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"Wheel-Driven" Generator
"It lets me operate my generator on diesel, which is much more fuel efficient than gas," says John Heide, Deerbrook, Wis., about the low cost 7,000-watt generator he powers with a pto and a spare tire.
The generator bolts to the top of a scrap iron frame equipped with 3-pt. mounting brackets. The 15-in. spare ti
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"Wheel-Driven" Generator ENERGY Miscellaneous 32-3-37 "It lets me operate my generator on diesel, which is much more fuel efficient than gas," says John Heide, Deerbrook, Wis., about the low cost 7,000-watt generator he powers with a pto and a spare tire.
The generator bolts to the top of a scrap iron frame equipped with 3-pt. mounting brackets. The 15-in. spare tire bolts onto the front part of the frame. Heide uses his Case 530 diesel tractor to pto-drive the tire, which in turn belt-drives the generator.
"The tire serves as a big pulley. It works much on the same principle as Bill Reeks's wheel-driven bandsaw-type sawmill, on which a 1 1/4-in. wide bandsaw blade is stretched around a pair of 14-in. car tires. Instead of the bandsaw blade I'm running a pair of 1/2-in. wide belts around the tire," says Heide.
Heide bought the generator at Harbor Freight for $240 and mounted a double groove 4-in. pulley on it. He welded the pto drive system from an Owatonna hay conditioner to the tire's rim, and also welded a 1/2-in. thick steel plate to the back side of the rim. The plate was drilled and tapped, allowing Heide to slide it up and down on a pair of angle iron supports to adjust belt tension.
He used 3/8-in. thick angle iron and 2-in. sq. tubing to build the frame.
"It runs smooth and quiet. It's surprising how true the double V-belts run on the tire," says Heide. "I could've used a pulley instead of the tire, but a pulley big enough to do the job would have cost $240. I can also adjust tension on the belt by varying tire pressure.
"By using a diesel tractor to operate the generator instead of gas, I'm saving about 50 percent on fuel costs," says Heide. "I had been using a gas engine-powered welder to power another generator, but it used too much fuel. One time the power went out on our farm for three days and it seemed like I was filling up the gas engine every four hours. Now I can fill the tractor up with diesel in the morning and it'll run all day without a refill."
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, John Heide, W8605 Kramer Road, Deerbrook, Wis. 54424 (ph 715 623-6447).
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