Harris Power Horse

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN FARM TRACTORS -- page 30 just a photograph of a
fc model (forward control) like my dad had.

FARM TRACTORS 1926-1956 (INTERTEC PUBLISHING) pages 421, 461 and 486
various models from the mid 50's

THE ALLIS CHALMERS STORY (CRESTLINE PUBLISHING) page 321 -- couple of
photos and a small blurb about the POWER HORSE after it was sold to
Allis Chalmers (From Eimco or Bonham, I can't remember)

FARM TRACTORS A LIVING HISTORY (MOTORBOOKS INTERNATIONAL) pages
230(blurb) and 231-232 a gorgeous 2 page full color plate of a model 53

NEBRASKA TRACTOR TESTS SINCE 1920 (MOTORBOOKS INTERNATIONAL) tests 0479,
0519 and 0523

ANTIQUE POWER magazine issue 7-1 (jan/feb 95) nice article w/photos on
a POWER HORSE 20A built by Eimco. This back issue is available for $6.00
contact antiquepower.com for details.

The basic story is this. The POWER HORSE was the idea of Albert Bonham
of Clinton, Utah in the mid 30's. His idea was to be able to use sulky
style horse drawn equipment with a horse like tractor (hence the name)
It steered by cable or ropes (reins). With the reins released it went
forward, when pulled back half way the tractor was in a declutched state
and when pulled back fully the tractor reversed at half speed.
(assuming the 1930's model drove like our 1950) so as you can see with a
little thrashing you could make this tractor skid steer similarly to a
modern day BOBCAT. Some time in the 40's Bonham sold the rights to
ALLIS-CHALMERS, they tried using it in an orchard/grove configuration
with out much luck, so they sold it to HARRIS mfg. of Stockton CA. (Harris
is probably more known for it's big hill side combines) Harris enlarged
it, put a Chrysler industrial flat head 6 and Dodge truck transmission
in it and sold it solely as a forward control tractor (1949-50?) . The steering was done thru planetary gear sets and cone style clutches
and was sensitive to heat problems meaning you couldn't steer the thing
if the clutch packs got hot. The final drive was thru a bull gear and chain
drive in an enclosed structural chain case. HARRIS manufactured these
till about 1964 with many different engines and tire sizes, forward control
(engine behind operator) and standard control , finally selling off the
operation to a Mexican company.

Now comes the human interest part!!! The only part I really know anything
about. My dad, an apple grower in michigan needed a tractor to pull a 7
ton sprayer thru a boggy orchard (ah spring time in Michigan) and could
not use dual tires (destroys profit margins) and a man down the road
just happened to be a POWER HORSE distributer- he had 1 tractor - the
only one he ever had - and sold my dad on the ability of this thing to get
around in an orchard and pull a fairly heavy load with out being overly
wide. When the tractor was delivered the salesman had a minor problem
with a broken leg because as he was showing the tractor off at some farm show he pulled full back on the handles at speed (remember
this is reverse) the tractor lurched up and down an threw him, like a
horse would, right off the front end, then the handles snapped back to
their forward position and the tractor proceeded to drive over him !!!
This tractor was used for 12 injury free years in my dads orchard and
was used for spraying, dusting and we had a buck rake for the front of
it that really worked well for removing brush from between the tree
rows. The main problems with the forward control model like ours was
that you could not see any normal farm implement behind you like plows ,
planters etc. and when steering you lost half your traction. Another
problem this had was when going down a hill with a 7 ton load the normal
steering was reversed because the side you were declutching to steer
towards was be pushed faster than the driven side. Who said kids can't
learn physics at home? This tractor was sold in 1963 to a group of deer
hunters who still use it in northern Michigan. Why Allis or Harris
didn't have the fore-thought to market this tractor as an industrial unit like the Bobcat we will never know. By the way this tractor
would go 25MPH with the governor disconnected , what a handful!