"Go Anywhere" Crab Steer Spray Truck

"Go Anywhere" Crab Steer Spray Truck TRUCKS Conversions 28-1-18 Sometimes roadside spray trucks have to do some pretty tricky off-road work, and Harry Engeland knew from experience that some jobs can be dangerous for an ordinary truck. That's why he built what he calls his "4 x 4 x 4 truck," - a special "crab steer" rig that can get the job done almost anywhere. "I call it a 4 x 4 x 4 because it has four wheels, 4-WD, and 4-wheel steering," Engeland explains. "I use it for spraying highway cloverleafs and along fenced right-of-ways. It works especially well on steep embankments." To build it, the Stratford, Ontario man bought two 1967-army surplus trucks and cut them apart. He mounted the front axle from one to the back of the other. He equipped the truck to spray with a boomless nozzle because of the rough off-road conditions. "In places where the embankment goes up to a point where you can't get through normally, this truck allows you to turn shorter and run at an angle with the back end higher than the front," he says. "It provides more safety in tight situations." The steering of the back wheels is controlled by a toggle switch on the dash that operates an electric cylinder that turns those wheels. For highway use, there's a separate switch on the dash that automatically straightens the wheels when you push it. Engeland also turned the rig into a multi-purpose, multi-seasonal unit by putting a snowplow blade on the front so he could clear his yard in the winter. He happened to have a pair of 24-in. wide tires, and put them on the front of the truck (the original tires were 14 in. wide) for snow plowing. He says these wider tires make it easier to back out of freshly piled snowbanks. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Harry Engeland, R.R.#4, Stratford, Ontario, Canada N5A 6S5 (ph 519 273-1983; fax 519 271-1826).

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