Add-On Wide Front Tractor Axle

Add-On Wide Front Tractor Axle TIRES/WHEELS Miscellaneous 19-1-6 "Farmers are always looking for wide front axles for older tractors with narrow front axles," says Jerome Rewolinski. "Wide front axles were available at the time those older tractors were purchased, but many farmers bought narrow ones so they could mount a corn picker on the tractor. When I went looking for a wide front axle, I found that commercial retrofit kits to switch front axles were too expensive and not heavy enough." With that in mind, the Grand Island, Neb., farmer went to` work last spring and came up with a way to mount the wide front axle from his late `70s Farmall 1066 on his mid-'60s era Farmall 706. He did the job by in-stalling bolt-on steel plates and a revamped hydraulic system he made himself. "I attached two 3/4-in. thick steel plates 3 1/4-in wide by 10 3/4-in. long to the 1066," he says. "They bolt onto the 706's frame 'where the original front axle bolted on. "The back saddle, which houses the hydraulic steering mechanism, takes two steel plates 2-in. wide by 1 1/2-in. thick by 12-in. long. They're threaded so they bolt onto the back in the same place on the frame as the original saddle. That way, you don't have to drill any holes in the frame." To make the conversion, Rewolinski simply jacked up the 706 and rolled the 1066 front axle into place for mounting. The hydraulic steering system Rewolinski fashioned uses special heavy-duty hoses and couplings. "With 14 bolts and in a couple of hours, you've got a tractor with a wide front axle," he says. Contact, FARM SHOW Followup, Jerome Rewolinski, 2621 East Schimmer Dr., Grand Island, Neb. 68801 (ph 308 382-3140).

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