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This WC Turns Into The Wind
Merlyn Irlbeck's WC Allis-Chalmers will only turn into the wind. That's thanks in part to the large wind vane mounted on its rear end. Mostly it's a result of the way he has it mounted 10 ft. off the ground on a home-built Lazy Susan.
"My kids had seen one in northern Iowa that was 3 feet off the ground, so we
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This WC Turns Into The Wind AG WORLD 29-1-21 Merlyn Irlbeck's WC Allis-Chalmers will only turn into the wind. That's thanks in part to the large wind vane mounted on its rear end. Mostly it's a result of the way he has it mounted 10 ft. off the ground on a home-built Lazy Susan.
"My kids had seen one in northern Iowa that was 3 feet off the ground, so we decided to put ours at 10 feet," explains Irlbeck. "On top of the pedestal is a final drive from a John Deere 4400 combine. The WC pivots where the wheel would have been mounted."
The toughest part of the project, he recalls, was finding the balance point of the tractor. By this point, he had already stripped out the engine and crankshaft to reduce weight. He also replaced the old WC tractor wheels with lighter weight steel wheels from a manure spreader.
"When the tractor was complete, we used trial and error to find the balance point, by putting a hydraulic jack under it and lifting it off the floor," says Irlbeck. "We just kept lifting it and pushing up and down on the tractor until we found it."
The tractor wind crane stands on a base made out of a 6-ft. length of 5-ft. dia. road culvert which Irlbeck stood on end in a hole in the ground. He filled it half full of sand and then filled the last three feet with concrete. Four bolts that project out of the concrete serve to anchor the upright tower of heavy walled steel tubing. They also work as levelers.
Irlbeck used a crane to lift the 2,500-lb. tractor into place. "It always swings into the wind, so there isn't much resistance," says Irlbeck. "One night it handled winds up to 80 or 85 mph."
At Christmas, the Irlbeck family puts lights on the WC weathervane. While they have to chain it down for installation, it is then released to blow with the wind, joining a 600-ft. Christmas display of 25,000 to 30,000 lights. Part of the display is an old train consisting of 8-ft. long and 6-ft. high cars.
"The train is 128 ft. long with two cars added each year," reports Irlbeck. "Like the weathervane, the display involves the whole family."
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Merlyn Irlbeck, 1205 East St., Manning, Iowa 51455 (ph 712 653-3029; email: mirlbeck@Iowa Telecom.net).
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