Skid Steer Loader Built From Pair of SP Swathers

Skid Steer Loader Built From Pair of SP Swathers TRACTORS Skid Steer Loaders 21-5-2 After reading in FARM SHOW about a skidsteer loader built using parts from two self-propelled swathers (Vol. 20, No. 1), Ray Skoglund, Murdock, Minn., decided to build his own skidsteer using parts from a pair of Versatile 103 swathers and the loader arms off a small Kubota tractor. He bought the swathers for a total of $250 and used one of the engines as well as chains, sprockets, foot pedals, and four 15-in. wheels and hubs. He used 10 by 4-in. steel tubing to make a frame and 1 1/2 by 3-in. rectangular tubing to make the cab. The cab windows were salvaged from a Hiniker cab mounted on an old Deere tractor. His friend Chris Yost used cold-rolled steel to make the axles and installed eight 4-bolt flange bearings in the wheel hubs. The skid steer is powered by a Wisconsin 4-cyl. air-cooled gas engine rated at 37 hp. The engine direct-drives a 16 gpm hydraulic pump that operates a pair of orbit motors, with each motor chain-driving the wheels on one side of the machine. A splitter valve controls flow of fluid to each of the motors via two levers that are used for steering. The pump also operates hydraulic cylinders that raise or lower the loader arms and tilt the bucket. "It does everything I expected it to do," says Skoglund. "I mounted different size sprockets on the front and rear wheels to pro-vide a 4 to 1 reduction so it has plenty of power. It can go up to 5 mph. By pushing one lever forward and the other backward I can turn the machine around on a dime. I started working on it in March 1996 and was operating it by the following July. I spent 400 to 500 hours working on it. I built it because I couldn't justify buying a skidsteer loader. My total cost was only about $2,200. Also, I know how it's built and how to fix it. "I can raise the loader about 7 1/2 ft. high and can use two buckets with it, a 60-in. snow bucket and a 54-in. dirt bucket. I plan to make a hydraulic-driven post hole auger and mount it on the loader." Skoglund used the swather frames to build a trailer that he uses for hauling the skidsteer loader on the highway. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Ray Skoglund, 1135 70th St. S.E., Murdock, Minn. 56271 (ph 320 875-4501).

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