Is there a wagon guru in the house?

[Deeresmith]

I picked up an old Peru steel wagon gear on steel wheels, with fith wheel steer.
What I have actually consists of a front gear, minus the tongue and the bolster, and the rear gear. I need to fabricate the reach, tongue, and front bolster.
I have several questions.
How long should the wheel base be? Is there a standard? I plan to build a standard 10' 6" buckboard box.
Based on the construction of the rest of the wagon, I speculate that the front bolster may have been 4" channel iron, with 1 1/4" pipe used for the stakes. I gather this because the rear stakes are 1 1/4" pipe, and the front sand board is formed 1 1/4" channel.
So, if I fab a bolster out of 4" channel, should the flanges face up so the flat side of the channel bolster mates with the flat side of the channel sand board?
Or should the flanges face down, and the channel be filled with wood, or have a plate welded to the bottom.
Should there be any type of thrust bearing or washer between the bolster and the sand board?
What should be used for the pin to connect the bolster to the reach and front wagon gear. Should this be a 1" bolt? Should it be a 1" pin retained by a cotter pin?
If anyone has a picture of a similiar wagon gear, I would love to see it.
Thanks in advance for any info.

[Tim H]

I believe, I have the wagon you are talking about. I could possibly take some pictures and send them to you. I was looking for information on the same wagon when I found this web site! I would like to know some more history on the PERU wagon gears and also the color that they are suposed to be. maybe some pictures of what types of boxes they carried and what they were used for.

[Fred Van Hook]

I definitely am not a guru. I did find this ad in a wagon book. It is for Peru "FULL FORGED" Steel Wheels. Did they make their own wagons or am I talking the wrong company?

[Tim H]

Not sure if they made the whole wagon or not but, those are the wheels I have on my wagon. How old is the wagon book you found this in?

[Fred Van Hook]

Tim, It is a book of advertising called AMERICAN FARM WAGONS from 1889-1950. Compiled by Alan C. King. It shows 36 companies and 55 different wagons and accesories. MONOGRAPH NO.10 That is all it shows for PERU Plow and Wheel CO.

[Ray Forrer]

Peru Plow & Wheel was in Peru, IL. Built a lot of farm equipment, plows, wagons, gas engine carts, etc. I think some one has printed a small book on their history, can;t remember if I bought one or not! Getting ready for the Fair this week, so won't have time to check for awhile. They also made the Economy Tractor Kits for Sears that you put your own engine in.

Ray

[Fred Van Hook]

Found this on another site:

The Peru Plow and Wheel Company operated for 90 years, from 1851 to 1941. They made a number of products, including farm wagons like yours. They apparently also made engines for :”powered” farm wagons. These engines were used by the Hercules company, with which Peru Plow and Wagon seems to have had a long relationship. Hercules and Peru were both eventually taken over by J. I. Case.

There is a book about the company, called “The Peru Plow Works : Ninety years of farm machinery in Peru, Illinois, 1851-1941,” by Chad Elmore. It was published in 1966. Not surprisingly, the book is owned by the Peru, Ilinois public library, among others.

[Tim H]

Thanks Fred,

I am getting ready for paint and am trying to find someone that has one, so I can get the colors figured out before I paint it.

Tim