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Mini 4WD Articulated Tractor
Here's a mini 4-WD articulated steering tractor that's patterned after a big International 4-WD tractor and looks and drives like the real thing.
Gerry Rudebusch, Lake Benton, Minn., built his dual-wheeled garden tractor from scratch using material gleaned from salvage yards.
"It gets a lot of second looks,
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Mini 4WD Articulated Tractor TRACTORS Made-It-Myself 15-5-8 Here's a mini 4-WD articulated steering tractor that's patterned after a big International 4-WD tractor and looks and drives like the real thing.
Gerry Rudebusch, Lake Benton, Minn., built his dual-wheeled garden tractor from scratch using material gleaned from salvage yards.
"It gets a lot of second looks," says Rudebusch, who built the tractor five years ago. "I built it mainly for fun, but I can mount a snowblower on front of it."
Rudebusch narrowed up two Ford car rear axles to 30 in. and positioned the front axle to face backward. He used 3/ 16-in. sheet metal to build a box frame around the rear axle's differential and mounted dual 15-in. lugged swather tires on each axle. He powered the tractor with a 2-cylinder 16 hp Wisconsin gas engine and a 3-speed Ford car transmission.
The tractor's hydraulic and articulated steering system is patterned after the 4-WD steering system found on White tractors. A pair of 1 1/2-in. hydraulic cylinders, one mounted on each side of the tractor, are used to turn the rear half of the tractor. The front end of each cylinder is stationary and the rear end is attached to a steering arm that's connected to the oscillating rear axle. The cylinders are powered by a hydraulic pump (salvaged from an old Owatonna swather) mounted behind the engine. A pair of rods run from steering arms to a centrally-located ball joint that lets two halves of tractor pivot.
The steering wheel and seat were re-moved from a riding lawn mower. The hood was fashioned out of 1/32-in. thick sheet metal. One innovative feature involves the air intake and muffler which mount above the hood. A small rubber hose runs from the muffler to the air intake - vacuum pressure created by the muffler sucks dirt out of the intake and blows it out the muffler. An engine-driven pulley on front of the tractor is used to run the snowblower. Rudebusch uses a rope on the pulley to pull-start the engine.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Gerry Rudebusch, Rt. 2, Box 42A, Lake Benton, Minn. 56149 (ph 507 368-4823).
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