Articulated Lawn Tractor

Articulated Lawn Tractor AG WORLD 33-5-22 As a retired welder, Maurice J. Peterson demonstrated his love for this type of work by turning two tractors into one articulated machine for his first retirement project. "I happened to have two old Case lawn tractors with shot engines. I had to figure out something to do with them, so I decided to make an articulated tractor," Peterson explains. "They have hydrostatic drives so it was real easy." He took off the mower decks before cutting the tractors in half, and removing the front wheels and the bad motors. "I just hooked the two existing axles in series hydraulically. I bought a new 16 hp Briggs and Stratton engine and mounted it on the front and above the battery," he points out. Each set of wheels moves independently from the other, pivoted by a cylinder at the articulation joint. "It took me a couple of months to build this tractor and I like it a lot. I paid about $800 for the engine, $89 for the steering valve, $139 for the winch, and about $200 for the hoses and hydraulic reservoir, for a total cost of about $1,300," Peterson says. "I put 75 pounds of weight on each wheel to give it more traction so it's really nice for pulling logs out of the woods. I have a 6,000-lb. winch on it, and have the original snow blower that I also mount on it in the winter." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Maurice J. Peterson, 7839 County A. East, Janesville, Wis. 53546 (mjp7839@sbcglobal.net).

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