Bucket And Blade Tractor

Bucket and Blade Tractor TRACTORS Made-It-Myself 14-5-10 Washington farmer Edwin Ruff of Moses Lake built a small front-wheel drive "bucket-and-blade" tractor that lets him use the blade without removing the bucket. The 5-ft. wide, 1-ft. high blade is con¡nected to the loader arms by a pair of rods bolted to a 3-in. angle iron frame under the arms. A "push frame" is mounted between the center of the blade and the front axle. The blade pivots on a 5/8-in. dia. kingpin mounted just behind the front wheels. A 2 1/2 by 12-in. hydraulic cylin¡der is used to raise the bucket and a 2 by 8-in. cylinder is used to tilt it forward or backward. The blade can be tilted for-ward or backward and angled by manu¡ally adjusting the position of a pin inside the push frame. The tractor, which is equipped with 15-in. car tires in front and ATV balloon tires at the rear, is only 5 1/ 2 ft. long and 4 ft. wide not including the bucket. "I built it because I needed a small tractor for working around my yard," says Ruff. "Connecting the blade to the bucket eliminates the need for a separate set of arms to operate the blade. I use the blade mainly for moving snow and level¡ing my yard so I can leave the bucket on whenever I use the blade. The bucket extends only about 2 ft. in front of the blade. I do have to remove the blade whenever I use the bucket, but it's a matter of simply removing three bolts. The bucket raises about 3 1/2 ft. Which is high enough to load heavy objects into my pickup." Ruff used 3-in. angle iron to build the frame. He salvaged the steering column and 1,600 cc engine, equipped with an automatic transmission, from a 1971 Toyota station wagon. A second transmission (3-speed manual) was taken from a 1941 Dodge pickup. To gear down the engine, he mounted a 2-in. dia. V-pulley on the output shaft of the automatic trans-mission and ran a belt to a 12-in. pulley mounted on the Dodge transmission which is mounted on a sliding bracket. Ruff uses a turnbuckle connected to the bracket to tighten the belt. He used the rear axle and rear end from a 1949 Ford car for the tractor's front axle. He "narrowed up" the 5 1/2-ft. wide axle to 4 ft. by cutting out sections of the rear end housing and axle and then welding what was left back together. The rear axle pivots over rough terrain by means of a 6-in. long, 1-in. dia. pipe welded to a length of 3-in. channel iron. A 3/4-in. dia. rod extends through the pipe and serves as a kingpin. Ruff made the loader arms from 4-in. angle iron and the bucket from a 15-gal. oil barrel cut lengthwise in half. He built the blade by cutting three sections from a hot water tank and welding them together. He straightened out a truck leaf spring and welded it to the bottom of the blade to provide a cutting edge. The hinged opera-tor platform can be raised out of the way for access to the two transmissions. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Edwin Ruff, 940 Ironwood Dr., Moses Lake, Wash. 98837 (ph 509 765-6722).

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