I'll look it up, thanks. Not sure if you ever saw one, but on Marylands Eastern Shore (east side of Chesapeake Bay), the Sharptown Firemans carnival has an Eli wheel that is completely mechanical and powered by a tractor engine. Has an outboard shoe clutch. Love hearing it load down when it starts to turn, (and some clutch chatter), and the speed will vary due to the load imbalance. Love it! Can't be many left!
Its amazing how quickly these crews can set up and take down the rides once they are familiar with them. I live in Delaware and Ive left the State Fair at 11 pm on the last night of the fair and have gone back by at lunchtime the following day and the rides are gone! Thanks for your content.
Pete, GREAT video and thanks for sharing! All this heavy lifting MUST take a toll on the body eventually with hernia, muscle and back issues for the workers along with the dangers of climbing high to work on the rides. I am in AWE of these workers!
That’s the first time I have ever seen a Ferris Wheel where the seats face each other. 😮 Thanks for posting this video, I always wondered how they put together a Ferris Wheel.😊
I'm not sure why exactly, but I think this is one of the prettiest of all the wheels. The engineering is fascinating and what I like about Eli wheels is how the sweeps extend out from the wheel. Something about it just seems more elegant or something.
Seeing the complicated setup and number of connections gives me admiration for the men doing the assembly. And makes me never want to go on a carnival ride again.
Love It.. Always was fascinated with carnival rides and how they are put up and taken down. When I was a child we had Church Carnivals all around town and the best part was when the rides would arrive on a Sunday night and watch them deliver them and build them. We would see them start building them but it would get late so we would miss the full build up..
Wow, that was quite a process. The average fair goer probably has no idea what it takes to assemble and disassemble these rides, much respect to the Men that make it happen.
West Coast Amusements Unit 3 used to have one of these Eli Bridge Double Eagles back before covid. I never ended up riding it unfortunately, only rode the newer Gondola Wheel they have. Very neat to see one of these setup!
Thanks Pete! What an amazing and “dangerous “ process indeed. What a beautiful ride. When I was growing up I used to go to the county fair and ride the rides on kids day. It was terrifying. One year the Skydiver Ride arrived late, so I watched them set up it was great! It’s one of my favorites enemies though I hate going upside down especially 50 or 60 feet in the air. I think it was sometime in the late 60’s. Thanks for these videos.
We had the ground mount Eli's at our park and man that is something to see also. It was all old school setting them up. Our first wheel got hit by a micro burst and you could literally reach up and touch the top seats from the ground. I tried to talk our folks into getting a Double Eagle because of the better capacity. The park decided on buying an Enterprise Ride from Michael Jackson's Never Land Ranch instead. The second wheel lasted till the park got auctioned off but we did remove the top 5 seats from it every night till that time.
@@PeteRondeau The Enterprise that was purchased from NLR was never assembled there. It was sold to a show in Mexico. Not sure where most of the others ended up but from what I understand Chance Rides Sold NLR most of the rides and resold them after the property was sold.
Its called a lever action load binder, i use them sometimes with chains instead of ratchet straps when securing equipment or vehicles to trailers. You can wrap the chain around the outside of the binder for a safety but its really not needed.
I rode a Big Eli Wheel in the 1950"s. The same company did our school carnivals each year, and I remember all the turn buckles had those toggle clamps on them. That wheel was powered by a big Allis-Chalmers rig. It was not a round wheel, and was powered by cable.. The seats did not face each other, and did not have plastic shields on them.
I usually attend IAAPA but it would be great if you’d tell the viewers how much these rides cost the amusement companies and their lifespans. Great video ❤
You need to find a video on UA-cam that shows you how the same company made the early one's that were referred to as Ground Mounts or G/M. B4 they were hydraulic and easy, the whole thing was inside a 27ft box trailer and everything was moved by hand and raised with ropes and block and tackle and as a kid I was lucky enough to have seen them do it a few times. In the late 60s and early 70s a few owners were imaginative enough to have Frankensteined it into their own trailer mounted versions. It was a great idea and the mfg was mounting the older ones on trailers and designed the next generation to start with the trailer as the base and the folding towers with the axle and spokes attached. I think that your 86ft highth is about 25ft off b/c the Skydiver and the Skywheel double wheel are in that range...
@Pete Rondeau yep great guys! Tom is a good friend of mine. Worked with him a few times last year and Aaron from AEB Amusements out of Easton stopped by my shop last week. Great guy. I helped him out at one spot last year too.
That A frame is called a Derrick .. I’ve only seen it on Eli trailer mounted wheels.. the only other trailer mounted wheel I’ve seen didn’t use a Derrick but instead a cable system that attached to the front sign.. I dunno if you can but you should find a company that still uses ground Mount wheels.. it’s amazing with the old ropes and using the bull gear as a pulley and how fast they run with the spokes into th3 trailer .. it’s a lot more exciting than a ground mount scrambler or a tilt
Liked and subscribed! OMG!! I’ve been trying to find a channel like this for decades. I rode on the Ferris wheel exactly like this 50 years ago when I was seven years old and I haven’t been able to find any information on the unusual design of this type of Ferris wheel, until now! Do you know how old this particular model is? Thank you!
This kinda makes me wish I had tried to buy one of the rides sitting, racked up on their trailers behind a local farmers market. If I recall, one was a little dragon mini-coaster and I'm not sure what the other one was. Wonder if they are still there.
@@elleryparsons2433 this video was taken right after they received the ride . They used it a few times after this to evaluate what it needed then it was completely stripped the following winter and rebuilt and repainted. I have some video of that process to will be releasing in the future.
Very nice Eli bridge makes top notch wheels. I’ve never worked on this model so I do have one question 1. If the winch cable fails during set up or tear down what’s stopping all the spokes from crashing back down?
If this is a new ride for them, then this is also a fairly new experience in setting it up? They seem to know exactly what they are doing. Is there some sort of "standard" in play? Once you know how to do the basics, most rides are easier?
This was their first time setting up, but they had the manual and some of these folks were the same ones who went to Oklahoma to tear it down. So they got a little lesson out there and there there is a general familiarity with the methods used to do such things.
Mr. Randeau it’s Jeff Barry from Lebanon how long did it take them to set this up Meaning this is the first time they said there’s up then once a perfected how long would it take?
Chain binder and I've never had a tight one open ever. Not in 50 years. Only if there loose could they possibly open. Under tension there not opening with out a long pipe to create enough leverage. On rare occasions they break. Usually when you're trying to close them under to much tension. These are inexpensive, cheaply made versions that fail. From a reputable company, they don't open, they don't break. Have been in use longer than I've been alive very successfully. If they were unsafe they would have banned them long ago.
On a wheel there are Spokes, Not Sweep's, and as for your mini, you have a challenge before you, and your best bet with all of the rust on the towers, and the sweep's. would be to sand blast, leaves more of a workable surface to prime and paint, and you should think about getting a 3/4 drive socket for tightening the journal pins, that spud wrench doesn't quite fit the nuts, if you continue to use the spud wrench, you will round off the corners of the nuts
Why do American midway rides usually look so rickety and old? They're great feets of engineering and obviously well put together and safe, but the rides I see at western european fairs look so much more professional. (Not that I wouldn't ride a zipper if I'd ever run into one. TUV rules and inspections block so many great rides. I had to go to the UK to even ride a Tagada)
This wheel is rickety and old. I believe I mentioned in the video that they were setting it up specifically to determine what work needed to be done. However, Europe is not immune to rickety rides. I’ve seen Dave at sloths vlogs ride plenty of rusted rides. And my channel in particular is focused on preserving old rides.
The European system has multi generational independent contractors who own a ride or a few and share the money with the organizers. The whole pride of ownership is obvious and the extra effort will encourage people to choose yours over the next one and the families reputation is on the line to be able to set up at the best events. This allows for things like the Barth family who has a portable coaster with 5 loops and takes almost 40 trailers to move it and the imagination to theme it with props and extra things to make you ride it and still make a good living as well. In America the carnival's own all of the rides and how they look dosen't matter b/c you have no choice but to ride whatever they bring and they are just too lazy to have the crews care about that and the mgmt isn't interested in how they look for decade's it seems like...
@@PeteRondeauGet realalistic, that is a modern wheel and I saw nothing at all that was rickety. Common sense says that when you spend 150K-250K on a used ride it's part of the process to set it up at the WQ and just make sure that it's ready for the next fair ready to go and lit up properly touch up the paint if necessary. If I was spending that much on a fancy used car I'd like a qualified mechanic to do the same thing...
A lot of hard work involved in order to make that 2 minute ride happen. Carnies really break their cabooses lifting, pulling, pushing, climbing, driving, & etc in all kinds of weather, large crowds, and constant noise. All while bing away from home for months at a time and abysmal pay. Definitely not easy work, you must enjoy it in order to make it happen.
I’ve only ridden 2 wheels in my life, one a chance double sky wheel, I remember it but don’t remember where or who owned it. And a chance giant wheel, I find the lines are too long to make it worth it.
It always bums me out when I see a carnival and all the lights on rides aren’t working. Same with old restaurants, etc. that have let their signs deteriorate, instead of restoring them.
Check out all of our ride setup videos: 🎡 ua-cam.com/play/PL9JRE2uksm9u_RKVzyoFI-KzwAYVgMvPD.html
I'll look it up, thanks. Not sure if you ever saw one, but on Marylands Eastern Shore (east side of Chesapeake Bay), the Sharptown Firemans carnival has an Eli wheel that is completely mechanical and powered by a tractor engine. Has an outboard shoe clutch. Love hearing it load down when it starts to turn, (and some clutch chatter), and the speed will vary due to the load imbalance. Love it! Can't be many left!
The engineering involved in going from a blank sheet of paper to a foldable, portable ride of this size is nothing short of remarkable.
I agree. Its one of the things that draws me to it.
Its amazing how quickly these crews can set up and take down the rides once they are familiar with them. I live in Delaware and Ive left the State Fair at 11 pm on the last night of the fair and have gone back by at lunchtime the following day and the rides are gone! Thanks for your content.
Pete, GREAT video and thanks for sharing! All this heavy lifting MUST take a toll on the body eventually with hernia, muscle and back issues for the workers along with the dangers of climbing high to work on the rides. I am in AWE of these workers!
That’s the first time I have ever seen a Ferris Wheel where the seats face each other. 😮 Thanks for posting this video, I always wondered how they put together a Ferris Wheel.😊
I'm not sure why exactly, but I think this is one of the prettiest of all the wheels. The engineering is fascinating and what I like about Eli wheels is how the sweeps extend out from the wheel. Something about it just seems more elegant or something.
I had so much fun watching on how the setup on this ride… thank you for sharing this video Pete . Keep them videos coming 😊
Glad you enjoyed it
Watching all Videos Of Rides Being Set Up Will Always Being Interesting.
Always such a clear and informative video when you do these.
The a-frame, winch leverage thing is genius
Thank you very much!
Seeing the complicated setup and number of connections gives me admiration for the men doing the assembly. And makes me never want to go on a carnival ride again.
Love It.. Always was fascinated with carnival rides and how they are put up and taken down. When I was a child we had Church Carnivals all around town and the best part was when the rides would arrive on a Sunday night and watch them deliver them and build them. We would see them start building them but it would get late so we would miss the full build up..
Wow, that was quite a process. The average fair goer probably has no idea what it takes to assemble and disassemble these rides, much respect to the Men that make it happen.
West Coast Amusements Unit 3 used to have one of these Eli Bridge Double Eagles back before covid. I never ended up riding it unfortunately, only rode the newer Gondola Wheel they have. Very neat to see one of these setup!
Thanks Pete! What an amazing and “dangerous “ process indeed. What a beautiful ride. When I was growing up I used to go to the county fair and ride the rides on kids day. It was terrifying. One year the Skydiver Ride arrived late, so I watched them set up it was great! It’s one of my favorites enemies though I hate going upside down especially 50 or 60 feet in the air. I think it was sometime in the late 60’s. Thanks for these videos.
Ride not enemies! Don’t know where that came from stupid spell check
I remember the first wheel I operated. Was a 68 Eli cable drive with fluorescent lights. I thought I was the king of the midway lol
“No single riders” 😢. Great video and fascinating as always. Thanks for sharing.
Glad you enjoyed it
Today's trailer mounted rim driven wheels are certainly a far cry from the old cable driven ones that carnivals use to carry in the 1950s 60s and 70s.
We had the ground mount Eli's at our park and man that is something to see also. It was all old school setting them up. Our first wheel got hit by a micro burst and you could literally reach up and touch the top seats from the ground. I tried to talk our folks into getting a Double Eagle because of the better capacity. The park decided on buying an Enterprise Ride from Michael Jackson's Never Land Ranch instead. The second wheel lasted till the park got auctioned off but we did remove the top 5 seats from it every night till that time.
Thanks for sharing! I'd be curious to track down all the never land rides to see where they ended up.
@@PeteRondeau The Enterprise that was purchased from NLR was never assembled there. It was sold to a show in Mexico. Not sure where most of the others ended up but from what I understand Chance Rides Sold NLR most of the rides and resold them after the property was sold.
Awesome Vids as always! Appreciate you taking the time to film and create this kind of content.
Glad you like them! I appreciate hearing that.
@@PeteRondeau Your Hard work, does not go unnoticed my friend
Its called a lever action load binder, i use them sometimes with chains instead of ratchet straps when securing equipment or vehicles to trailers. You can wrap the chain around the outside of the binder for a safety but its really not needed.
Very entertaining and fun to watch. Thanks for posting this.
Wow its so compact u never would imagine a gigantic wheel ride would be on that trailers some engineer who designed that thing earned a bonus for sure
I run an Eli Hy-5 wheel, which is very similar. Ours is a cable drive with a hydraulic pump that turns a bull wheel.
I rode a Big Eli Wheel in the 1950"s. The same company did our school carnivals each year, and I remember all the turn buckles had those toggle clamps on them. That wheel was powered by a big Allis-Chalmers rig. It was not a round wheel, and was powered by cable.. The seats did not face each other, and did not have plastic shields on them.
I usually attend IAAPA but it would be great if you’d tell the viewers how much these rides cost the amusement companies and their lifespans. Great video ❤
That's really facinating to see how the setup works. Thanks for sharing this.
Thanks Michel
I always have wanted to get into building these but I just don't know how
Your vids are amazing. Thank you!
You need to find a video on UA-cam that shows you how the same company made the early one's that were referred to as Ground Mounts or G/M. B4 they were hydraulic and easy, the whole thing was inside a 27ft box trailer and everything was moved by hand and raised with ropes and block and tackle and as a kid I was lucky enough to have seen them do it a few times. In the late 60s and early 70s a few owners were imaginative enough to have Frankensteined it into their own trailer mounted versions. It was a great idea and the mfg was mounting the older ones on trailers and designed the next generation to start with the trailer as the base and the folding towers with the axle and spokes attached. I think that your 86ft highth is about 25ft off b/c the Skydiver and the Skywheel double wheel are in that range...
I had already corrected myself in the video description. I meant 68 not 86.
Nice video Pete. I've helped Garbrick set his wheels many times. Love doing it!
I was coming home from clarion county the other week and my GPS took me right past their shop in Centre Hall.
@Pete Rondeau yep great guys! Tom is a good friend of mine. Worked with him a few times last year and Aaron from AEB Amusements out of Easton stopped by my shop last week. Great guy. I helped him out at one spot last year too.
Tom is in a lot of the carnival/ride online groups I belong to but I don’t know him personally.
That A frame is called a Derrick .. I’ve only seen it on Eli trailer mounted wheels.. the only other trailer mounted wheel I’ve seen didn’t use a Derrick but instead a cable system that attached to the front sign.. I dunno if you can but you should find a company that still uses ground Mount wheels.. it’s amazing with the old ropes and using the bull gear as a pulley and how fast they run with the spokes into th3 trailer .. it’s a lot more exciting than a ground mount scrambler or a tilt
Cannot mistake that old Bates Amusement Inc. Orange and Yellow color scheme. This appears to be one of the two he owned.
It was. It belonged to Gary Bates then it was sold to a company in Oklahoma City down by the river walk 2 years ago then purchased by the Majestic
Did Bates buy it new or did it come from somewhere else
Pretty sure Bates bought two of them brand new. @@PeteRondeau
absolutely a brilliant design
Jay has been out there since he was knee high to a grass hopper!
Such fascinating metal origami.
Liked and subscribed! OMG!! I’ve been trying to find a channel like this for decades. I rode on the Ferris wheel exactly like this 50 years ago when I was seven years old and I haven’t been able to find any information on the unusual design of this type of Ferris wheel, until now!
Do you know how old this particular model is?
Thank you!
Great video
Please consider doing one of these for the paratrooper
That is near the top of the list of rides I want to do a setup of.
Great upload! I think Bates Brothers has a similar Ferris Wheel.
Somebody here in the comments mentioned that they thought this was their wheel at one point. Never got any confirmation of that though.
This kinda makes me wish I had tried to buy one of the rides sitting, racked up on their trailers behind a local farmers market. If I recall, one was a little dragon mini-coaster and I'm not sure what the other one was. Wonder if they are still there.
Another great video!
flat rides are super interesting, IKEA on steroids. Thanks Pete!
Love to See That Awsome👍👍👍👍.Now How do You Keep these Rides Fresh.
@@elleryparsons2433 this video was taken right after they received the ride . They used it a few times after this to evaluate what it needed then it was completely stripped the following winter and rebuilt and repainted. I have some video of that process to will be releasing in the future.
Eli wheels are crude yet genius. I prefer the design of a century wheel in terms of racking
cables are for truing the journals
Do you have any videos of the Trabant being set up?
Very nice Eli bridge makes top notch wheels. I’ve never worked on this model so I do have one question
1. If the winch cable fails during set up or tear down what’s stopping all the spokes from crashing back down?
Absolutely nothing. I would not want to be standing in front of them.
Great Video
they are used for truing the wheel
i live next to the eli bridge company and its the only company in the world that makes ferris wheels they also make scramblers
Awesome video my friend has one it’s the same color like this one he put puck LEDs
Majestic is planning on pucks as well
I work on a Eil bridge ferris wheel on 1 load on the uk
What about the other rides and a swimming pool, Pete
ths was very satisfying
If this is a new ride for them, then this is also a fairly new experience in setting it up? They seem to know exactly what they are doing. Is there some sort of "standard" in play? Once you know how to do the basics, most rides are easier?
This was their first time setting up, but they had the manual and some of these folks were the same ones who went to Oklahoma to tear it down. So they got a little lesson out there and there there is a general familiarity with the methods used to do such things.
not like setting up a old ground mount that's been mounted on a trailer. loved the old days on Heart.of America.Shows.
Will you ever make a set up video of the oriental express? Ride
Mr. Randeau it’s Jeff Barry from Lebanon how long did it take them to set this up Meaning this is the first time they said there’s up then once a perfected how long would it take?
I like this kind of stuff
Those are called Snap binders. We use them on the flatbed semis. they're very dangerous because they can pop open on you
Thanks for the info!
Chain binder and I've never had a tight one open ever. Not in 50 years. Only if there loose could they possibly open. Under tension there not opening with out a long pipe to create enough leverage. On rare occasions they break. Usually when you're trying to close them under to much tension. These are inexpensive, cheaply made versions that fail. From a reputable company, they don't open, they don't break. Have been in use longer than I've been alive very successfully. If they were unsafe they would have banned them long ago.
On a wheel there are Spokes, Not Sweep's, and as for your mini, you have a challenge before you, and your best bet with all of the rust on the towers, and the sweep's. would be to sand blast, leaves more of a workable surface to prime and paint, and you should think about getting a 3/4 drive socket for tightening the journal pins, that spud wrench doesn't quite fit the nuts, if you continue to use the spud wrench, you will round off the corners of the nuts
ok
Cool!
Why do American midway rides usually look so rickety and old? They're great feets of engineering and obviously well put together and safe, but the rides I see at western european fairs look so much more professional. (Not that I wouldn't ride a zipper if I'd ever run into one. TUV rules and inspections block so many great rides. I had to go to the UK to even ride a Tagada)
This wheel is rickety and old. I believe I mentioned in the video that they were setting it up specifically to determine what work needed to be done. However, Europe is not immune to rickety rides. I’ve seen Dave at sloths vlogs ride plenty of rusted rides. And my channel in particular is focused on preserving old rides.
The European system has multi generational independent contractors who own a ride or a few and share the money with the organizers. The whole pride of ownership is obvious and the extra effort will encourage people to choose yours over the next one and the families reputation is on the line to be able to set up at the best events. This allows for things like the Barth family who has a portable coaster with 5 loops and takes almost 40 trailers to move it and the imagination to theme it with props and extra things to make you ride it and still make a good living as well. In America the carnival's own all of the rides and how they look dosen't matter b/c you have no choice but to ride whatever they bring and they are just too lazy to have the crews care about that and the mgmt isn't interested in how they look for decade's it seems like...
@@PeteRondeauGet realalistic, that is a modern wheel and I saw nothing at all that was rickety. Common sense says that when you spend 150K-250K on a used ride it's part of the process to set it up at the WQ and just make sure that it's ready for the next fair ready to go and lit up properly touch up the paint if necessary. If I was spending that much on a fancy used car I'd like a qualified mechanic to do the same thing...
I set up hy5 Eli wheel
I live in Jacksonville Illinois home of eli Bridge company
Nice!
Would move to see a Fireball or Ring of Fire set up video
A lot of hard work involved in order to make that 2 minute ride happen. Carnies really break their cabooses lifting, pulling, pushing, climbing, driving, & etc in all kinds of weather, large crowds, and constant noise. All while bing away from home for months at a time and abysmal pay. Definitely not easy work, you must enjoy it in order to make it happen.
I didn’t catch how old is this ride?
Sorry. I showed the ride plaque but never mentioned that detail. It was built in 1993
WonderfulFerris Wheel Video!!!! F+L, Corey
could stand a good paint job
Yes, that will certainly be on the list of things-to-do.
I’ve only ridden 2 wheels in my life, one a chance double sky wheel, I remember it but don’t remember where or who owned it. And a chance giant wheel, I find the lines are too long to make it worth it.
I'd really like to see the setup on a Sky Wheel some day.
It's called a cross brace
It always bums me out when I see a carnival and all the lights on rides aren’t working. Same with old restaurants, etc. that have let their signs deteriorate, instead of restoring them.
Awesome wishbi was rich to buy them start my own company be awesome
That's crazy..it takes us 1 hour 30 mins with 2 men 😀
Ok?
I believe that ride used to belong to Bates Inc in Ohio
Looks like it just needs a little WD.
Just a bit of windex.
Bates Amusements old wheel
Was the ride built in 1993 or did I misread that on the plaque?
1993, that is correct, I neglected to mention that In the video.
no single riders.. well there's a no go LOL
you mean spokes
perhaps, but Chance calls them sweeps in their setup manuals.
De