1971. I tryed to jump the foot switch to see if it was bad and still nothing. Any ideas on that? I was just looking at the illistrated parts book and my gravely doenst have a governor? what does this mean?
 
   / Vintage but How old? #10  
Well i changed the oil, put in the new plug, put on a new battery and nothing. I did run the serial number and it is a 1971. I tryed to jump the foot switch to see if it was bad and still nothing. Any ideas on that? I was just looking at the illistrated parts book and my gravely doenst have a governor? what does this mean?

The governors on these machines went bad with regularity. Assuming it had one, someone probably removed it because it wasn't working. You dont need it anyway. The tractor will run fine without it. Just make sure the fan belt still turns.

When you say you got nothing I assume the starter did not turn. I would test the starter to make sure its working. I would remove the chain and the wiring from the starter making note of how the wiring goes. I would very carefully wire the starter up to the battery directly so you can see if the starter turns. Have it all wired up so that when you touch the positive wire to the battery terminal you can tell if the starter spins. There will be a nasty spark when you do this so be careful. If the starter spins it is probably good and your problem is elsewhere. Did I mention to be careful?
 
 
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