foster wheels

[Ransomes AM54]

^^^ I agree with you 100%. Ask anyone who's had a puncture while pulling a drum on pneumatics..!

Wooden wheels look very handsome as well.

Garretts made wooden wheels with round iron spokes which could be adjusted to take up any slack in the fellows that might develop over time.

[windmiller78]

I may yet give the rough foster a home, i'd like to swap the irons on ours for timber....

[chris wedgwood]

I may have started a trend here! suddenly there will be a world shortage of wooden wheels! were wooden wheels an option rather than an age issue, as there seem to be drums on woods and steels in the same eras?

[the highwayman]

Originally Posted by chris wedgwood

I may have started a trend here! suddenly there will be a world shortage of wooden wheels! were wooden wheels an option rather than an age issue, as there seem to be drums on woods and steels in the same eras?

Not to far from here there is a Marshall drum on wooden wheels that was supplied new with a Field Marshall, about 1949.

[UJ2225]

Any clues where that is Steve?

Cheers Jim

[Ransomes AM54]

By the early 20th century iron wheels were the default offered by most manufacturers with wooden wheels being a cost-option. Foster seemed to really push wooden wheels, and so more 20th century Foster machines were supplied with (and thus survive) with wooden wheels than probably any other manufacturer.

It is reasonably common for a medium-weight 20th century domestic-market Foster machine to be found with wooden wheels. Not so with examples from any of the other major manufacturers.

[windmiller78]

here you go piers a heavy weight on timber wheels 7 inch wide... mind you its a monster drum an dwarfs the foster...

[the highwayman]

Originally Posted by UJ2225

Any clues where that is Steve?

Cheers Jim

P.M. sent

[chris wedgwood]

So I tried to buy the spares Foster drum on the wooden wheels from Ebay, I though I could take the steel ones off our machine and swap over, then "give" the other drum to some deserving person having got the wooden wheels that I want, but no, would you believe the reserve price was 2K!!!!!!!!!!!!!!The bidding went up to £155 not sold

[Ransomes AM54]

2k seems to be the default Ebay-price for such kit. Quite why is beyond me. I guess it's a 'retail' value plucked from somewhere; auction values over the past few years seem to be a quarter of that (at the very most) for a machine in a similar condition.

The Foster drum was also badly listed from the point of view of a sale. A badly listed Ransomes machine sold on Ebay earlier this year for less than 200 quid, only to be promptly relisted by the new owner for around 2k buy-it-now. It certainly sold, although I am not sure what the final deal price was.

It could be worth putting a 'wanted' ad in Tractor & Machinery Magazine, Chris. Or sit it out until something comes up at auction or Ebay.

My advice (for what it's worth) would be to go for the Foster iron wheels that Adam M. spoke of, dispose of the Clayton ones (maybe to me) so at least it's on Foster wheels. This will put you may be in a better position to bargain with another individual with a Foster machine but who wants rid of his tired old wooden wheels.