Toyota-Powered Skid Steer

Toyota-Powered Skid Steer TRACTORS Skid Steer Loaders 28-3-25 Take an old Owatonna 1700 skid steer loader with a burned-out diesel engine. Add a gas engine from a Toyota Corolla. Toss in a love for tinkering and you, too, could have a great working $650 skid steer loader. "I was looking for a skid steer loader, but I didn't want to spend a lot of money," says Thad Smith, Scappouse, Oregon. "I was going to buy the hydraulics off an old skid steer parked at a local sawmill. The owner said, why not buy the whole thing, so I did, for $250." Smith knew it wouldn't pay to replace the diesel engine in the Owatonna skid steer so he decided to try a small car engine. He found a Toyota Corolla station wagon that was totally trashed, except for the engine. He got it for only $200. Smith proceeded to pull the diesel and replace it with the Corolla engine. "The skid steer was a direct drive from the diesel to the hydrostatic transmission. I had to remove the transmission and the clutch from the Toyota and adapt a plate from it to connect to the gearbox." The adapter plate required the correct size spindle with keyway to slide into union with the gearbox. Smith used the clutch plate as a template for the holes and had the adapter plate fabricated at a local machinist. Motor mounts also had to be adapted. Smith used tube steel, relying on templates made from cardboard. He welded them to the original engine mounts and dropped the Toyota engine into place. "It fit like a hand in a glove," recalls Smith. "I moved the radiator up to the top of the engine compartment. I got an electric fan from a Chevy Celebrity and mounted it above the radiator to get cooling and then plumbed with flexible radiator hose down to the engine." The fuel system and electrical harness also had to be installed. A new fuel line was run from the dual fuel tanks and electric fuel pump to the carburetor. A wiring harness had to be built to run the fuel pump, the ignition and the charging systems. Switching from diesel to gas-power meant running an exhaust system to the top of the cab. He also had to build a throttle linkage, and he salvaged a seat from the Toyota. Smith estimates it took about 40 hours time over a couple of months, but it was well worth it. "The first time I fired it up, the skid steer ran perfectly and all the hydraulics worked," he says. "I used it to pick up the Toyota and move it out of the way." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Thad Smith, 1632 SE 11th St., Suite 110, Portland Ore. 97214 (ph 503 866-6661; email: tsmith@xfactoradvertising.com).

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