gonna build a homemade tractor

[missourihick]

I want to build a tractor,bigger than a doodlebug.
I have a loader and backhoe to go on it . I plan to use a 460 ford engine with auto trans in front of a clark 5 speed driving a rockwell 2 speed rearend.I plan to keep the dual rear wheels and put the chains on the tires. I wanted to keep the front springs since I don't have a good way to build the pivot for the front axle. The front suspension is off a cabover truck,so I think it would hold up to a loader being on it. I plan to make the hoe a quick attach type so I can use the tractor for field work too.Right now it looks like I will have to use the air brake rearend.Oh well ,it'll have an air compressor to work air tools too. I will post some pictures later when I get all the parts started going together. Right now I am looking for any ideas and input. I hope I can save some headaches by learning from someones elses mistakes. By the way, I have done this before(on a smaller scale),and am capable and able to do something of this magnatude. I just hope I can have enough time to finish it this winter. Any input is appreciated.

 

[Egon]

Just wondering how much traction the rear wheels will provide for pulling.

Garbage trucks have what is essentially a front end loader on them and I have seen truck mounted hoes.

Around here you see many old stripped down trucks with grapples used to haul logs out of the woods.

Egon

 

[missourihick]

I know a guy who has an old cut down truck with a log skidding winch on the rear. Thats where I got the original idea. It has a dodge 360 with auto trans with a 4 speed behind. I've driven it and it does not lack for traction or power. I figgered if I am gonna build it I might as well use the old loader and the hoe I have lying around. The transmission I have is used,but good and the engine is new rebuilt with a few upgrades I intended to use in a 2 ton.It is the equivelent of a factory police intercepter. I wish I had a 6 or even a 4 cyl engine to use.

 

[PineRidge]

Sounds to me like a real project. Please post pictures here at the site as you progress for everyone to enjoy. Good luck to you.

 

[ns_in_tex]

Sounds like an interesting project.

I wonder if another option, in place of chains, might be the tractor type tires I see on fertilizer trucks.

Might be more money.

 

[Taylortractornut]

Chris for the rear end you could find an old skidder rear end or an old S9 Euclid or TS9/14 Terex scraper rear end. I have a good friend that buildt a draft tractor like that to chisel plow several acres of cut over. He couldnt justify a tractor that size. We had a nightbor with a load of od 260 AC scrapers with a few parts machines so Mark bought th rear axle then put an old diesel GM truck in front of it. they built a better frame to join the 10 speed truck to the rear axle. Then later added a lower gear box to make a better ratio. then build a good draft hitch. It had some pretty good front tires they put chains on then used the scraper tires on the 260 axcle since they came with the deal. Mark bought a big 6 shank v ripper at an auction for about 150 dollars and hooked his hydraulics up. He cleaned up all the roots and branches on his cut over. then left the pine stumps to rot or be harvested. Now its head high in new trees. He sold the tractor a few years ago ill see if I might be able to track it down.

 

[slowrev]

The drive train on an old junk combine can provide some very good parts for tractor construction. I have an old New Idea combine hull. The drive hube are HEAVY, gear reduction with hydraulic brakes built in. They also fit standard full size tractor rims. The rear steering apparatus ( power steering ) will make a fine feont axle for my hauler I am making.

 

[missourihick]

I have some old combines, but I wanted the truck tires because they're smaller and I can mount the hoe closer to the axle center.back when it was a case backhoe it was way light in the front end even with the 500# weight and the loader and wheel weights.

 

[jmc]

I don't know what you are going to do with the loader but it seems to me that a loader supported by springs (your front suspension) would be a little awkward for some stuff. Say you wanted to peel off a couple of inches of dirt. As the downforce on the bucket increases, the springs will compress and the bucket will dive.

 

[missourihick]

The reason I planned to keep the springs is I don't know of a good way to build a pivot for the axle. The springs are very heavy,but I know what you mean about scalping in to deep.

 

[Soundguy]

Think kingpin and bushing.. should be easy to fab from existing frame... will make steering different though...


As mentioned a floating loader is gonn be weird... Gues othe roption would be to defeat the springs with a solid brace...

Soundguy

 

[missourihick]

I thought about a bump stop (hard rubber pad) the axle could sit on anytime there is extra weight. I went hunting universal joints and driveshafts saturday,got most of what I need. I am working on the mount for the extra transmission.

 

[Soundguy]

Guess you could also get a couple handfulls of spring stiffeners.. those rubber pieces that stick into the sides of hte springs.. a few on each side may stiffen it up a bit yet give it a little play for the front end over uneven terain.

Soundguy

 

[Taylortractornut]

Chris what about using a combine rear axle. I built a spray tractor one time and took a 130 Massey Ferguson rear and made it work. Ive also made the pivots and a squared tube axle then cut the welds out of the ends of a combine axle to make special axles. that way Id have good hubs and king pins. For pivots I'd just make a bushing out of a 2inch ID tube tand use a 2 inch round bar for the pin. Id cut a hole in the center of the axle on both sides of the square tube then insert my bushing and weld it in. then uses the same 2 inch ID tube to make my bushinge on the outside hinges. I usually use 3/4 or 1 inch plate for his.

 

[jmc]

I had to learn about vertical stiffness under a loader the hard way. I was using my tractor instead of a fork lift to move a 900 lb. metalworking machine mounted on a bench. The plan was to slide the machine into the bucket without overloading the edge of the bench. Just the flex in the front tires made it awkward. As the weight transfered from the bench to the bucket, the bucket sank from tire flex which in turn, put more weight on the bench edge. Luckily it held up ok.

John

 

[missourihick]

Well I scrapped the ford power plant idea because it was to wide.I got this IHC 3/4 ton 4x4 with good six cylinder ,4 speed and transfer case and axles. I have to shorten the frame and driveshaft.I hope the rear driveshaft will hold up ,it'll only be 20" long between U joints and it'll have to run in a pretty good angle. I drove it in standing on the frame and running off a boat gas tank. This is a 57 model and the axles are real heavy,especially the rear one.It has single wheels on it,but I have a set of dual wheels for the back when it is finished.

 

[missourihick]

Heres another view.

 

[markie61]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I drove it in standing on the frame )</font>

Now then - THAT is what I would like to see a picture of... /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Mark

 

[LBrown59]

Back in 1968 I bought a 1957 international 2 wheel drive 1/2 ton pick up, slapped an 8' slide in cab over truck camper on it and took it to California.
This was my first truck first camper and first trip to California.

The truck only had 3800 miles on it and was like new.
Some old guy bought it new and the only place he ever drove it to was his sisters place about 5 or 6 blocks from where he lived and one round trip to a small town 22 miles from here.

His name was Sutton. He'd died and the truck was part of his estate sale.

Right after I bought it the water pump went bad and I was carrying it and the fan through the shop at the IH Dealer on my way to the parts counter when 2 or 3 of the service workers hollered out from about 15 feet away; Hay did you buy Suttons truck?
They could tell what truck the fan was off of just by how clean it was.
This an another one that I should have kept.
I think mine was in a little better shape than yours.LOL
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PS the water pump was the only repair I ever had to make on the truck.