Oversize Skid Steer Loader

Oversize Skid Steer Loader TRACTORS Miscellaneous 11-2-9 "It looks like a small payloader except that it's got articulated steering and an automatic transmission with four speed ranges," says Bruce Schmit about the "oversize" skid steer loader he built from scratch on his Fairmount, N. Dak. dairy farm. The articulated loader is fitted with 24-in. combine drive tires and powered by a 350 Chevrolet engine. Power from the engine is directed to the driveline through a gear reduction transfer case. The loader is fitted with both an automatic Chevrolet transmission and a manual 4-speed transmission off an old Massey Harris combine. The combination of the two transmissions, which are coupled together with a driveshaft, gives four different automatic drive ranges. For most work Schmit stays in low which gears down as low as about 1 mph. One hydraulic cylinder provides articulation for the loader, which is equipped with a regular steering wheel. "The wheels kink around so far they almost touch," says Schmit, who built the frame for the loader from the ground up. The entire project took 2 to 3 months. The loader has a heated cab and an assortment of buckets, including a 7-ft. wide conventional bucket and a straw chopping bucket, made from a combine straw chopper, that chops straw bales and blows them into freestalls as bedding. All buckets are self-leveling and can be mounted and dismounted hydraulically without leaving the cab. "We've used it every day for the past 3 years without a problem," says Schmit, who recently built a second, similar loader using an Oldmbbile car engine. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Bruce Schmit, Rt. 1, Box 354, Fairmount, N. Dak. 58030 (ph 701 474-5829).

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