Deere Garden Tractor "Powered Up" Into Compact Tractor

Deere Garden Tractor "Powered Up" Into Compact Tractor TRACTORS Conversions 31-4-4 Imagine the work you could do with a Deere 318 garden tractor fitted with a 1,000-lb. capacity dirt bucket. Jim Kaczmarek, owner of Jim's Repair in Hastings, Minn., imagined it first and then built one. Kaczmarek has long been making a name for himself and for his business with garden tractor repowering. When he went to work on the 318, he sort of got carried away. "It does the work of a bigger front-end loader," he says. "I can easily pick up machinery to bring into the shop. The flotation tires are great for going into softer dirt, mud and snow." Kaczmarek replaced the original 18 hp Onan engine with one of his favorite engines, the Briggs and Stratton 23 hp Vanguard. "I've been installing Vanguard engines since 1988," he says. "I've put them in all kinds of old makes and models and sold them all over the U.S." What makes his Vanguards so popular and versatile are the adapter plates he has developed for a multitude of garden tractors, including most of the John Deere 120 series to the 430's and even the newer 425's and 445's. He also has plates for a number of Case, Allis, Deutz-Allis, AGCO Allis, Simplicity, Massey Ferguson and others, including old Minneapolis Moline and Oliver garden tractors. "The older garden tractors were hard core units that'll run for years if you put a new engine in," says Kaczmarek. Once Kaczmarek put the Vanguard in his 318, he decided to take advantage of the extra power. He added 31 by 15.50 by 15 oversized tires to the rear, each filled with 200 lbs. of liquid. Bigger tires (400 by 12) were put on the front to level the tractor off. Trailer hubs and wheels were cut down to fit the Deere front wheel bearings. After adding a Johnson Workhorse loader, he replaced the bucket with an extra large one for snow and dirt. Headlights first installed on the roll bars were moved to the large upper part of the bucket. "The lights shine anywhere you steer the tractor and tilt the bucket, and they don't break because they are up and mostly out of the way," says Kaczmarek. A 110-amp alternator hooked on the pto clutch gives him auxiliary power. Jumper cables are permanently hung on the tractor and tied into the heavy-duty battery he installed. "We can jump start any vehicle with it," says Kaczmarek. "There's a switch to turn power to the cables on and off and an amber warning light to remind us power is on." He added 14 42-lb. Deere suitcase weights to a rear bracket for a total of 988 lbs. on back, including tire fluid. Every pound is needed to counter the 1,000-lb. capacity bucket. Installing a rear end and transmission from a Deere 430 diesel gave him posi-lock rear end and a two-speed behind the hydrostatic. "We disassembled the hydrostatic and hopped it up," he says. "With the big tires and the two-speed shifting on the high side, we can travel at 18 to 20 mph." Of course the 4-gpm oil pump wasn't going to move the loader far or fast. Kaczmarek replaced it with a 22-gpm oil pump with two-stage pump. He also added an extra large front-end-loader oil filter and replaced the two lever controls with a single, larger volume control valve that drops, tilts and raises the loader fast, which Kaczmarek appreciates. "I use the heck out of it around the shop and farm," he says, "It gets daily use. I couldn't be without it." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Jim's Repair, 16330 Goodwin Ave., Hastings, Minn. 55033 (ph 651 437-7199 or 800 618-8738; www.jimsrepairjimstractors.com).

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