Reversed Tractor Works Great For Loader Work

Reversed Tractor Works Great For Loader Work TRACTORS Loaders 30-3-35 When 81-year-old Lee Conaway of Topeka, Kansas, needed a tractor to move round bales, he decided to reverse a 1951 Allis Chalmers WD tractor and install a Koyker loader on it facing backward. He mounted bale spears at both ends of the rig. The steering, clutch, and brake controls on the tractor were all reversed. The gas tank was repositioned and a new seat was installed in its place. He flipped the tractor's ring gear assembly over to provide four forward gears in reverse. A hydraulic pump mounted on the engine crankshaft provides full-time hydraulics for the loader, as well as power steering. He removed the tractor's rear wheels and replaced them with the 16 by 38 wheels off a 1955 Gleaner E combine. He also removed the tractor's narrow front wheels and replaced them with the wide front axle from another Allis Chalmers WD tractor. The tractor's steering column and orbit steering system were salvaged from a Deere 45 combine. This operates a priority valve to ensure continuous power steering. He removed the loader bucket and replaced it with a pair of bale spears. He used part of an old Allis Chalmers small round baler to make a bale guard that mounts on the loader arms. A hinged steel frame supports the bale spears on back and is made from 2-in. steel tubing. The spears slip into sockets welded to the frame and are held on by two pins. A pair of hydraulic cylinders are used to raise and lower the frame that supports the spears. "It has more traction for loader work and it's easy to maneuver because the weight is over the drive wheels," says Conaway. "The big rear tires don't sink into soft ground like small front tires do when using a front-end loader. I sit up close to the loader so I can see the bucket better. "I got the tractor from my brother-in-law. It had been sitting in the weeds for 20 years and the engine was froze up, so I replaced it with the 4-cyl., 50 hp engine from the Gleaner combine. This engine is the same one used on Allis Chalmers D17 tractors so it fit right in. I installed a 12-volt electric starter as well as a 12-volt electric fuel pump." Conaway says he didn't spend a lot of money on the project. "I paid $150 for the Koyker loader. Friends gave me many of the other parts. My grandson Ryan helped me build it." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Lee Conaway, 7327 NW Huxman Rd., Topeka, Kansas 66618 (ph 785 582-4498).

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