County Tractors

[XS650]

Is it time for a Shawnee Poole thread ?

[DaveS]

No! I deny having enough stuff on Shawnee Pooles to make it worthwhile!

Dave. S.

[DaveS]

Apologies for straying off topic (again, SORRY!!!) but DaveS do you know anything of the old Shawnee Poole dump trailers? think we've got 1, looks like it was a swan neck draw bar that's been converted and has 2 main tip rams and like a sealed damper ram, would be 8/9T, couldn't think of anyone else who made swan necks, seem to remember seeing some army ( i think) pics showing similar trailers.

Ray,

From your description of the ram setup it is a Shawnee. Tonnage would be 10 or 12 likely. They did make a smaller one for use with the Dexta, but they were as rare as hen's teeth!

Many had the neck cut off and a straight bar fitted, as the tractors went for export when the demand for Majors and Ford 5000 was at its peak.

The only army goose necks I knew off were the Morewear Goose as mentioned earlier.

Got a pic?

Dave. S.

[RichardJW~]

Some recent photos of my '78 1174 at work this summer baling up some hay & silage - brother is at the wheel

[DaveS]

Here are a couple of pictures of County tractors at work in the woods.

The first one is on demonstration fitted with a British made Botex crane, and the second is one of the last County tractors made, fitted with a front mounted Boughton hydraulic self-recovery winch and a Timberliner trailer driven from the tractor PTO using a very ingenious mechanical drive with rocking bogies containing drive chains (it's one weakness if not maintained correctly! ). It also has a Botex crane, but this time mounted on the trailer.

The guy who owned this County speciallised in taking on difficult sites where 'normal' eight-wheel drive forwarders had problems, and was a delight to watch at work.

Dave. S.

[Rolyd8k]

[quote="RichardJW~"]Some recent photos of my '78 1174 at work this summer baling up some hay & silage - brother is at the wheel

Richard,some loveley haymaking weather and the ford earning its keep,great pictures

[RichardJW~]

I think Botex had a factory/production facility near Exeter. I remember when I started in a Ford NH dealership in '90 we had a brand new 7810 sent out for a roof-crane, winch & protection screens.
They brought it back to the dealership and the driver rolled up to try it out, anyway they picked an awkward part of the yard to try the winch out, hooked to some old junk (forget what exactly) but he had the higher side back wheel off the ground indicating to the audience that the winch was "up to it"....so he knocked the PTO lever in to neutral expecting the winch drum to unwind.....it didn't, the PTO brake held the winch and there he stayed.....clicked up on three wheels, didn't see how they got it down.....got some photos at home - I'll post them up in August.

[DaveS]

Richard,

Yes, Botex started down that way, I met the original owner/designer a few times. They also made a Deutz powered 8-wheel drive timber forwarder and at least one enormous self-propelled log splitter which could split the largest of hardwood trunks easily.

The business and design rights of Botex were bought by Jas. P. Wilson's the County refurbishers in Dumfriesshire, who also have some good County videos on youTube, including his County Sea Horse. Wilsons have quite a collection of Countys, and I believe are the major suppliers of spares in the UK now.

Dave. S.

[DaveS]

Yes, it's an international!

Yes, it's a County!

International 634 County!

This belonged to a local plant hirer, and originally was a Shawnee Poole tractor. It still had the brackets on the back axle when this picture was taken about '84 ish. The Cab Craft cab is also cut away to allow clearance for the goose neck of the trailer.

The second pic shows the County front axle with its separate gear drive case for each front wheel.

And that is a hay seat!!

Dave. S.

[RichardJW~]

They did a Leyland~County as well back in the '70s, have an idea it was the 485 (85hp) & the 4100 (100hp) and had the Leyland 6/98 engine in it