Pto-Powered Ice Cream Maker

Pto-Powered Ice Cream Maker AG WORLD Lee Horst wanted to make ice cream the old fashioned way by using an ice cream maker on a cart powered by a hit and miss engine However he couldn’t justify the cost so he bought a 5-gal ice cream maker and mounted it on back of his restored John Deere M tractor The gearbox off an old bin sweep auger is used to belt-drive the unit from the tractor’s pto “I take it to family gatherings and church picnics where ice cream is always welcome People really get a kick out of watching it operate ” says Horst “After all they say a balanced diet just means having an ice cream cone in each hand ” He built a hinged wooden platform that rests on the tractor drawbar and goes up under the transmission gear case to provide support “I thought about using the tractor’s side pulley to operate the ice cream maker but it ran too fast ” says Horst “I already had a junked-out bin sweep auger so I removed the gearbox and had a neighbor build a mounting bracket for it Then I attached the gearbox to the pto It runs at a fast idle which is just what I needed to make ice cream ” He made a jackshaft with bearings and pulleys to get the right speed mounting everything on the left side of the ice cream maker so the paddles inside the canister would turn in the right direction “With the hinged platform I can take the drive belt off and dump the ice out of the canister after we’re done making ice cream ” says Horst “I mounted a stand on the back of the platform to help carry the weight of the unit When I want to use the tractor for something else I just take the gearbox off the pto and lift the platform off the tractor ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Lee Horst 1605 Goldenville Rd Gettysburg Penn 17325 ph 717 677-8564

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