Home-Built Motorized Cultivator

Home-Built Motorized Cultivator CULTIVATORS Cultivators (58C) 29-3-18 At 80 years old, Alvin Vandenbrink looks for the easy way to do things in his 1/3 acre garden. So when he needed an easier way to till the ground, he simply created a motorized cultivator. "It's a knock-off of an Allis Chalmers G," he says of the machine and the tractor he got the idea from. Vandenbrink took an Allis Chalmers WC two-row cultivator and remodeled it by putting one row in front and the other in back. Both have a red hydraulic cylinder that raise and lower the shanks. An Onan 20-hp vertical shaft engine drives a hydraulic pump that powers a Nissan pickup rear end. "The engine is out of the way and it's convenient to hook up that way," he says. "I wanted to keep the whole thing compact." The "hydrostatic drive" lets him precisely control the cultivator's speed. Hydraulic brakes control the wheels with a pedal and cylinder on each. Vandenbrink narrowed up the axle and housing to get the "G" back wheel spacing down to 36 in. to fit the garden rows. He made the hood and fenders out of scrap sheet metal. The front wheels are throwaway spares. He painted all the tire rims and steering wheel blue. Vandenbrink shortened a Volkswagen steering column that's telescopic. The plastic gas tank is a portable one from a boat. He spent about $1,100 for new rear tires, a motor, a hydraulic pump and new valves. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Alvin Vandenbrink, 6740 120th Ave., Fennville, Mich. 49408 (ph 269 543-4403).

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