In all the photos I've seen the General's front wheel has been red or orange center with a silver rim or solid white. Sandblasting mine today I found nothing but orange to the rim, but on the flat where the rim meets the hub I can see 3 black pinstripes around it! It looks like it was striped to match the hood. Has anybody else ran up on this?
do you have the heavy cast front wheel ? if so all of the pictures that i have seen show the whole rim and center being painted orange . the later avery a models had a thin plate center with a rim that bolted to it which would of had a silver rim and red center.
walter
My General has dual front wheels, but I don't remember what color they were before I painted them years ago. If I ever get into it again maybe I can scrape down and look at the paint underneith.
Blake
Walter, mine has the HEAVY cast hub. You should have seen me trying to get it up on the workbench! Blake, I didn't know any Generals had dual front tires. Y'all teach me something new every day!
They featured those tractors a few years ago to I show I went to. The dual wheels were an option. There was one there with stips in the front wheel. There was one in a salvage yard near here and then they cleaned everything out so it is gone. I think the heavy wheel was used on all single wheel Cleveland built tractors. A couple of friend of mine have single wheel restored ones. and I think the one does have strips. I think I also have one piece of colored literature. Will have to look.
What do you mean by strips in the front wheel John?
My General also has steel tiptoe wheels on the back.
Blake
Blake. One that comes to mind had pin stripes painted in the front wheel. I think they were black. Are the tip toe rear wheels you have the only the rear wheels on the tractor? This show had one that had like steel extension wheels beside the ruber wheels, same idea as the older Ford set up. Now for Christmas a few years ago I received one of those books 100 years of basically headline news and adds from Implement & Tractor. My question: Were all Generals made in Cleveland? Also when did Cletrac get into this all out production for the war and when did John deere get in on the act? This book also mentions for 1942 General production was moved to shelbyville IN. Also I have a photocopy of an add for the General as sold by the Indiana Co-op's and it also mention you could order a crawler. Anybody know if that was HG models only?
I forgot one thing. What colors were the Generals painted? I do not think they were all Cletrac Orange or Red in the case of the ones sold by Monkey Wards. There was also one sold on a sale here about 5 years ago that had a standard tread wide front. Any comments on that. John Ault told me once and he pretty well knew these things he had seen one and it was old U. S. Goverment tractor. Considering Cletrac association with military orders that is very possiable.
John, all the info I've dug up indicates the General being orange until B.F. Avery took it over in '42, but I don't know about the ones Cletrac built for Montgomery-Wards, Co-op, or Massey-Harris. Massey-Harris had the liscence to sell them in Canada under their name. As for the wide front end you got me, I ain't got a clue. Rick
John, I think our General may have once been green, but that is a recolection from way back in the spider webs of my mind. I could very well be wrong. I know it was mostly rust when I started working on it and got it going again.
The tiptoe wheels are the only back wheels. It would really pull with those and would go through about anything. But, if you did get is stuck, it went down faster than it went forward!
There were many Generals around our area - most were friends or relatives. I don't know what kind of a deal they got or any of the details. My uncle may know more.
Blake