Fordson Hoist Tractors

By Staff
Published on October 1, 2002
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A stretched Fordson and hoist unit. The manufacturer of this particular unit is unknown.
A stretched Fordson and hoist unit. The manufacturer of this particular unit is unknown.
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A single drum Ersted Model T 'Hyster,' built by Ersted Machinery Manufacturing Co., Portland, Ore. This unit likely dates from the early 1920s.
A single drum Ersted Model T 'Hyster,' built by Ersted Machinery Manufacturing Co., Portland, Ore. This unit likely dates from the early 1920s.
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This cut, 'Unloading Cars with the Allison Automotive Hoist,' was produced by the Willamette Iron & Steel Works, Portland, Ore., to show farmers how the firm's Fordson-mounted Allison hoist could be employed to run a lift for unloading train car
This cut, 'Unloading Cars with the Allison Automotive Hoist,' was produced by the Willamette Iron & Steel Works, Portland, Ore., to show farmers how the firm's Fordson-mounted Allison hoist could be employed to run a lift for unloading train car

One of the most popular accessories on modern four-wheel-drive
pickups is a winch mounted on the truck’s front bumper.
Compact, frame-mounted winches first became popular during World
War II, installed by the thousands on Army Jeeps and on large Army
trucks. How many of us still remember the famous winch-equipped
Dodge Power-Wagon?

While the term ‘winch’ generally takes on a more modern
connotation, larger units were referred to in the past as a
‘hoist,’ a word that aptly describes their intended
function.

Mechanical winches or hoists have been a mainstay in various
industries for centuries. The ‘steam-donkey’ used in early
logging operations enabled logs to be skidded up to a landing,
sometimes on over-head cables strung from tall trees that had been
‘topped’ to make the operation possible. Smaller logging
outfits tended to use stationary or portable winches, often with
some type of gasoline engine providing power. And then there were
winches and hoists mounted on Fordsons.

Fordsons Out Front

Fordson ‘skid-units’ or complete Fordson tractors with
integrated winches and hoists became popular with the success of
the Fordson tractor. These hoists (some of them front-mounted,
others mounted on the back – one company even featured a
side-mounted hoist) could be either single or double drum
versions.

Fordson seems to have led the field in the development of the
earliest stationary or portable winches used in industrial,
construction or farming jobs. As many previous articles on Fordson
tractors have noted, Henry Ford never made any attachments for
either the Model T or the Fordson tractor. This prompted many early
entrepreneurs to manufacture a great variety of mechanical
innovations to retrofit on the Model T or Fordson tractor.

Period advertisements for various hoist-equipped Fordson
tractors. While most of the units show here were adapted to fully
operational Fordson tractors some, like the Huston, were built with
a fordson platform that was mounted on skids.

These ranged all the way from special springs for Model T axles
to governors for the Fordson tractor. Fordsons became the first
tractors to be made into road-rollers, graders and loaders, to name
but a few examples, and a few even had tracks (either full or
half-tracks) mounted on them. Some farmers may still remember the
‘Gleaner’ (a self-propelled combine) mounted on the
Fordson, as well as corn pickers and cultivators. For the Ford car,
a number of companies turned out attachments that converted a Model
T into a tractor.

Of the companies that manufactured winches for the Fordson, some
are still in existence today. Companies like Hyster (Ersted),
M.A.C. (Skagit), White, (which bought out Oliver and even Trackson,
(which made ‘tracks’ for Fordsons and was later bought out
by Caterpillar). Other companies advertising winches were Clyde
Iron Works, Smith, (a company that made pulleys), Myers Winch
Company, Dorsey, Allison, W-K-M, Tom Houston (which made
mid-mounted attached plows for Fordsons), Pioneer, and many more.
The Fordson Tractor Club’s literature files has brochures,
manuals, advertisements and endorsements for all of these
companies, as well as many more.

Looking at the variety of winches and hoists that were once
produced specially for the Fordson tractor, it is easy to see the
impact Fordsons had on the development of construction, industrial,
logging and farming machinery. Winches and hoists were just a few
of many different types of machinery made to take advantage of the
Fordson tractor.

The Fordson tractor was quite unique, serving as a platform for
a great many different devices. The versatility of the Fordson
tractor and its application in a variety of duties is not generally
appreciated by antique tractor collectors and restorers. But
without the Fordson, it’s likely that many items we use today
would have developed very differently, if at all.

Jack Heald, national director of the Fordson Tractor Club,
has written widely on Fordson tractors. Contact him at: 250
Robinson Road, Cave Junction, OR 97523.

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