What is it?

[ijoker]

Hi everybody! It's been a long time! This has got us stumped! . My cousin, who is in the one picture, inherited our grandfathers land. This machine has been sitting there as long as we can remember. We have no idea what it is. My cousin said he thought it was a case. We just don't know. There were labels on the arm of the front loader, but they are unreadable. A couple of letters that we can sort of make out, makes us think it might be a international harvester. But again, we just don't know. The piece on the back is part of a hoe. Our grandfather took the rear piece with the bucket off for some reason. Maybe because of trouble with the Hydralics. :beatsme It has a gasoline engine. It appears to be 4 wheel drive. And it steers like a track loader with hand and foot controls. No steering wheel. We can't find a nameplate on this machine anywhere. It has to have one, right? ointhead. The question is, where is it? We can't find it! This thing needs far too much work to try to do anything with it. But it sure would be nice to know what it is. I told my cousin about this forum and all the smart people on here. I told him that somebody is bound to know what is. And can shed some light on the location of the nameplate. I sure hope somebody can. Any thoughts or ideas are welcome. For anybody that saw the picture on the test forum, sorry to keep you waiting. It's hard for me to find time to get on here and write a post. If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask. Peace!

 

[ijoker]

Darn picture inverted on me. That was why I went to the test forum to start with. I thought I had it figured out. Let's try it again! . There we go! After 3 tries I finally figured it out!

 

[ijoker]

 

[ijoker]

Picture

That was nerve racking! :Banghead. But hey! I got it!

 

[td14steve]

Hi, You have a Balmar there. My father had one for years they made a few different models. Ours was the same with a Pippin backhoe on it. The machines are built around a ford tractor, not sure of the series. I believe they are from the late 50's. Every now and then I see one around pretty simple machines but they were pretty bulletproof and easy to work on. Steve

 

[ijoker]

Thanks Steve

Balmar huh? Don't remember ever even hearing that name. And I would have never guessed Ford. I know Ford made tractors but I never thought that's what this was. Wow! You wouldn't be able to tell me where to find a nameplate would you?

 

[td14steve]

Hi again I just checked on Google there is actually a video of one running although not to well. I don't think they had any nameplate just balmar on the loader arms. I believe it is a D60 model. First backhoe I ever ran, must have been around 1970 or 71 I was 11 or so. Steve

 

[ijoker]

I saw what was advertised as a Ford Balmar D60 that was being demonstrated for a auction on YouTube. It looked exactly like ours except it didn't have a hoe on it. I saw some other pictures claiming to be D60's and they are different. I sure wish I knew how to positively ID this thing. Thanks again Steve.

 

[sheepfoot]

I was thinking the ford country tractors

 

[mitch504]

Didn't the County modified Fords have steerable front axles? When I first saw it, I thought of a Do-Mor, but that sure seems Ford based.

 

[sheepfoot]

I was also thinking they made a skid steer type ford that size, too many machine's in this old head. They had a spin off fordson/ dextor/ major that was for railroad work I seem to think. My first thought was a Do-Mor also. I am going to do some more searches on that Balmar. I can remember at the ford dealership with a wall chart with a machine like that

 

[jimg984]

that is a skid steer machine

 

[td14steve]

They are definitely skidsteer, I believe they just tightened up the brake on either side. The axles go into a chaindrive like a grader on either side.
I don't think we ever had any manuals on it, but parts were easy to find they seemed to be basically a ford tractor dropped into the drive/ loader system. Steve

 

[old-iron-habit]

Seems to be based on the old Powerhorse design. They were the first skidsteer type tractor and they were run by reins from the horse drawn equipment. One pf their adds stated "Put the horses at rest without buying new implements". I also thought Ford Country at first but they did have front wheel steer although not very sharp.

 

[td14steve]

I did some looking around there is a brochure for one of these on ebay, Appeears they were made in BALtimore MARyland hence BALMAR . Learn something new everyday. That's all I got for now, I'll have to dig around and see if there are any pics of the old machine around. Steve

 

[ijoker]

I have been doing some internet searching myself on the Ford Balmar. Haven't found much. It could be a D60 or G60. Don't know though. I haven't had any luck finding out where I can find the model and serial number on the machine. There has to be one right? Been searching also for a manual. And also if there is someplace that has a wheel. It's missing a wheel on the side you can't see in the picture. Anybody know where I can find parts for it?

 

[Steve Frazier]

Ford tractors of that type had their ID plate on the front side of the steering wheel post below the fuel tank. It's nearly impossible to see, I snaked my cell phone in there and took a photo to get the numbers for parts. It's possible they replaced it in the same place.

 

[ijoker]

Thank you for that. But this machine doesn't have a steering wheel. It'll be a while before I get back up there to look. I will look under the dash area when I get back up there. We didn't think it should be that hard to find. I found out one thing. It was from the brochure that Steve mentioned. It was Balmar corporation that made these things. I've been putting Ford in front of it. And that's wrong. It IS built around a Ford tractor. But it's a Balmar tractor. Just like case used some GM products. I found Balmar corporation but it looks like they are not in the tractor buisiness anymore. It looks like they might be building planes at the old tractor plant. I don't know for sure. ointhead