Estate Sulky refurb

6447 Views 10 Replies 7 Participants Last post by bwdbrn1, Apr 30, 2014

devans

Discussion Starter · Apr 29, 2014

In the late 60's Gravely came out with a fancy sulky for the more distinguished crowd and called it the convertible rider. Some where along the line it became known as the estate sulky. It was only in production for a couple of years as near as I can find through the research I did by looking at some old price sheets.
I found mine at a mower repair shop buried in almost two feet of snow and honestly I didn't really know what shape it was in. My brother in law went back later and picked it up for me and amazingly enough it was in great shape. Rusty as all get out but all there.

Here it is behind my 73C.

This was the first gravely anything I restored. Everything on this sulky is original. The tires, seat, everything.

I took it apart and stripped it all down to bare metal. Not too many bare metal shots though, sorry.

Seat pan with cover removed.

Cleaned up.

The frame.

Seat pan painted using black appliance epoxy by Rustoleum.

Sulky frame painted with the same type of paint but in white. I really like this paint, it dries to a very hard finish.

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devans

Discussion Starter · #2 · Apr 29, 2014

Next up the body. Sorry, no cleaned up pictures.

Here I striped and repainted the rims, they are on the frame to dry.

The hardware that holds the body to the frame.

Body repainted and mounted back on the frame.

I got real lazy at this point with taking pictures. Here the sulky is back together and finished. I should mention that the only new thing on the entire sulky is the paint. The seat bracket was originally chromed. I shined it up as best as I could and clear coated it.

Here it is saddled up to my '63 L8.

This is probably the only thing I have that is Gravely that will never see work, other than hauling me around the occasional show when I can go to one.

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motorhead12

· #3 · Apr 29, 2014

Wow, that's a real neat piece! You did a great job of cleaning it up and making it look new! :ThumbUp:

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bwdbrn1

· #4 · Apr 29, 2014

"In the late 60's Gravely came out with a fancy sulky for the more distinguished crowd and called it the convertible rider."

Very nice piece of Gravely history there. So, in keeping with the distinguished theme, will you be wearing a tux when riding in those shows?

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tiretrx

· #5 · Apr 29, 2014

Wow, that is sharp looking. Great job there :2th: Good score too. You don't see many of those. That will be sure to get a lot of looks at shows. Perhaps, the next Mow-In? Thanks for sharing!

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Austen

· #6 · Apr 29, 2014

That's really cool! I haven't seen a sulky like that before.

Great work and thanks for sharing this with us! :gp:

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Five Points

· #7 · Apr 29, 2014

Nice work Don, Is the appliance paint from a spray can or do you use a gun?

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devans

Discussion Starter · #8 · Apr 30, 2014

bwdbrn1 said:
"In the late 60's Gravely came out with a fancy sulky for the more distinguished crowd and called it the convertible rider."

Very nice piece of Gravely history there. So, in keeping with the distinguished theme, will you be wearing a tux when riding in those shows?

Lols, probably not. My idea of a suit is blue jeans and a denim shirt. :2th:
I try to research the history as best as I can. At best it's pretty much just conjecture but it's fun. I'm working on another project right now that I'll post up soon that I had a lot of fun digging up the history on.

tiretrx said:
Wow, that is sharp looking. Great job there :2th: Good score too. You don't see many of those. That will be sure to get a lot of looks at shows. Perhaps, the next Mow-In? Thanks for sharing!

These sulkies were only in production for about two years so yes they are rare, even rarer is still having the original seat with the cover still on it.
I wish I could make the mow-in. They're just too far for me right now. Now if it comes back to Somers again......

Five Points said:
Nice work Don, Is the appliance paint from a spray can or do you use a gun?

You can get the paint either way, for now because I don't have an area to set up a booth I use rattle cans. So far I have found black, white and almond.

Thanks for the kudos guys. I really enjoy bringing these old relics back from the brink if you will. I'm lucky in the fact that my wife shares my passion and doesn't complain when I work on these.
I'm a gravely-holic and then some, I also appreciate other machines. My goal with posting my past projects is to maybe push someone that's on the fence about a project into starting it and even post their progress here.
This is a cool forum (overall) let's fill it with projects guys.

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DrBailey

· #9 · Apr 30, 2014

thats awesome, you made a real looker there!!
My Dad owned a older plainjane machine similar to yours, I thought I was so cool riding it on the back roads. Thanks for waking up a old memory. :ThumbUp:

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devans

Discussion Starter · #10 · Apr 30, 2014

DrBailey said:
thats awesome, you made a real looker there!!
My Dad owned a older plainjane machine similar to yours, I thought I was so cool riding it on the back roads. Thanks for waking up a old memory. :ThumbUp:

Your welcome sir.

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bwdbrn1

· #11 · Apr 30, 2014

I'm with you on your notion of what a suit is. Maybe a denim tie for those really special occasions.:cool

Yes sir, you fit in here with this bunch nicely. Lots of our members like keeping to old stuff running, and get a real thrill out of seeing and hearing them run. Nothing like the feeling you get when an old engine fires up for the first time since gosh only knows when, or to see them move under their own power again...and to have your wife enjoy the hobby as well! Priceless.

We'll be looking forward to seeing more of your Gravely projects.

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