Gravely 812 Partial Restoration

I’ve had a Gravely 812 for around 10 years now and I like her a lot. She is as old as me, built in 1973. She’s a brickhouse and even has a cigar lighter in the dash. She’s really jumpy when put in gear but there’s a few things about her that I really like:

  1. PTO: it stands for power take-off and it’s really cool. All old tractors have it – it’s a spinning shaft that you can connect to various attachments; snowblower, wood chipper, mower deck, tiller, brush hog, etc.
  2. Hydraulics: this 812 comes equipped with hydraulic lift. It’s the premium way to raise or lower the mower deck or snow plow
  3. Repairable: lots of new tractors are disposable. Not the Gravely 812. She has a Kohler 12 HP motor and parts are readily available.

I sometimes look at old cars and want to restore one. That’s a big job, but getting the gravely into better shape is a much more practical goal in that I already own one and I can restore a neglected part and resume using the tractor. There are limited parts and it really looks good when cleaned up.

Anyway, I took the hood off and cleaned, hammered straight, sanded, removed decals, painted and applied new decals that I ordered online.

9 thoughts on “Gravely 812 Partial Restoration

  1. Jim,

    Saw your restoration. Nicely done. Fun to do but always a work in progress.

    I have a Gravely 260Z mower than I’m cleaning up and would like to know the supplier of the decals you got online.

    I found a number of suppliers on eBay but you may have a better source.

    Thanks for responding,
    David

  2. Hi Tim, like your tractor. We are also restoring a 1974 Gravely 812. Much of it is already done thanks to our friend Joe. Was wondering if you could lead us in the right direction…..we need to find a seat and decals. We want o.e……let me know…..thanks!
    Otis Claytor

    1. Thanks Otis. I got a lot of my parts at ebay but haven’t found an OEM seat. Decals are from RG Graphix. Good luck!

  3. I just bought this same tractor this last fall. I use a snowblowing attachment to do snow, for many of my lawn customers. I would love to have the plow attachment. Where did you get yours?

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