Old freighting sleighs site

[near horse]

As I was looking for some pics of bobsleds I crossed this site w/ pics of runners etc form various styles of freight sleighs used in Manitoba (I think) – likely behind motorized crawlers. Pretty stout (and I imagine heavy).

http://www.kingofobsolete.ca/freighting_sleighs_webpage.htm

[Tim Harrigan]

Good stuff, Geoff. Thanks.

[mitchmaine]

wow. thanks geoff. the lombard log hauler came from waterville here in maine. alvin lombard. he was the one that invented the lag track or the catapillar track on dozers. the lombard sleds on this site of yours might be sleds for the original lombard. but he says he changes all the names to suit himself so its hard to know for sure.
interesting that steel and welding rod are cheaper for him than hardwood.
glad he saw and saved all that stuff before it became junk iron.

mitch

[jac]

Hey Mitch there was a man called James Cuthbertson from the village of Biggar {where my grandfather delivered milk till 63} and he is credited with developing the modern rubber tracks.. He designed a tractor called the “Water Buffalo” in the early 50s.. it was designed to go on peat bogs but i believe a few ended up on your side of the puddle. I think there are fotos of it on the web if you google it… I used to walk past his yard in the 60s on my way to school and could see all this big boys toys thru the gates. It was good to see the heavy freight sleds Geoff.. thanks for sharing…
John

[mitchmaine]

hey john, find me a farm tool or some machine that wasn’t invented or improved on by a scotsman. you might find a few but the other list will be longer. the three point hitch on henry fords tractor was invented by harry fergusen.
sounds and looks like you will have a white christmas over there. best wishes and happy christmas. mitch and penny

[mitchmaine]

Thank you geoff, for posting this site. I’ve been back to it a few times hatchin a plan. I’ve never had much luck with steel sleds and don’t lean that way anymore, but I’m wondering about taking wooden runners with steel shoes and welding up some steel bunks that clamp and bolt through the runners. And making the rolls up out of steel as well. Basically, a steel sled with wooden runners and pole.
If anyone has had experience doing this, good or bad, or has in idea, let me know, please, so I can make adjustments.
Thanks , and merry Christmas.

[mitchmaine]

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Took a page from this guys book and made up the rolls and pole for this set of bobs today out of steel. The rolls are 2×3 square tube bolted in with grade 8 three quarter x 5 inch bolts. Clamped an old plow pole in place. The feather bolts are 2” angle x 18.” Used steel, some new, have about $75. in it. Feels pretty solid, and it’ll never break or rot. But the proof of the pudding’s in the eatin”. Try and make a body and see how it goes before the snows gone. 50/50 chance.
mitch

[mink]

mitch that was a clever idea putting the hole on the bottom side for your bolts good job mink

[mitchmaine]

hey mink,
i was going to thread the 1/4 inch flange on the end of the roll, then decided to weld a nut inside a drilled hole. then as i started to drill a drain hole in the bottom, bingo, 2+2 or whatever.
i bot that sleds for the iron years ago. and rebuilt them with oak. i stole the pole and rolls off it to rebuild a friends sleds planning on making replacements. so much for plans. at least the wood in the runners is still good. it’d be a pain to rebuild a set of sleds you rebuilt and never used. ha.

mitch

[LostFarmer]

My uncle and I have just finished 2 steel sleds. They are the same size as the #4 common sense. The Common Sense and the Studebakers were the most popular in this area. We used 2″ heavy wall pipe as the roller with a 1″ bolt welded into the end. Runners are 3×2 tubing that we rolled the hard way then used 3/8 ” x 3″ plate for shoes. The hard part was building a rave that would have enough flex to work. I have one that is the same as a #2 that works great. We use a second roller and a trail tongue here but that I think is a regional thing. I back my sleigh so the chains are not an option.

[mitchmaine]

lost farmer, i sure would like to see some photos of your sleds. sound great. don’t recognize
#4 common sense or studebaker names. thanks, mitch

[J-L]

One of those sleighs is headed my way. Maybe this weekend we can get a few pictures of them as we put beds on them. I have one of the smaller sleighs that Lost Farmer is talking about (I don’t put more than 2 ton on it, and usually just 1 ton). Very good outfit. The best I ever used. I too have to back a sleigh up often enough that the cross chains don’t work for me either.
The brands of sleigh that Lost Farmer talks about must have been more common in the west. That’s what you saw around this part of Wyoming as well, Common Sense and Studebaker. We had a local fellow at the lumber yard who made sleighs back in the ’80’s and his was a copy off a Studebaker he told me. Pretty good sleigh, but his was a little too rigid and tended to pull somewhat heavy. The metal sleigh that came from Idaho has lot’s of ‘walk’ and I can trot through the sagebrush and greasewoods with it and drink hot coffee at the same time;).

[mitchmaine]

j-l, are the pictures of your sleds in “cabin fever” the same sleds and made of steel? and when did folks start welding steel runners? oh, and what part of your sled is a rave?
lots of pictures. maybe one without a body. thanks, mitch

[LostFarmer]

These are not the exact sleighs but they are similar. We can try and get pictures when we are bed building. My grandfather was never going to have a steel sleigh. They did not work. blah blah blah… Anyway he broke the bunk on his old wood sleigh and borrowed the black and red one in the pictures below that my uncle made. He never quit using it. My uncle never got it back and eventually built him another on. I now have the black one but I put a bigger hay rack. I want to take a bigger load when I need to. The red bed looked good but was too small for all practical reasons.

[mink]

those steel runners look like a life time deal …nice job

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