As sure as the winter nights are long, a search for another item like this Bolens GK960 8×8 tractor-ish machine will not bear fruit. The seller claims this device was owned by an engineer at tractor manufacturer Bolens. We might surmise this engineer shared much with Dr. Frankenstein and other mad scientists enthralled with the prospect of making a superior beast from the cast-off parts of others. Center articulation and eight-wheel drive certainly set this Bolens apart from the herd. Special thanks to Barnfinds reader and apparent Saturday Night Live fan Lothar… of the Hill People for spotting this Plymouth, Wisconsin gem. Do not despair, for the price of $5000 makes the Bolens GK960 yours. Potential suitors may inspect additional pictures and learn more about the history and condition of this legendary beast after a short digital hunting trip to Facebook Marketplace.
Twin hydraulic claw-like hands reach in vain for an apparatus to manipulate. Certainly, a blade that can move mountains of snow would make an appropriate tool for this mighty yellow monster. With the GK960 in your garage, surely you will toss back your head and laugh like Argus the Conqueror when the snow plow covers up the end of your driveway. Never has a task been easier than removing such a small impediment with this device.
These things are plain; the solid metal steering wheel promises to be colder than Zena’s… elbow when the sun runs low in the winter sky, yet the enclosed cab offers some respite from the elements.
The listing suggests this Bolens “should fire up” after a carb cleaning and new batteries. My Grandfather had a Bolens tractor with chains and a snow blower in the early ’80s. It proved reliable and saved him plenty of time clearing his wide driveway during the winter and cutting the grass in the warmer months. I wonder if “GK” stands for “Got to be Kidding?” Much have I seen, but never have I witnessed a creature like this. We invite you to share your thoughts in the comments below. Of what do you think when you witness this twin-engine, center-articulating, 8WD tractor?
Ha! That’s fantastic, Todd, and a very cool find, Lothar…
Well done!
Nice goin’, Todd, Scotty is renting a trailer as I type. Good ol’ Plymouth, ( no relation to the car) Wis., cheese capitol of the world. I hauled a LOT of cheese in and out of that place. Of course, Sargento is the biggest, and if you eat pizza, there’s an excellent chance the cheese came from Plymouth.
While some may laugh, it’s a little known fact, Wisconsin was the LEADER in outdoor power equipment. J-D,( Horicon) of course, but Bolens and Simplicity ( Port Washington), Wheel Horse (from Plymouth an AMC company, btw) Lawn Boy( OMC) and many others, came from Wisconsin. I read, this contraption is based off a 960 “Groundskeeper, that only had one Wisconsin 2 cylinder. It had a front mowerattachment, also a snow blower and a dozer blade. It’s articulated design was the cats azx for any kind of grounds work. Pretty sure a one off deal, ONE Wisconsin twin was enough of a hassle, much less 2. And to be clear, the carb isn’t “dirty”. I’ve come across this many times with older small engines, it’s probably the ethanol fuel that rotted the O rings or gaskets. Very rarely “dirt”. It’s a really neat find, ol’ man winter a comin’, and trust me, that cab makes all the difference.
We’ll check in later with Scotty to see if this is “still available”, or on its way to the North Pole, where he currently resides.
Howard not to nit pick but Wheel Horse was always from South Bend, Indiana. I get your point though.Old man Pond sold out to a bunch of investors who then sold it to AMC. When AMC was bought out by Chrysler they sold WH to Toro who owns the name today.
Hi Lance, thanks for the correction, it’s how it should be done. It was Gilson out of Plymouth, and Ariens out of Brillion, and all the “house brand” machines, that came from them. I don’t mean to brag, but Wisconsin was one of the biggest manufacturers of machinery, tractors, and equipment in the country.
HA! I only buy two-wheelers now, or maybe a three-wheeler. Ok, maybe a four-wheeler in a pinch, but not an eight-wheeler, unless it’s something like this: https://barnfinds.com/sure-footed-two-1970-amf-sur-trek-8×8-atvs/ (sorry for the threadjack, Todd!)
I’d like to believe that, my friend, I really would, but history has shown, you can’t resist, need I list them all? He obviously has a very tolerant wife. I think she’d okay the Queen Mary, if Scotty had the room.
Thanks for the history lesson, Howard! I’m not much of a power equipment expert, though I do love my 1987 John Deere 318. I agree that Scotty surely needs this for his 20 x 8 driveway. He would be finished well before the two hours of daylight expire. Happy motoring!
Ha, 20×8 would be ideal!
If I still lived on my 10 acres, I’d love to have this one. Monster lawn mower…. lol An interesting find, and this would have a lot of lookers at an informal car show…. like the ones in Jefferson Tx
I am Lothar of the Hill People! Much have I seen, and much have I done.
Now that I’ve finally gotten a BarnFinds submission published, I swear by Zeena’s teats I can die a happy barbarian man.
I can tell by the position of the sun in the sky, that is time for me to go.
Until next time, I am Lothar… of the Hill People!
PS- Good write-up, Todd.
My dad was a Bolens dealer from 1966 to 1986 and I worked in his shop on all Bolens products. Bolens had three levels of center-articulating tractors, GK – grounds keeper, EK – estate keeper and the smallest one LK – lawn keeper.
Bolens helped start the outdoor power equipment industry in the late 1940’s
and 1950’s with there walk behind tractors.
It seems to be a time for tales from the dark side. Well, I’m not in that area of odd but true type of story. As for this piece of equipment it’s for those with long cold winters unlike Houston, Texas where I reside with only about one or two weeks of winter. Being a re-located city dweller ( I spent my youth in the country part of Shasta County, California) I’m a county boy at heart. Still I just can’t seem to picture this machine on my dads 120 acre farm. He was a cattle man, never much into farming as such, so machines like this had no practical use. I left the place in 1964 at the very dubious age of 16 and joined the army on my 17th birthday and have lived mostly in the cities since, but I still think of myself as a country boy, I could see the fun factor of driving this machine around acreage, perhaps through ravines and over hills just to see what it could do. Never been fond of snow or cold weather though so plowing jobs will be left to you northern fellows.
God Bless America
P.S. I love your style of writing Todd.
Looks like someone took a pair of GK960 power units and hooked them together, added the cab enclosure from another Bolens tractor, but never really finished the job.
I suspect this can be driven either as a FWD or RWD, but not all 4 wheels at once. [It’s damn near impossible to get 2 or more engines to work in unison, running off separate carbs & throttles.]
Hi Bill, I see it was a Bolens worker with the “one piece at a time” deal. I’m sure many big companies never looked in the workers lunchbox, leaving the plant much heavier than the lunch that was brought in or when the shift changed, never noticed their pickup pulling around back, too busy with the previous shifts screwups.
Interesting note on multiple engines. In the 50s, several enterprising truck owners, did whatever they could for more power. Multiple engines were the answer, for some, mostly as an assist on hills, with so-so results. Unless a shared block, multiple engines, for why you stated, rarely worked well. The Diamond T from DeYoungs collection is about the best example. That’s a Buick V8 coupled to the truck motor, and reportedly worked well.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/564075922060632864/
Howard,
I think the Diamond T mating of a Buick engine worked because they included the automatic trans with the Buick engine. That flexibility between the engines [using the torque converter] would make up for the difference in engine speeds.
I would hazard a guess that the Buick engine speed could be controlled by a separate lever rather than part of the gas pedal, so if the extra power was needed for a hill or heavy load, it could be started in neutral and the trans engaged, then the Buick’s engine speed increased to the point where it helped in moving forward.
A company in Washington state makes a machine called a “Dandy Digger” currently.The design is similar,and they are one of the best post hole augering machines on the market today.
Perhaps I’m overthinking this, but as this appears to be intended for snow & ice removal [especially with the enclosed cab], I suspect that on an icy or snow covered surface, any difference in wheel speed between the 2 powered axles, would likely result in one axle losing traction for it’s 4 wheels. And since this is an articulated center-pivot steering design, losing traction can result in a loss of steering too.
Having worked at snow removal for 50 years or more [dad put me to work early on], I know moving snow often requires quick reversing actions to line up for another push forward. The Bolens uses a Clark 6 speed gearbox plus 2 reverse, not a hydrostatic transmission. So this also means it’s got dual clutches as well as 2 shifters, and possibly 2 more for the 2-speed reverse action. With the constant reversing actions for snow removal, I simply can’t envision the 2 powered axles as a plus.
It’s also going to have interesting clutch and shifter linkages to the front power unit as well. While it could be a hydraulic clutch system with a single master supplying 2 slave cylinders, linking up the 6 speed trans across the pivot steering joint, will be tricky. The US Army had plenty of trouble with it’s fully articulating center pivot on the M561 Gama-Goat with it’s 6X6 system.