Articulated Ford Garden Tractor
Marlin Swanson turned a 1968 Ford 120 garden tractor into an articulated 2-WD model. It’s powered by the tractor’s original Kohler 16 hp engine and rides on 12-in. high lugged tires. The 3-ft. wide bench seat has room for 2.
“People see the Ford sticker on the side and then tell me they didn’t realize that Ford made a tractor like this. A lot of them get down on their hands and knees trying to figure out how it steers,” says Swanson.
He removed the front wheels on the Ford and then mated the tractor to a rear end and wheels he got from a friend. He used steel tubing to build a frame between the 2 axles. “Only the front wheels drive, because that’s where all the weight is,” says Swanson. “In fact, I had to move the engine back 6 in. to help balance the load.”
The tractor pivots by means of a roller chain that’s attached to the tractor’s steering wheel, which in turn is attached to the input shaft of the gearbox off an old walk-behind rototiller. The roller chain pushes and pulls on a cable that winds around 2 drums that are also off the rototiller. As Swanson turns the steering wheel left or right, it turns the gearbox, which causes the cable to wind and unwind around the drums. “One cable goes over the top of one drum and the other cable goes under the other drum, so when one cable is winding the other is unwinding,” says Swanson. “A big steel pin serves as a hinge pin between the 2 halves of the tractor.”
A 1-ft. long steel shaft connects the two halves of the tractor and keeps it from sagging in the middle.
“It steers easy – I can spin the steering wheel with one finger,” says Swanson. “The gearbox has a 21:1 gear ratio so I have to turn the steering wheel 21 times in order to make the drum turn once. I plan to install another small gearbox that’ll fit on the steering column.
“One advantage of the mechanical steering system is the engine doesn’t need to be running for me to turn the steering wheel, which makes it easy to push the tractor around and load it onto a trailer. With a hydraulic steering system you would have to have the engine running.”
The tractor has a wooden bed on back with open metal sides. “The bed is made so that by pulling a pin it would dump, but I don’t use it because the bed doesn’t have solid sides,” says Swanson.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Marlin Swanson, 1221 95th Ave., Amery, Wis. 54001 (ph 715 268-8464).
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Articulated Ford Garden Tractor FARM HOME Novelty Items Marlin Swanson turned a 1968 Ford 120 garden tractor into an articulated 2-WD model It’s powered by the tractor’s original Kohler 16 hp engine and rides on 12-in high lugged tires The 3-ft wide bench seat has room for 2 “People see the Ford sticker on the side and then tell me they didn’t realize that Ford made a tractor like this A lot of them get down on their hands and knees trying to figure out how it steers ” says Swanson He removed the front wheels on the Ford and then mated the tractor to a rear end and wheels he got from a friend He used steel tubing to build a frame between the 2 axles “Only the front wheels drive because that’s where all the weight is ” says Swanson “In fact I had to move the engine back 6 in to help balance the load ” The tractor pivots by means of a roller chain that’s attached to the tractor’s steering wheel which in turn is attached to the input shaft of the gearbox off an old walk-behind rototiller The roller chain pushes and pulls on a cable that winds around 2 drums that are also off the rototiller As Swanson turns the steering wheel left or right it turns the gearbox which causes the cable to wind and unwind around the drums “One cable goes over the top of one drum and the other cable goes under the other drum so when one cable is winding the other is unwinding ” says Swanson “A big steel pin serves as a hinge pin between the 2 halves of the tractor ” A 1-ft long steel shaft connects the two halves of the tractor and keeps it from sagging in the middle “It steers easy – I can spin the steering wheel with one finger ” says Swanson “The gearbox has a 21:1 gear ratio so I have to turn the steering wheel 21 times in order to make the drum turn once I plan to install another small gearbox that’ll fit on the steering column “One advantage of the mechanical steering system is the engine doesn’t need to be running for me to turn the steering wheel which makes it easy to push the tractor around and load it onto a trailer With a hydraulic steering system you would have to have the engine running ” The tractor has a wooden bed on back with open metal sides “The bed is made so that by pulling a pin it would dump but I don’t use it because the bed doesn’t have solid sides ” says Swanson Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Marlin Swanson 1221 95th Ave Amery Wis 54001 ph 715 268-8464
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