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Ride-On Combines Are Big Hit With Kids
Pedal tractors, move aside. Stan Williams, a corn and bean grower from Reed, Kentucky, made a couple of pedal combines for his daughters two years ago and then people started asking him to build them.
His first one was made at the request of his daughter (6 years old at the time) who, with hammer and some build
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Ride-On Combines Are Big Hit With Kids AG WORLD 25-5-24 Pedal tractors, move aside. Stan Williams, a corn and bean grower from Reed, Kentucky, made a couple of pedal combines for his daughters two years ago and then people started asking him to build them.
His first one was made at the request of his daughter (6 years old at the time) who, with hammer and some building materials in hand, asked him to help her make one.
Williams, who spends much of the winter in his shop, is an old hand at making what he needs or wants. It didn't take him long to design a small pedal powered combine his daughters could ride. Now that they're 8 and 12, the girls have "outgrown" the pedal combines, but their 4-year-old brother is thrilled with the hand-me-downs.
Williams started his combine design by ordering steering wheels and seats from a company that sells parts for pedal tractors. He then scaled the combines around those components. He crafted the combine body from sheet metal.
His first one is made to look like a Case IH 2188, with red paint and realistic looking decals. The second model is built on the order of a Deere 9610.
Williams' first pedal combines have a grain head with rotating 4-blade reel, a lever to raise and lower the header, a grain tank and auger. The pedals, mounted just above the header, power the front wheels. "A chain from the drive axle runs to a counter shaft that goes to the bean head and powers the reel," he says. Recent versions have a more realistic looking 6-blade reel.
The rear axle has automotive-type steering and pivots in the center to adjust to terrain. A slow moving vehicle emblem adorns the rear of the combine.
He figures each combine costs about $150 in parts and materials and takes about 45 hours of labor and shop time.
He's received requests for pedal combines from dealers, farmers and their children. He's made a few of them in his spare time and would welcome calls from anyone who'd like to order one.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Stan Williams, 14227 U.S. Hwy 60 E., Reed, Ky. 42451 (ph/fax 270 827-0031).
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