Skid Steer Loader Built From SP Swather

Skid Steer Loader Built From SP Swather TRACTORS Skid Steer Loaders 23-1-17 "I built it to replace the Ford 8N tractor loader that we used to clean hog barns before. The tractor wasn't very maneuverable in tight quarters and the loader didn't have as much capacity as we needed," says Bryan Neugebauer, who built a skid steer loader out of an old self-propelled swather and fitted it with a modified Deere 45 W loader. The Dimock, S. Dak., farmer started with a used Owatonna self-propelled swather, retaining some of its original drive components including the swather's V-4-cyl. Wisconsin engine, axles, wheels and drive sprockets. He installed a new Sundstrand hydrostatic drive system in place of the planetary gears and clutch system. He chopped the frame down lengthwise and widthwise so it's just 48 in. wide from outside tire to outside tire. He also reinforced the skid steer frame with some of the 2 by 4 in. tubing left over from chopping up the swather frame. He also shortened various drive components to fit the modified drivetrain and fitted the machine with 15-in. car wheels. He cut the Deere loader down from 7 1/2 ft. wide to just 52 in. "I used a vane pump from a Lorenz grinder/ mixer for the hydraulic pump," Neugebauer says. "I had to buy two new cylinders for the bucket, which is fitted with manure teeth, and I took a cylinder from another loader to operate the grapple fork. "It works great and cost only about $3,000 to build, including $1,800 for the hydrostatic drive," he says. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Bryan Neugebauer, 113 West 1st., Dimock, S. Dak. 57331 (ph 605 928-3474).

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