Wheel Horse Tractors

Wheel Horse Tractors Back to: U S Tractor Pulling

So you are interested in Wheel Horse tractors. You'll find Wheel Horse Tractors history below, as well as used Wheel
Horse tractors and parts available right now on-line. You can bid on them and get a better deal than at a retail parts or
lawn equipment store.

Wheel Horse tractors are now
made and sold by Toro still
today, ever since Toro
purchased the Wheel Horse
tractors brand in the late 1980s.

Wheel horse tractors began in
1946, when Elmer Pond began
making two-wheeled tractors out
of his garage in South Bend,
Indiana. After World War II,
Elmer decided to make a smaller
lawn tractor that could do the
work of a garden tractor and a
lawn tractor.

In 1947 he made his first four
wheeled tractor known as the
Ride-Away Senior. These Wheel
Horse tractors were made from
crude parts such as a model "A"
transmission, an 8.3 Wisconsin
engine and channel iron. The
tractor was mainly for garden
use. This model was designed
without a hood for easy
servicing. It had no steering
wheel, but went by a lever known
as tiller-steering. In 1949, a
steering wheel and fiberglass
hood were added. Only about
300 of these tractors were
made.

In 1955 Elmer made his first
smaller tractor known as the RJ
35 or Ride Away Junior. It didn't
have a transmission, but instead
used belts and pulleys.

Over the years, the Wheel Horse
tractors improved. The demand
grew so much that they couldn’t
keep up with production by the
end of the 1950s. More and
more advancements were made,
as the company grew in size and
sales.

Wheel Horse Tractors opened a
new plant in Geel, Belgium called
Amnor N.V. in 1969.

...Wheel Horse Tractors