"Rare" 3-Wheeler Dates Back To 1896

Rare 3-Wheeler Dates Back To 1896 ATV S When Julius Cross takes off down the road on his 1896 3-wheeled self-propelled antique Deere planter traffic usually stops People follow him home to get a closer look at the strange-looking rig     “My dad bought the horse-drawn 1896 planter in 1952 with a B Deere He later gave it to a cousin who finally gave it to me ” says Cross “I set it out on the lawn behind a 1909 solid rubber tired motorcycle One day I looked at them and decided to turn the planter into a 3-wheeler ”     Cross attached the front half of a 250cc Yamaha to the planter frame He removed the front wheel replacing it with a wooden spoke wheel with a solid rubber tire from an old ice truck He also replaced the Yamaha headlight with an old blowtorch     “It’s perfectly functional ” says Cross “When I pump it up I get a 2-ft flame shooting out ”     Cross mounted a 6 1/2 hp Wisconsin engine between the planter units and moved the old planter seat forward He retained the original steel planter wheels as well as all the working parts Where the seat had mounted he installed a smaller version of the planter wheel as a mock “spare tire”     “I painted the engine green and everyone asks where I got a small Deere motor ” says Cross While he put a fresh coat of paint on many of the “new” components he left much of the planter its original color     “I wanted it to retain the old look ” he says     For a drive system he mounted a jackshaft from a go-cart with a belt drive to the motor and a chain drive to the sprocket on the planter axle     “I put it at a quarter throttle and that’s as fast as I want to go ” says Cross who has fun taking the 3-wheel planter to tractor shows “I’ve taken multiple first place awards I had one guy ask me if Deere really made these ”     Cross plans another change before next year’s round of tractor shows He plans to switch hoppers and fill the planter hopper with corn     “All the hoppers have their chains and are still functional ” he says “I plan to drive around shows and shoot corn out the back ”     Check out the video at www FARMSHOW com     Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Julius Cross 30 Ubly Rd Sandusky Mich 48471 ph 810 305-2706

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