"Mini" Antique Steam Tractor

Mini Antique Steam Tractor I drive it in parades at antique tractor shows and have won several awards I enjoy giving my grandkids rides on it says Doug Schiller of Belvidere Ill who built a miniature antique steam tractor out of an old Sears garden tractor and scrap parts     The tractor is powered by an 8 hp Briggs & Stratton engine and is complete with flywheels fake pressure gauges a variety of emblems and 4 loud air horns A tall curved metal roof protects the operator      I didn t use plans to build the tractor to scale but just pieced it together as I went along says Schiller who also built a 2-wheeled trailer to pull behind the tractor     He bought the 1960 tractor at a scrap yard without an engine or hood He mounted a Sears 30-gal air compressor tank on front and built a sheet metal box that mounts behind it A 2-ft long 5-in dia aluminum smoke stack made from an oxygen tank off a medical wheelchair mounts on the tank A large pressure gauge off an old steam tank mounts on the box with a smaller gauge on front of the tank The front grill is original to the garden tractor but is turned upside down with a door knocker emblem mounted on it     A battery-operated fan mounted inside the box blows heat through a screen on top of the box to keep the engine cool I added the fan after the box got so hot that gas in the fuel line started boiling which caused the engine to quit running I also wrapped heat-resistant insulation around the smoke stack to help keep the engine cool says Schiller     The tractor has a total of 4 air horns which operate off 2 separate systems Two horns are operated by a fire extinguisher filled with air pumped in from the air compressor tank; and the other horns connect to a battery-operated air compressor      I pull on a handle connected to a throttle cable that activates the fire extinguisher and I use a toggle switch to operate an electric pump that operates the air compressor tank says Schiller I can blow one air horn or the other or operate both horns at the same time When I blow the horns people can hear me coming from a long way off The tractor is loud too I put a muffler inside the smoke stack but it s located toward the bottom so the engine s noise bellows back out the top     Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Doug Schiller 345 Beister Drive Belvidere Ill 61008 ph 815 979-4591; flagcaddie@gmail com

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