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Recreated from an article by John Jackson
Beginning in the mid-1920's and continuing until the early 1950's shade tree mechanics, blacksmiths, inventors, and other clever people had the idea that a usable tractor could be made from an old car or truck. Mechanics Illustrated published plans for building a "Handy Henry" from that "old Ford sitting in your back yard, using simple tools anyone would have."
A company called Pull Ford manufactured a frame extension with steel lugged wheels which could be bolted on the back of a Model T Ford. Their literature said you could plow your field during the week, then unbolt it and use the car to go to church on Sunday.
The South Dakota Sate University published a farmer's bulletin describing how to shorten up an old car and mount a hay buck rake on the rear.
Almost all of these rigs had several design flaws in common:
1. Highway speeds and field desired speeds were not easily adjusted.
2. If you could get a machine to really pull, the front wheels came off the ground.
3. Sustained field work caused engine to overheat.
4. The machine looked like a modified old car, not a real tractor.
Emil Johnson was a Wyoming, Minnesota businessman who owned a snow fence factory called the Johnson Manufacturing Company (Johnson Mfg. Co.). It was located where the Wyoming State Bank now stands. He owned wooded land in Linwood township where he cut logs which ended up as four foot lath for snow fence.
There was a large and ongoing demand for snow fence from township, county, and state highway departments. They would all erect snow fence in the fall in farm fields adjacent to their roads to catch the snow and prevent drafting on the roads. In the spring it would be rolled up and stored until the fall when the cycle repeated itself. A roll of snow fence was fifty feet long, so lots of rolls were required. And, after a few years, it simply wore out, broke up and needed to be replaced.
Farmers also used snow fence to construct temporary corn cribs, and lining it with Sisal kraft paper , made temporary silos. Ernest Strand, a well known farmer from Chisago City, was often quoted saying "such a silo could make the difference between starvation and civilization."
In addition, Mr. Johnson also owned two McCormick Deering threshing machines and McCormick Deering tractors. He did extensive work in the Linwood and Martin Lakes areas.
Despite his investment in snow fence manufacturing facilities and threshing machines, Emil Johnson apparently had zero mechanical aptitude. Ken Banta said his uncle was Wyoming postmaster at the time and Emil Johnson would always call him for his mail at the general delivery window. He simply could not work the combination on his post office box.
Mr. Johnson was joined in his business by his two sons, Wilbur and Vernie, who unlike their father, were considered to be mechanical wizards. They operated the threshing machines, maintained the machinery that made snow fence, and made some of the production machinery themselves.
As a little boy, I went with my father to Wyoming to purchase some snow fence and recall the rumble and vibration out in the yard when the machinery was running. No one but employees were permitted inside the factory. This may have been a safety precaution or it may have been an attempt to keep outsiders form seeing the machinery.
In the course of this manufacturing, Wilbur and Vern built several shop made type tractors to move the rolls of snow fence around inside the factory and outside, and to dunk the rolls of newly manufactured snow fence in the vat of red paint.
About 1932, they began experimenting with manufacturing a farm tractor using automobile parts. The tractor evolved through several model changes. The first tractor had wooden spoke front wheels and the rear wheels had welded metal spokes. Then they engaged Martin Bush Iron from Anoka to produce cast iron arched front axles, rear wheels, and the cases for the final drive units. The first cast iron rear wheels were flat with the company name in raised letters. By 1935 the familiar curved cast rear wheels had been adopted and the tractor was ready for production and sale.
The marriage of a collection of automobile parts from totally unrelated sources tested even the Johnson brothers' ingenuity. Starting with a Model T Ford frame posed no problem. Finding a gear type transmission that would bolt directly to the Ford planetary transmission did. The transmission from a model 490 Chevrolet fit. But then there was the problem of connecting the Chevrolet transmission to a Model T Ford rear differential. This was solved by taking half of the Ford universal joint and half of the Chevrolet universal joint and putting them together.
The tractor met all of the objectives and overcame all of the objections. It was designed to have speeds suitable for field work. The cast iron rear wheels gave it the weight for traction and it really could pull. The cast iron front axle and the design of the drawbar kept the front wheels on the ground even when it really had to pull. The addition of an accessory water pump to the Model T Ford engine prevented most of the overheating problems. And it looked like a tractor, not an old car conversion.
By 1935, most farmers were familiar with driving a Model T Ford with its three transmission pedals, the high and neutral lever, and the throttle and spark levers on the steering column. The addition of the three speed Chevrolet transmission did not pose any great problem.
Driving consisted of putting the Ford transmission lever in high, engaging the clutch pedal, and then selecting low(2 1/4 mph), second (3 1/2 mph), or high (4 3/4 mph) on the Chevrolet transmission. When the Ford clutch was released and suitable throttle setting was determined, work could begin.
What if the speeds available by these arrangements were not suitable? The judicious use of the Ford low band would give three more slow speeds. Normally the maximum speed from a Model T Ford was 45 mph in high and 15 mph in low. Using the low band on the Ford transmission thus reduced the speed by 66 percent. And using the Ford reverse pedal and the Chevrolet reverse gear would provide an exceptionally slow forward speed.
So while the tractor claimed to have three forward speeds, actually seven were available in a pinch. Ford transmission bands would not stand such sustained use. Using the Ford differential the Johnson's manufactured shorter rear axles and their own final drive gears with Timkin bearings.
Driving 45 miles per hour on the road was one thing, driving 2 1/4 or 3 1/2 miles per hour pulling some machine in the field was often quite another. Particularly when something was going awry with the machine being pulled. Remembering at these speeds how to stop this complicated machine with all its pedals and levers was a challenge. In addition to the wild working of hands and feet to the various levers and pedals, sometimes the only sensible thing to do was yell "WHOA!"
Production numbers for these tractors are unknown. Estimates range from about fifty to several hundred. Myles Geise from Wyoming State Bank remembered the operation when he came to Wyoming in 1937. He said they had a booth at the Minnesota State Fair on Machinery Hill for several years. He and Oliver Stone recalled that towards the end of their production, four cylinder Willys Overland engines were being used.
The Johnson Mfg. Co. was sold just before the beginning of the second world war. Snow fence and tractor manufacturing ceased and war production was the order of the day.
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