Combine Snowblower

Combine Snowblower COMBINES Miscellaneous 11-2-36 Parts from five different combines were used by Louis Turner, Sawyer, N. Dak. to build his one-of-a-kind self-propelled snowblower. "I started planning it in my head 10 years ago but I didn't start building till four years ago. I still have a few things left to finish on it," says Turner who uses the big 8-ft., 3-in. wide blower to clear his own and neighbors' driveways. Turner started with the stripped down chassis, hydraulics and drive-train of a 1952 Deere 55 combine. He built a heavy channel iron frame on top of the chassis to support the engine, cab and other components. The Deere 3-sp. variable speed transmission remained in place but he replaced the engine with a 390 Ford engine. The engine drives both the combine drive train and the blower. Power is supplied to the up-front blower through a salvaged 4-speed transmission that's channeled to a 90? 1:1 ratio gearbox from an Allis Chalmers combine. A driveshaft runs from the gearbox to the blower. "This drive system woks great because I can take the blower out of gear when needed and change its speed by simply shifting gears," says Turner, adding that the variable speed transmission on the combine is also ideal for blowing snow. "If you run into a big drift or heavy stuff you can slow up without losing power. It's geared to run real slow, if you need to." Handling the nearly 1-ton weight of the big blower was a problem. Turner uses hydraulically controlled combine springs from a Massey-Harris combine controlled by a cylinder salvaged from an IH combine. He has a gauge that tells him how much weight's on the springs at any time, usually keeping it at about 250 lbs. pressure. He used hydraulic valves from another Deere combine to control the hydraulics. The axles, wheels and steering linkage from the Deere 55 are all original with no changes. The engine, controlled by a governor, runs at a constant 2,400 to 2,500 rpm's. The heavy-duty Schulte blower is the only part of the machine that Turner had to buy. He was able to get that inexpensively because it had been built wrong at the factory and had to be reworked to function properly. Turner plans to completely enclose the cab and paint the machine. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Louis Turner, Rt. 1, Box 68, Sawyer, N. Dak. 58781 (ph 701 624-5138).

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