New Idea Wagon Identification

MoFarmalls

New User
Hi Everyone. First time posting on the forum. I need help identifying this wagon i picked up over the weekend. It is in extremely good shape, none of the wood is rotten and almost all of the paint is still there. Bearing are all good as well. I did find a tag on the frame that said New Idea Lot No. W96. When was this wagon made? I cant seem to find any information on it or find one like it.
 
I don't know that you'll find out much from the lot number. New Idea used lot numbers on everything. They seem to be pretty random.
 
Here is the wagon. Any idea of age or what it's worth?
a244677.jpg
 
The lot numbers are not random. They have a distank pattern. Each model machine has its one series of In other words the machinery was made in batches or lots. A slow moving machine may only be made in one lot every other year while a fast moving machine may have 5 lots made in that year, You need the chart that goes with them but with that you can tell what year the machine was made, and if a popular machine that there were several batches made if first, second third or fourth batch that year, Will not tell month or date but early or late of a certain year. lot numbers with the First machine being a lot one and second batch lot 2 and so on.
 
But,did a Uni Harvester for example,have a different set of lot numbers than say,manure spreaders? I figured they were in order of batches made,but I don't have a chart,so I never could make any sense of them.

Can you use the chart to identify that wagon without a model number?
 
Lot number W96 shows year 1943. With rubber tires it's probably model 628R. If you want to talk, phone no. 715-743-2220.
Buddy
 
Do you have that lot number list? Is it available online somewhere? I know the lot number is more important then the serial number for ordering parts,but I never could make sense of them for any other purpose.
 
That Uni Harvester would have its own set of lot numbers and so would the manure spreaders. on the older manure spreaders (and I don't have the information on later ones) this is using figures for 1940 spreaders as that is what I work with. The No. 9 and the No. 8 and the No. 12 will all be listed in same lot listing as the No. 8 (75 bu) sold about twice as many as the No. 9 (60 bu) and the 12 that was the tractor spreader they would make a bunch of the one model and then when they needed more spreaders if it was the same as the previous batch it would be consectuatlive lot numbers on that model but if they needed a different model it would carry the next lot number and if they needed the next round of the first model it still would follow up with the next lot number. When they got to the PTO spreaders I do not know if they started back with a new set of lot numbers or not. And yes if you had the chart of lot numbers for a wagon you could identify a model from it. The only books I have bought were for the 3 & 4 bar steel wheel and low rubber hay rakes and the 9, 8, 10, 12 series manure spreaders as that was all I was involved with in dealing with the Amish. In other words the hay rakes had a group of lot numbers, the manure spreaders had their own group of lot numbers, the mowers their own group of lot numbers the stalk choppers their own group of lot numbers and so on.
 
Each lot number may have changes from previous lots but all in that lot would have that same change. Going by serial number you don.t know what lot it was made in so you don't know what changes were made from the next serial number one. And in the same lots you might just find things assembled different between 2 pieces made the same day as one group would work on one piece with a second group on a second piece and a 3rd group on a third piece. and so on. Now a left hand person might just put the bolts in the opposite way of a right hand person doing it, no right or wrong, just different way of doing it. On his wagon I just know it is from the first model they made and I dought it ever had a ton rating when made. You will only find the lot numbers in some of the owners-parts manuals. They did not include that in all of them. If any thing like a masters list exits it is in a friends basement unpacked from when he was told to take all the paper work out and throw it in the dumpster when they were cleaning out the factory after it had closed but the dumpster just happened to be the car he was driving to work. He was in the engineering department and after New Idea closed and he got laid off he worked for Cat for a while till retirement time.
 
The Deere dealer here was a New Idea dealer. I bought a Uni Harvester from them. They had an old shed out back full of parts. I needed some gear box parts one time for the gear box that ran the gathering chain on one row of the corn head. There was one out there that looked identical. I took that one and mine apart. I couldn't take two and make one. One of them had one more tooth on a gear than the other one did,so when I tried to mismatch them,it would turn almost one revolution and then would start to bind up. I learned a lesson right there that day about the little changes in them along the way.
 
Thank you all for the info!!! Buddy i really appreciate you narrowing down the year for me. Any idea on the best way to preserve and protect the wood and paint that is there? My grandfather suggested spraying everything down with linseed oil but i would like to get some other opinions. I will be keeping it under roof but i really want to keep it as original as possible. Thanks Again!
 
around here at auction -- no hoist, $100-$200.00 dollars. Not a lot of New idea collector here.
 
The only lot number lists I have seen are in parts manuals. Have never looked for list online. I think lot numbers go up as newer models were produced in the same type of machine.
Buddy
 

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