Waterbury Model H (Walk behind)

Facemobile · Feb 26, 2017

Hey everyone,

I'm a newbie here. I recently purchased a Waterbury Model H walk behind tractor. I know absolutely nothing about tractor so please forgive my lack of proper terminology. So, I'm looking for as much information as possible on this tractor. I've done a bit of searching around here and have found really good information on the Waterbury two wheelers, but I still have a ton of questions.

Let me start with a few pics.

Waterbury Model H

Serial # (3868)

The picture is rather dark, but if you can't tell the motor is not original. I believe a Briggs and Stratton Model 9(??) was the og, but this is a Tecumseh 5hp from a Toro snowblower. I'm just repeating what the previous owner had said so if anybody has any good/bad stories about Tecumseh engines, do tell.

Questions. I have a bunch so I'll just start with a few. Again I'm super new to tractors/gardens so bare with me.

1. Does this Waterbury Model H have an auxiliary PTO? I saw in a sales brochure posted in this forum that it does, but I do not know what to look for.

2. Does the name on the side "Waterbury 3 HP" refer to the original engine or the overall HP of the tractor?

3. The gearbox has a grease fill plug (a zerk?) on the top of it and no visible area to drain or fill oil. Does this mean that only grease from a grease gun goes into the gearbox?

4. Anybody have a manual?

I know that has been brought up in previous posts, but I'll try.

Thanks for reading! Any and all info is helpful. I'm also looking for implements if anyone in the MA area has some.

- Eric

Facemobile · Feb 26, 2017

Brian G. NY · Feb 26, 2017

Eric,

The Waterbury that my Dad had when I was a kid was a "G" 2 HP model.
However, the manual that came with it covers both the G and H models.
I recently gave the original manual to a local guy who has one of these tractors but I made a photocopy. The original manual was a little ruff and dirty but the copy is entirely readable and will answer all your questions.
E-mail me with your address and I will make a "copy of the copy" and send it to you.
Notice how the snow blade has a deep curve?
When plowing heavy snow, we found that we could use the weight of the snow to our advantage by pushing down on the handles as we plowed. Amazing how much snow we moved with that little thing.

goodfell at midtel dot net

4wdtom · Feb 27, 2017

I don't know specifically about your machine, but in general you don't put grease in gear boxes because it is too thick and will "channel" when the gears are turning and
they won't get much lube. There some greases made for gear boxes, like outboard lower units, and some lawn and garden equipment. If you are going to stay with grease you
want to make sure it is designed for a gearbox. I recently bought an Economy tractor and somebody had put grease fittings on both transmissions, the rear end, and both
final drives. It is a project tractor. I opened the gearboxes and let them drain over months, the oil had partially mixed with the grease added and came out very slow. I
am hoping they didn't put grease in to make up for leaky seals or other problems with gears or bearings. I don't think so as they and done the same to all gearboxes. If
you can't find out what you should have in there I would try and get the grease out and put in some 80-90 gear oil.

Brian G. NY · Feb 27, 2017

The manual says:
[color=green:12265adbf2]"Add a few shots of grease to the gear case every 40 to 50 hours of use.
A grease gun is supplied with the tractor.
Use a general purpose semi-solid grease."
[/color:12265adbf2]
Not much of a description for the type of grease but back in the 40s and 50s there were not as many sophisticated greases as today.
I don't think the gear case is designed with seals adequate enough to allow the use of gear oil.

Traditional Farmer · Feb 27, 2017

I have a Waterbury rider I'd sell if you want to round out your collection.

jeffcat · Feb 27, 2017

Here is my two cents. There is a grease 5hat is used in Snappper rider
mowers. Usually called Arco OO grease. It is Green and slimey. Sort of
a semi solid. Stuff works really well.

Facemobile · Feb 27, 2017

(quoted from post at 11:36:34 02/27/17) I have a Waterbury rider I'd sell if you want to round out your collection.

That's very tempting. I would be all over that offer if I had the extra room in my shed haha.

Facemobile · Feb 27, 2017

Brian G. NY. I really appreciate you taking the time to send a copy! Also glad to read that you use to snow plow a lot with your Waterbury. That is a big reason I acquired this tractor, plus the many other uses.

4wdtom. Good idea. I didn't even think that someone might have modified this already. When I get the manual I should be able to tell if the fittings were added by a previous owner.

By the sound of Brian's last post "add a few shots of grease to the gear case..." taken from the manual it appears grease is all that goes in there.

Jeffcat. I've read a bit about 00 grease. I'll definitely be picking some up the next time I see it for sale. Seems to be very usual for many things. Thanks!

JDEM · Feb 27, 2017

In the 50s, Waterbury had the H two-wheeler and the R four wheeler. The H cost $258.50 new and weighed 250 lbs. 1.2 MPH max speed in low
range and 3.5 MPH in high. 1952 model H came with a Briggs & Stratton model 9 rated at 3.1 max horsepower.

Brian G. NY · Feb 27, 2017

(quoted from post at 22:14:41 02/27/17) In the 50s, Waterbury had the H two-wheeler and the R four wheeler.

We had the G, the little brother to the H; smaller engine (B&S Model N), smaller tires and an extra "intermediate" speed. Otherwise, basically the same little machine.

jeffcat · Feb 28, 2017

A lot of lawn mower dealers "Snapper" have it. Also mower parts places. Between 16 to 18 bucks a quart.

Facemobile · Mar 2, 2017

Alrighty so thanks to Brian I now have a manual. One question I can't seem to figure out though...If someone bought the lawn mower or sickle bar attachment, what powers them and how? Does a belt go from the engine or am I missing something? I do not have the original engine so Im not sure if that had a power hook up type thing to it.

Brian G. NY · Mar 2, 2017

If you look at the engine pulleys in the picture I posted of the "transmission" you will see an extra groove at the very outer end.
This is essentially the PTO. Then, if you look at the picture of the sicklebar mower attachment in the manual you will see the big driven pulley on which the drive belt is fitted. As I recall, there was an idler pulley that was operated by the second lever on the handlebars.

Facemobile · Mar 4, 2017

Okay awesome thanks. I was wondering what that third pulley groove was for. It's slightly smaller than the drive belt grooves next to it.

Facemobile · Mar 7, 2017

So I really would like a land plow and cultivator to pull in the garden I have. I'm not so sure I'm going to find any original implements for this Waterbury. Fingers-crossed I do though. Anyways, could anyone steer me in the right direction for homemade implement? I'm hoping it wouldn't be too hard to fabricate some other brand plow/cultivator to work with my Waterbury. I do realize there is a whole section of the forum for implements that I will check out.

Speaking of homemade/re-fitted implements, I do believe the snow plow/dozer on my tractor is from a Troy-bilt "Horse" tiller. Sheer luck I saw an ad for a troy bilt plow in its original red color. The black paint flaking off my snow plow is exposing red paint. From the pictures online it looks just like it.

El Toro · Mar 8, 2017

I modified a moldboard plow off a walk behind tractor to fit the sleeve hitch on my Wards garden tractor. Hal

Facemobile · Mar 8, 2017

(quoted from post at 09:17:10 03/08/17) I modified a moldboard plow off a walk behind tractor to fit the sleeve hitch on my Wards garden tractor. Hal

That looks like it works nicely. Thanks for sharing. I don't fully understand how a sleeve hitch works. Are they best suited for 4 wheel garden tractors? I wonder if it would make sense to try and mount one onto a two wheel tractor.

Facemobile · Mar 10, 2017

Can anyone help me verify the original color (or lack of color) the Waterbury came in? Mine has definitely been recently painted a green color. The handlebars are a flat black color. The images I find online look either black paint or nothing at all.

Thanks for all the help so far everyone!

Dennis Andres · Mar 13, 2017

My dad had a Western Auto Wizard that look identical to your waterbury. It had a
Briggs 2 hp and the gearbox used 90w. We had all the attahments for the back. The
color was red with yellow wheels.When was young I sent off to the address on the
serial number and they sent me the owners book for free. when my dad passed the book
got throwed out by accident

Facemobile · Mar 17, 2017

Oh cool I've never heard of Western auto wizard. The pics online of the two wheelers do look a lot like the Waterbury. I'll have to keep that in mind.

Facemobile · Mar 17, 2017

So on a side note, I've obtained an old 10" Brinly moldboard plow from a garden tractor. Looks like it hooks up via a sleeve hitch. I'm hoping I can mount this to the Waterbury.

Facemobile · Mar 18, 2017

I found this Waterbury ad online. It shows how the lawn mower would attach to this model. The idler pulley is clearly operated by the second handlebar lever. Thanks for the tip Brian.

Facemobile · Mar 27, 2017

So it looks like most of the snow is gone for the season in my area. I got to use the Waterbury in the last snow storm we had. It was about 6 inches of heavy, wet snow and the Waterbury did excellent!

Anyways, I finally got around to removing the modified snow plow attachment up front to see the quick hitch. I'm a little confused as it looks opposite of the hitch in the drawn ad above. If you look at the hitch in the ad above you see the hitch has two points that face forward.

Here's kind of what they look like.

Hitch in ad
/\___<

Hitch on my Waterbury? model H
/\------_]

My hitch is very similar, but the point up front 'faces' the other point. See pics below. Ignore the custom hole a previous owner drilled for the plow to fit.

My question now, are these the same hitches? I can't see why a company would make different hitches for each model but what do I know haha. To me it appears the hitch are the same but just mirror each other if you know what I mean.

Facemobile · Mar 27, 2017

So it looks like most of the snow is gone for the season in my area. I got to use the Waterbury in the last snow storm we had. It was about 6 inches of heavy, wet snow and the Waterbury did excellent!

Anyways, I finally got around to removing the modified snow plow attachment up front to see the quick hitch. I'm a little confused as it looks opposite of the hitch in the drawn ad above. If you look at the hitch in the ad above you see the hitch has two points that face forward.

Here's kind of what they look like.

Hitch in ad
/\___<

Hitch on my Waterbury? model H
/\------_]

My hitch is very similar, but the point up front 'faces' the other point. See pics below. Ignore the custom hole a previous owner drilled for the plow to fit.

My question now, are these the same hitches? I can't see why a company would make different hitches for each model but what do I know haha. To me it appears the hitch are the same but just mirror each other if you know what I mean.

Facemobile · Mar 27, 2017

So it looks like most of the snow is gone for the season in my area. I got to use the Waterbury in the last snow storm we had. It was about 6 inches of heavy, wet snow and the Waterbury did excellent!

Anyways, I finally got around to removing the modified snow plow attachment up front to see the quick hitch. I'm a little confused as it looks opposite of the hitch in the drawn ad above. If you look at the hitch in the ad above you see the hitch has two points that face forward.

My hitch is very similar, but the point up front 'faces' the other point. See pics below. Ignore the custom hole a previous owner drilled for the plow to fit.

My question now, are these the same hitches? I can't see why a company would make different hitches for each model but what do I know haha. To me it appears the hitch are the same but just mirror each other if you know what I mean.

Facemobile · Mar 28, 2017

Well I cannot figure out how to edit the previous posts so you don't see the duplicates. Keeps saying it's temporarily disabled. If a moderator sees this please delete the duplicate posts with the special characters in it. Then this one. Please and Thanks!

bryancherryville · Nov 9, 2017

(quoted from post at 20:36:09 02/26/17)

Hey Brian,

I am new to this site and not sure if I am even responding correctly. I picked up a Waterbury Model G with the sickle bar attachment on it. The original engine was changed to a newer B&S. It runs and works pretty good, but I don't know anything about the unit, itself. I have been online searching for information and diagrams etc. and have had little success. Any help or guidance you can give me on where to look would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Bryan

Facemobile · Nov 9, 2017

Hey, if you wanted to contact Brian directly try sending him a PM (private message) by clicking his profile.

Im glad you posted in this thread though. I had been wanting to update this for awhile and now's the perfect opportunity. Brian does have a bunch of info on the Waterbury model G and H so hopefully he will chime in, but let me know if I can help. I've had my model H for a year now and have learned a lot.

Facemobile · Nov 9, 2017

(quoted from post at 14:42:33 03/27/17)
Anyways, I finally got around to removing the modified snow plow attachment up front to see the quick hitch. I'm a little confused as it looks opposite of the hitch in the drawn ad above. If you look at the hitch in the ad above you see the hitch has two points that face forward.

My hitch is very similar, but the point up front 'faces' the other point. See pics below. Ignore the custom hole a previous owner drilled for the plow to fit.

My question now, are these the same hitches? I can't see why a company would make different hitches for each model but what do I know haha. To me it appears the hitch are the same but just mirror each other if you know what I mean.

So I wanted to answer my own question so any future reader would know. Unfortunately Photobucket won't host my images anymore so the pic references might not make sense.

Anways, the quick-hitch has two styles. One where hitch points face outward, one they face inward (like mine). This makes no difference except the direction you take the implements on and off. So yes they do mirror eachother.

Another thing about implements for the Waterbury. They are the same implements as for simplicity walk behinds. There are a few other companies like allis chalmers that also made walk behinds with the same quick-hitch upfront and cylindrical sleeve hitch in back. Once you look at the two long enough you can spot them a mile away. The simplicity implements are rather easy to find too.

Facemobile · Mar 8, 2018

Pic of Waterbury style quick-hitch with Simplicity snow plow.

Brian G. NY · Mar 8, 2018

Exactly.....and see how that blade curves at the bottom?

When my brother and I were just kids, we learned that when plowing snow, especially heavy stuff, you could push down on the handles and add all kinds of traction utilizing the weight of the snow.
We had chains and that little thing would push an unbelievable amount of snow.

Facemobile · Mar 9, 2018

(quoted from post at 22:42:34 03/08/18)
Exactly.....and see how that blade curves at the bottom?

When my brother and I were just kids, we learned that when plowing snow, especially heavy stuff, you could push down on the handles and add all kinds of traction utilizing the weight of the snow.
We had chains and that little thing would push an unbelievable amount of snow.

You aren't kidding. The last big snow storm in February i believe, my yard got covered in about 7.5 almost 8 inches of decently heavy snow. The Waterbury was able to move the snow, just had a bit of a learning curve. In the grassy areas where traction is very limited I had to make a bunch of "J" shaped passes in order to deposit the snow when it became too much to push for the tractor. After getting to hard ground and pavement I just had to have a place to push the snow in about 10-15ft lines. After pushing 7.5 inch snow that far it was just to much for the weight of the tractor and the tires started 'skipping' or 'hopping' a bit. Even with wheel weights and chains. All said though the tractor pushed the snow into 5+ foot tall snowbanks. I was pretty impressed.

Facemobile · Mar 10, 2018

I wanted to upload this photo to show what I was talking about in the previous posts with the quick hitch.

RPN · Feb 10, 2023

Hey Brian, I am fairly new to this sight although I did join sometime ago. I have recently acquired a Waterbury Model F walk behind Tractor and I have been searching for a manual that will help me restore it. From checking the posts I see that back in 2017
you posted that you had a copy of your father's manual for a Model H. If there is a chance you still have a copy of the manual I was wondering if you would be willing to share.
I tried to PM you but was unable access that option for some reason.
Sorry I tried to photos but it won't allow me to load them.
Any information or advice would be appreciated, thanks Richard.

Brian G. NY · Mar 6, 2023

Richard,
You may not be able to post pictures yet as I understand it is not allowed until a person has been here a while or has made a few posts. That may also be true for using the persona; messaging?

Brian G. NY · Mar 6, 2023

You can email me at: goodfell at midtel dot net

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