Log Loader Converted To All-Purpose Loader

Log Loader Converted To All-Purpose Loader TRACTORS Loaders 34-4-35 Walfred Lindell turned an old pulp wood truck into an all-purpose loader. The addition of clamshell inserts lets him load buckets of manure, sand, dirt or gravel. "I can park alongside a fence and grab buckets of manure up to 14 ft. inside the pen," says Lindell. "If the pen is muddy, I stay outside on solid ground. In a wide pen, I go in with a dozer and push the manure to one side and then pick it up with the bucket." In his part of northern Minnesota, old tandem axle pulpwood and log hauling trucks are pretty common. When his son traded a truck for one, Lindell could see that it had potential, but only for use on the farm. "It was an old International, too old for the road, but the outriggers and loading arm still worked fine," he recalls. Lindell had previously made a clamshell bucket from a water heater split lengthwise and an old grapple fork. While it worked, he knew it could be improved upon. Using the original bucket and tines from the logging truck, Lindell made a pattern. The bucket already had holes drilled in it. All he would have to do is match the insert to the bucket. "I took it to a friend who is a steel fabricator, and he rolled the steel to match the pattern perfectly," says Lindell. "When he was finished, the side plates closed so tight that nothing leaked out." The 42-in. wide clamshells were made with 1/8-in. thick #36 steel with a 1/4-in. wear lip. Lindell says the old trucks can be had for $2,000 or less, but finding a fabricator who knows how to roll steel is the trick. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Walfred Lindell, 2363 Schweiger Rd., Gheen, Minn. 55771 (ph 218 666-2717; wlindell@fnbcnet.com).