In the last issue of Oliver Heritage, we told you all about the successful loaders that Ware Machine Works built for the Oliver crawler tractors.

Since Ware Machine was equally well-known for their successful loaders that they built for the Oliver wheel tractors, this portion of the story also needs to be told. This story many not be about crawler tractors, but Oliver’s line of industrial tractors were marketed out of the Cleveland plant for a number of years and also painted Cletrac orange during those years.

Along about the same time, Ware began to build loaders for the HG crawler, Ray Davis of H.F. Davis Tractor Company of Boston, MA also approached John Pilch with the need for reliable loaders for the Oliver Industrial wheel tractor line.

Model 70 Industrial Loaders
The Oliver 70 Industrial tractor was a reliable performer and had enough beef to be a good candidate for a loader tractor. This early loader had a lift frame built of heavy wall pipe. Rated lift capacity was 2000 pounds to a height of 8 1/2 feet. This loader was offered with a trip dump 10 cubic foot bucket and single acting lift cylinders. It was soon realized that double acting lift cylinders would make this loader a lot more efficient. Hydreco was the chosen pump supplier and Ware built the hydraulic control valve themselves. The loader could be easily detached when the tractor was needed for other work.

Sometime in 1949, Ware began production on a new loader for the model 70 with a hydraulic dump bucket. Specifications were very similar to the early loader with the exception that the bucket was now a half cubic yard. Since the Oliver 77 tractor was now in production to phase out the 70, the production of this improved loader was limited. However, it provided a good solid foundation for a long line of successful loaders.

To learn more about the other allied equipment Series Part V read Issue #20