Length of tongue on horse drawn wagon or engine

[Gene Fisher]

I have a horse drawn engine and the tongue has been shortened and am wondering what the length of the original would have been? My engine is a 8hp IHC famous on the original trucks and the tongue has either rotted off or been cut off and i would like to make a new one. Thanks for your help.

[Daniel Dorece]

That would depend on the size of the horse you were using, I have about twenty of these old reach poles in the shed and the longest one is almost four feet longer then the shortest one. I would make a guess that the average is about eleven feet.
Iron Wolf

[Gene Fisher]

Daniel, thanks for the info, however there must have been a standard length from the factory i would think. Since the engine was produced by IHC do you think they made different poles? thanks gene

[Daniel Dorece]

I don't know about the engine carts but I have a friend who collects all types of horse drawn I H C equipment and hardly any two of his pieces have the same length pole on them.
They were probably offered in two or three sizes for each new piece of equipment.
Iron Wolf

[Greg Flatt]

Hi Gene,
Dan is correct on the length of the tounge. They varied on the horses used. One idea is to see if you can locate a piece of IHC literature. You can scale the picture to find a length. Be aware that most artwork in the early literature is just that... artwork, and may not be acurate. An antique photo would be best. Greg

[Inter Bloke]

Didn't they supply a "blank", that you could trim up to the required size and put the fittings where needed ?

[Rick McKay]

Hey Gene,

My friend has a 10 hp Mogul Portable bought new by his grandfather. He has the original horse tongue setting up in the rafters of his shed. If you'd like I could go over and get a measurement.

Rick

[Gene Fisher]

Rick, thanks and i would be glad to pay your gas money, and if possible maybe get some photos. gene

[John Hanson]

I run 10' from the single trees to the hook for the neck yoke on the end of the pole with my Clydesdales, and that seems to work well for about any decent sized horse. You can always hook a bit longer on the tugs and neck yoke to make up difference, but it's a bit tough to shorten up much.
John

[Kevin O. Pulver]

John must be right. My cousin has some big Percherons, and he said he needs 10 feet 6 inches from the PIN that holds the double tree to the front of the tongue. That would be pretty close to exactly what John said.
I made a couple tongues to look right, but just guessing, with no horses to measure by, they ended up about a foot short. The extra length tongue is sort of a pain loading, hauling, and displaying, but they sure look nice and I wouldn't have it any other way. Kevin

[Leonard Keifer]

I measured some tongues on horse drawn equipment at the Beiler's auction yesterday. Most were in the 10 - 13 foot range.

[Matthew Harvey]

Just about every old pole I have is 9'6" from neck yoke stop,to the hole for the evener ,this is designed for a little smaller horses than most today .10' is good 9'6"works.
Matt

[David Scott]

The one that I have for my Economy I was told was the one that came with it when it was purchased new is almost 12 feet.

Thanks,

David