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Self-Propelled Front-End Loader Tractor
I built a self-propelled front-end loader tractor based on the one built by William Leiser who was featured in the "Best of FARM SHOW Video - Volume I." Leiser, of Grand Island, Neb., built two combine loaders, one out of a 1966 Deere 95 Hydro and another out of a 1976 International 715 Hydro. He fitted both with Deere
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Self-Propelled Front-End Loader Tractor TRACTORS Loaders 20-1-36 I built a self-propelled front-end loader tractor based on the one built by William Leiser who was featured in the "Best of FARM SHOW Video - Volume I." Leiser, of Grand Island, Neb., built two combine loaders, one out of a 1966 Deere 95 Hydro and another out of a 1976 International 715 Hydro. He fitted both with Deere 158 loaders.
I tried to improve on Leiser's design by shortening the wheelbase 10-in. to give it greater maneuverability for hauling big round bales on soft ground. First, I bought a junked mid-1960's Deere 55 Hydro for $260 and stripped it down to its frame. I beefed up the frame with 6 by 2 1/2-in. channel iron to handle my 5 by 6-ft., 1,600 lb. bales. I lowered the back and cab of the combine 3 ft. so the cab mounts right on the frame. Finally, I redesigned the tin work on back of the combine so the machine looks more like a windrower than a combine. Shortening the wheelbase, lowering ground clearance, and reworking the tin made it a very streamlined machine.
Then I bought a used Farmhand 236 loader for $2,000 and bolted it right onto the channel iron frame at the drive axle. (Mounting the loader on the combine was the toughest part of the project since I had to shorten up its main frame assembly by 2 ft. to get it to fit.) I control the loader with existing levers on the steering column hooked into a 3-spool selection valve mounted ahead of the cab. My loader has a 20 gpm hydraulic pump and 6-gal. reservoir for oil. I operate the loader with a foot control on my left side.
It took three months to build the loader last winter, including installing a 303 cu. in. engine out of 1969 Deere 55 to replace the combine's original blown engine. I've got about $3,000 invested in the loader and it works great. It's a vast improvement over the Farmhand F11 loader mounted on the Deere 3010 tractor I used before. In part, that's because my combine loader has a cab to protect me from the elements in winter time when I do all my bale-feeding. (Gary Yindrick, Rt. 2, Box 122, David City, Neb. 68632; ph 402 543-2488).
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