Need Help

Good luck with the search for paint schemes for your tractor. I too have a 1951 Oliver 77 Row Crop and I have the same questions. I have found very little information on the paint other than the following: 1) The Fleetline models - 66,77,88,99 had a different tone of green for 1951 and earlier, later models had a different tone. My concern about this is when did it change? Was it during the production year, or at the end of it. I do wish that I could find an authoritative reference on this subject. I would imagine somewhere in the Oliver production archives this is listed, but I do not know how to access this info. 2) On many of the restorations that I have seen, I noticed that certain liberties have been taken with the trim colors and schemes. I do know that the decals are often incorrect. I have been informed that 1951 and earlier had all yellow script on the side curtain, after that the yellow was hightlited with red - you may want to research this. (my tractor has the original side curtains and they have only yellow paint in quite good condition.)
3) The front wheels can be very difficult to figue out the paint scheme because of the different types of wheels. I believe that if the front wheel is a complete wheel (like a car wheel) with stud holes around a central hub hole, that was painted red. I do not know if the hub was green but I think it was. My particular front wheel is an outer rim with offset tabs that bolt to a large cast iron hub (about 15" diameter and weights about 50 lbs.) These tabs allow for variable wheel spacing of the narrow front end. The rim was red and the central large hub was green. I do not know if the bearing cap was green or red but I believe that it was green. To complicate matters, my entire front wheel assembly was repainted red at some time.

I am unclear as to how the rear wheels and large hub are to be painted although I assume they are all red. I am less sure about the axles - whether they should be red or green. I have seen them both ways - some with matching bolt colors and some with contrasting bolt colors.

I hope that you are able to find some good verifiable information on this subject. If you hear of any good information, please pass it on to me. If you have any questions, or would like to compare information that you have compiled, please email me.

Also, as far as paint colors go, I have restored a couple of tractors and have used a wire brush to clean the castings and sheet metal. You can sometimes find out what color was underneath if it has been repainted. I did on a 1947 88 where the front frame had red on the front and a stripe along the frame similar to what is casted in some 77s and 88s although it was not casted on the 1947. I was able to lightly take paint off and found the lines where it went. By seeing a seperation in the green and red. It may be worth trying to find out what is underneath.

Phone 515-622-2592

I ordered my decals from them and she has helped to explain the paint scheme. Give them a try. I will be contacting her today in regards to the differing shades of green used on the 1951 models. I appears from the serial number that mine was the 93rd on made in 1951. It may require the darker shade of green. I'll let you know.

Dale

Thanks for the help, I really do appreciate it. I am interested to hear what you find out.

As a related topic, I was checking out another site and came across a potential find. Apparently the Floyd County Historical Society in Charles City, Iowa has the entire Oliver library. They may have some info that may be helpful. Perhaps you already knew this but it can't hurt to spread the word.

Thanks again for the info

He can also supply you with paint schemes and paint numbers so you get the correct colors.
Hope this helps.

I really appreciate the information.

Thanx.