Hybrid Tractor Can Go Super Slow

Hybrid Tractor Can Go Super Slow TRACTORS Made-It-Myself 30-3-11 Cutting grass and blowing snow require low ground speeds and high rpm's. To get both, Mike Olson assembled parts from a 1952 1 1/2-ton grain truck, old combines and other vehicles. The result is a tractor that can creep along at 1/2 mph at 2,000 rpm's or a foot per second at 1,500 rpm's. When slow isn't needed, it can travel down the road at highway speeds. "I pulled the motor, transmission, rear axle and differential from the truck," says Olson. "The steering axle is from a Gleaner combine, and the steering system is from a 510 Massey Ferguson with a Chevy power steering pump to activate it. The cab came off a 141 International combine." Olson built a frame out of 2 by 4-in. steel tubing. He laid out his tractor with the steering axle and engine at the rear. He put the pto, 3-pt. hitch, hydraulics and drive axle at the front. "I flipped the differential around and put a second transmission between it and the truck transmission," explains Olson. "The two four-speed transmissions gear the engine speed down without losing rpm's." For a 3-pt. hitch, Olson made a frame out of 4 by 1/2-in. steel and mounted it in front of the front differential with reinforcing arms extending back to the tractor frame beneath the driver's platform. Arms pivot at the lower corners of the frame and are stabilized by a section of well pipe welded between them. The arm of a hydraulic cylinder mounted at a pivot point on the top center of the 3-pt. frame attaches to the pipe to raise and lower the arms. Olson installed a second power steering pump and a bigger tank for hydraulic oil reserve to power the 3-pt. hitch. He removed the relief valve and inserted a couple of shims to boost power. "I got it up to 1,500 lbs. pressure, which is enough to raise or lower my 7-ft. snow blower or 8-ft. mower," says Olson. To provide a pto, Olson built an adapter to mount a three-belt pulley on the engine crankshaft damper pulley. Belts run to a second pulley mounted on the right side of the engine. A belt tightener controlled from the cab activates the power. The outside pulley drives an auto driveshaft to transfer power along the side of the frame and under the cab to the front of the rig. Olson welded a splined pto stub from an old Farmall H on the end of the driveshaft to drive the mower or snow blower. Olson uses a commercial-built snow blower but he built his own mower deck using a 4 by 8-ft., 1/4-in. sheet of flat iron. A framework of 2 by 2-in. steel tubing forms a superstructure above the deck for mounting two pillow blocks for the pto drive shaft with a belt drive pulley on its end. The belt drives the three 30-in. Snapper blades mounted beneath the deck. A tripod of steel pipe with two legs attached to the edge of the deck nearest the 3-pt. arms, and one leg mounted to the rear of the deck, provides the third link for the 3-pt. with a fourth leg extending from the top of the tripod to the 3-pt. frame. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Mike Olson, 112 St. Patrick Ave., Medicine Lake, Mont. 59247 (ph 406 789-2358).

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