Narrow Wheel "Tractor" Cuts Through Wheat Fields

Narrow Wheel "Tractor" Cuts Through Wheat Fields TRACTORS Made-It-Myself 27-2-26 Lawrence Grabher, Hemingford, Neb., wanted a machine that would let him "walk" through wheat rows without doing damage. So he removed the wheels from a garden tractor and mounted it on a subframe fitted with three narrow wheels just 2 in. wide. The 3-wheeled, 5-ft. wide rig is designed to straddle six 10-in. rows. The front 26-in. wheel came off a motorcycle and mounts on the original fork, while the 42-in. dia. rear wheels were made by a local machine shop and are covered with hard rubber. "I use it to control wild rye in wheat fields. The narrow wheels work perfectly because they're strong, yet small enough to slip through the crop with almost no visible damage," says Grabher. He used 2-in. sq. tubing to build a subframe that bolts to the back end of the garden tractor. Another frame bolts onto the subframe and extends forward under the tractor where an angled section welds to the motorcycle forks. The tractor axle direct-drives the large rear wheels through a flexible coupler that lets the long axle pivot a bit without breaking. "It works great and saves a lot of walking," says Grabher. "I used it for the first time last summer and liked it so well I built a second model. I use them in wheat fields but they could also be used for spot spraying in row crops. You could make any wheel widths or spacings that you want. If I want I can change back to the original wheels for other jobs. It takes only about 10 minutes to unbolt the frames from the tractor." The rear wheel rims are made out of light, 2-in. wide channel iron. A cable wrapped tightly around the wheel inside the channel iron holds the hard rubber against the wheel rim. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Lawrence Grabher, 435 County Road 60, Hemingford, Nebraska 69348 (ph 308 487-3697).

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