Subaru Engine Triples Skid Steer Power

Subaru Engine Triples Skid Steer Power ENGINES Ed Pacha’s Gehl skid steer has plenty of power since he put a Subaru engine in it The 1 6L 4-cylinder engine came out of a 1980 Subaru Brat “The old engine was a 2-cyl opposed 20-hp Onan and was probably 10 years old when we repowered it ” says Pacha “The skid steer had been worked hard loading cattle manure so the engine was burning some oil ” Pacha wanted more power and his dad Merle suggested he try the 66-hp Subaru which was narrow enough to fit in the engine space on the Gehl The easy part was making motor mounts and bolting the engine in place A bigger challenge was connecting the Subaru flywheel to the hydraulic pump that drives the skid steer and provides lift “A short drive shaft with universal joints at each end connected the Onan engine to the hydraulic pump ” says Pacha “The Onan had a keyed shaft I needed to fix a keyed shaft to the Subaru flywheel which had to be retained as it had the starter ring gear on it ” To connect the Subaru to the pump drive shaft he had a circle cut from 1/4-in steel plate to match the inside of the Subaru flywheel He then drilled 6 holes around the circle to match bolts in the flywheel though he had to replace the original bolts with slightly longer ones to fit through the plate and the flywheel “I drilled a hole in the center of the plate and pressed in a keyed shaft welding it on the backside of the plate ” explains Pacha “I then put a Universal joint on it that matched the drive shaft ” The exhaust was also a bit of a challenge he recalls “The exhaust on the Subaru came out the bottom versus out the top of the Onan ” he says Pacha attached a threaded pipe fitting to a steel plate for a flange which he bolted to the exhaust outlet on the Subaru A 90-degree elbow on it combined with a short pipe to a 45-degree elbow to angle the exhaust back up to a second flange and an exhaust manifold fabricated out of square tubing From there it’s directed to a muffler The Subaru also needed a radiator Pacha had an old Chrysler radiator so he made brackets and attached it inside the engine guard with an electric fan to cool it “The old Gehl was always underpowered ” say Pacha “That’s not the case any more ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Ed Pacha A&E Automotive 3263 Highway 78 Brighton Iowa 52353 ph 319 694-4108; govenorbrn@yahoo com

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