1948 Cockshutt Equipped With "Mini" Grader Blade

1948 Cockshutt Equipped With "Mini" Grader Blade MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT Earth Movers 22-4-33 Here's a 1948 Cockshutt model 30 row crop tractor that I modified to handle a "mini" grader blade I built to grade roads and push snow. I bought the tractor from a neighbor for $300 and overhauled the blown engine. Next, I extended the frame 4 ft. with iron off an old Ford 3-ton truck frame. I had the hood ex-tended and painted to look like the original at a local machine shop. I replaced the original front axle with a 3-ton truck axle and replaced the original pony wheels with 900 by 20-in. truck tires to handle the lengthened wheel-base. Next, I installed a power steering unit, which runs off the fan belt, from a 1/2-ton GM pickup. I made the 10-ft. blade to belly-mount under the tractor out of a 25-in. length of 24-in. dia. steel pipe. I cut it into five sections and welded them together end to end. I made a cutting edge out of the worn out cutting edge of a regular road grader. The blade attaches to the tractor with a 4-ft. long wishbone-shaped bracket I built out of channel and flat iron. The bracket acts as a yoke to push the blade, which pins to it, from the rear axle. A hydraulic cylinder mounted on the driver's side of the tractor lifts the blade, up to as high as frame level, for ditching work. A second smaller hydraulic cylinder mounted behind the blade angles the blade left to right, up to 85 degrees. The hydraulic lift and swivel cylinders run off the tractor's original hydraulic system. I finished the project last spring and got a chance to push some snow and, so far, have made $300 with it grading local roads. My "mini" grader works every bit as good as a full-size grader but is a lot more maneuver-able because of its size. Out-of-pocket expense was $1,900. (Morris Oerlemans, P.O. Box 43, Bridge Lake, B.C., Canada V0K 1E0; ph 250 593-4393)

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