Bull Moose Company. Vancouver B.C. Anyone have info?

[Coleman396]

Hi Guys.
I am sure some of you have seen Bull Moose mobile cranes used around the M&B shops years ago.

I remember Franklin River shop had one for moving tires and heavy items around the yard. What I did not know is that they actually built a small dozer also. So I am looking for info about the Bull Moose company. I,m pretty sure they were in Vancouver B.C. and the products they built were sold through Kenworth dealers.

The one I have found for sale is destined to be parted out and scrapped if I don't rescue it really soon. It's complete, has fresh undercarriage and will run with a carb cleaning and new battery, fluids etc. It has been sitting for just over a year. Kind hate to see this dozer get parted out so I might have to go rescue it. I have a couple pics of it... The engine is a four cylinder Wisconsin. I believe this crawler was built in the late 50's or early 60's.

Transmission is some kind of a truck tranny with four speeds forward and of course reverse. Has hydraulic three way blade and a nice looking gearmatic winch on the back. She's all there but needs a new loving home. So, if anyone has any info at all about the Bull Moose factory I would sure love to read it. Thanks guys!

 

[72hayes]

Coleman
I encourage you to rescue her! I hate the S word!
Doug

 

[Coleman396]

Well, I am working on doing just that.
People scrap all the good stuff and then we end up buying all the so called replacements from China or some other Bin Laden type country. Then we'll end up with a whole bunch of disposable crap that won't even be good enough to fix! At least if I can rescue her she'll be around until I'm gone.........lol.

 

[glenlunberg]

I agree. You really need to rescue her. I think she can still do lots of jobs.

 

[Coleman396]

Here's something I just found out. She's having a birthday on Thursday! 61 years young. Engine was built in April of 1950!

 

[mitch504]

Hey man, you can't be posting interesting pictures and not explaining them! I'll start a petition to get you :ban

What's the story on the little red tractor?

 

[Coleman396]

Sorry for the suspense. That's an old Gibson tractor I picked up. It's from the 40's. I actually meant to post it in a different spot. As you can see I have a soft spot in my heart for this old iron. Silly how that's been around for so long and still runs, let's see Craftsman do that......lol.

 

[mitch504]

Gibson? I'll have to research that one. The baby Case is cute with the ag tires.

Oh, btw, I still cut the grass with my grandfather's late '60s Craftsman mower, but, it does weigh twice what a new one does.

 

[Coleman396]

That's what I was meaning. Stuff built in the era of your grandfathers mower was built to last. Go but the local and fill and that's where all the newer mowers are after only a few years work. Keep that old Sears tractor!

 

[Mapleleaftrucks]

Thats a gibson either a d2 if it is a single cylinder engine or a super d2 if it is a twin cylinder engine if that is an original steering wheel, If some one has added the steering wheel then it would have been a gibson SD model with lever steering, I owned quiet a few of these back in the 70's and early 80's.

 

[Jumbo]

Gibson? I'll have to research that one. The baby Case is cute with the ag tires.

Oh, btw, I still cut the grass with my grandfather's late '60s Craftsman mower, but, it does weigh twice what a new one does.

Gibson started out in Seattle on First Ave down around Lander Street, they made their name manufacturing crew Speeders for the logging industry; about the size of a Skagit MAC 60. When railroad logging started to fade they moved into small tractors like what we see here, they finally migrated into riding lawnmowers, then, sometime around the mid 60s I believe, they disappeared. If they were bought out or just closed I am not sure, my granddad had a small Gibson.

 

[trakloader]

Not much info out there on Bullmoose, I have seen Bullmoose forklifts, and, of course, the little yard cranes. Never knew they made a cat!

 

[ekuehn]

Coleman I know a bit about the Bullmoose Cat (Canadian Mobile) as I own part of one. I am missing a track and few other msc. parts. I was told they were sold to Skagit at some time(not sure when). It seems they used a lot of army surplus parts to build some of their equipment. The tracks use a double sprocket and run on the outside of the rail. That is the same as some military equipment but I have never figured out what equipment used the same track as the cat? I was told that at one time they used a lot of Bullmoose cats & forklifts on the docks at Vancouver. I know we had a Bullmoose forklift at Canadian Forest Products at Harrison Mills in the 1960's when I worked there. Bit of an interesting story, my wife's step father worked just south of Quesnel B.C. in the late 40's-early 50's on road construction (Emil Anderson I think?). He said they shipped a Bullmoose cat up to try as a prototype. He said they had to ship it back for more development because it did 35 mph in high gear. I don't know what they changed but mine has a Ford truck transmission. I haven't had it running so I don't what speeds it travels at? Coleman if you did not purchase it I would be interested in purchasing it or if it is parted out I need a track and probably could use a couple of idlers. I am located in Quesnel B.c. not far from you. I tried to send you a PM but I am new to this form and couldn't seem to get that to work. I will give you email on the form using (at) instead of @ and hopefully the spammers won't pick that up. email elkuehn(at)shaw.ca ph. 250-747-1164 Thanks; Ernie

 

[64Pacific]

I've got a 1950 model 624 forklift that is going to be my next project. Looking through the manuals it turns out that a lot of parts for this machine came from the Ford 8N / 9 series of tractors. I will grab some photos for the thread this weekend.