Montgomery Ward - Electric Steel Hay Wagon Questions

Bill VA

Well-known Member
Had a few minutes this weekend to gawk at the old running gear I'm going to re-deck for our hay wagon.

On the rear axle was an ID tag. Turns out to be a Montegomery Ward. Doing some searching, I am finding a company called Electric Steel made some wagon gears for Ward and others. I suspect this is an Electric Steel wagon gear.

From the pic, can anyone share any info on this wagon and how to determine the ton capacity of it.

Thanks!
Bill
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Yes, Your Montgomery Wards gear was built by the Electric Wheel company. They do share a lot of common parts with the standard Electric gear but have a different front spindle setup using a kingpin instead of a drop spindle. As far as the rating goes, The made them all the way up to an 8 ton model but I have never figured out their rating system. The 8 ton had 6 bolt hubs, the 5 bolt hubs were considered a 4 or 5 ton gear... Hope this helps!
 
I have 2 Electric Wheel wagons, that were sold by Sears & Roebuck. One is heaver then the other and has a longer tongue. Never could find any ratings but never had any problems.
 
Went back to take a look and it is a 5 lug wheel. Also a few pics of the front and back wheel/axle/spindle. I don't have the gussets on the frame like you do, so more indication it's not an 8 ton gear.

Thanks!
Bill
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Not sure why I typed Electric Steel, was thinking Electric Wheel. Which is correct?

On the model number string, the first letters are WEW... which I take to mean Wards Electric Wheel.

Thanks,
Bill
 
Bought a used Wards when starting farming in "72...always considered it a 4 ton, but was fine with a 16 foot throw rack on it. Wagon was from the 50s.
 
I think it is a four ton wagon. The 3038-8 means 8000 lbs. If I remember correctly. If your just hauling small square bales and only make it a 16 footer you should be fine. Any bigger than that or hauling round bales an you will over load it.

The electric wagons never pulled very well down the road. The steering system just is not that great. It was meant for tractor speeds of maybe 15 MPH max. Behind a pickup they will really walk at 25-30 MPH speeds.
 
Hmmmm. Dad bought a brand new Oliver (EWC) 6 ton gear and 150 bushel flare box in 1967 and pulled it the 35 miles home from the Oliver dealer 50-55 mph.

That was all the faster the old 6-cylinder '60 Chevy pickup would pull it. Wagon and gear towed perfectly straight, no whipping at all.

Neighbor Dad traded help with put the same box on a new Deere 963 gear and regretted not using the Oliver/EWC gear after he saw Dad's new wagon.
 
I have to agree with DR. EVIL here. I have 3 8 ton Electrics, one 8 ton Wards and a 701 Allis Chalmers gear(also built by Electric) and yes, they didn't trail well when I got them, but they were an easy fix to make trail well.. Usually, they just wear out the holes the tie rods bolt to. I just weld the holes back up and redrill them to the right size. Put in a new bolt and set the toe in to about 1/8 inch and they will trail at 60 mph. Only thing to be careful of is not to back up in mud with a load. they will bend a tie rod for sure. The only fix to the John Deere gears is to buy new parts... and they don't give them away.
 
Your talking about a new wagon gear. Now try it with one that is 30-40 years old. The JD gears will usually still put pretty good and the Electric ones will worm around.

The bolt system in the electric wagons was subject to more rapid wear. I am not saying you can't keep an Electric wagon pulling straight but they need more maintenance to keep them pulling that way. The steering system was just built lighter.
 
Thanks everyone for the info!

I was very surprised the wagon had a Montgomery Ward tag on it - LOL! Never knew they sold such a thing as a hay wagon.

Learn something new every day!

Thanks again,
Bill
 
Yup JD,

Had several of he Oliver/Electric Wheel running gears around. Have to agree with your assessment.

Used to nickname them "Leapin' Lena's"!
 
The 8 ton was only sold the last couple of years that wards sold wagons. They over the rears had what they caled the LoLoad 30 up to the Loload 80. Different models had different style frames. Also the heavier the rating the wider the wheel tread. If I had good full pictures and some measurements I could possibly match it up with what is in the farm catalogs they were sold in. Would take some time to do it tho. Lighter gears some only had 4 lug wheels. If it is a 60" to 62" wheel tread it probably is a 4 ton gear, a 66" tread a 5 ton gear, the 8 tom gear had a 72" wheel tread and if I remember correctly the bolster stakes were welded and not adjustable and had 8 lug wheels. Was the 30-35-40-50-60- and 80
 
This is my 8 ton 3006 Wards gear Leroy... I would love for someone that had the catalogue resources to compile a list of the models and their capacities...
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Leroy - I have to disagree with you on that statement. I've seen many more empty wagons whip around when pulled too fast than I've ever seen loaded wagons. Might have something to do with the fact a loaded wagon that whips around tends to "UNLOAD ITSELF"!

Been my experience that a wagon that trails straight empty also trails straight loaded and vice-versa.

The spec sheet HOGLEG posted above shows Dad's new EWC/Oliver gear was a #5026E, 8-ton gear, had 6-bolt wheels, not 5, thing the spec sheet didn't mention was that EWC reinforced the frt and rear spindles with welded-on steel upside-down "U" shaped steel bars.

The flare box was a #5150, 150 bushel capacity. I know level full with no side boards it hauled 10,000# of dry shell corn. With two feet of side boards full of ear corn it was all the '48 M could handle picking with the 2M-E picker.
 

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