One-Of-A-Kind Tractor

One-Of-A-Kind Tractor TRACTORS Made-It-Myself What started life as a pile of random parts turned into a handy little tractor for Raymond Bishop of Lawrenceburg Tenn     The tractor is 12 ft long and weighs about 3 400 lbs It rides on 18 4-26 tires off a combine on back and 7 00-15 tri-rib tires on front Power is provided by a 2-liter 4-cyl engine from a 1971 Ford Pinto     “I built it mostly out of scrap materials and spent very little on parts ” says Bishop “It doesn’t have a 3-pt hitch or a pto but that’s not a problem I use it primarily to pull a ground-driven hay rake and to push and pull cars around our repair shop or load them onto trailers ”     Bishop started with a used IH 340 rear end and transmission which he bought at a scrap yard and used 2 by 3-in sq tubing to build a frame He attached the rear end to the front suspension system off a 1977 Chevy Impala     The tractor has 2 transmissions – the Pinto’s 3-speed automatic transmission and the tractor’s 5-speed transmission with the Pinto transmission connected to the rear end’s input shaft “The tractor has a variety of gear ratios that let me go from a crawl up to 45 mph which is really handy to use ” says Bishop     Bishop adapted the Chevy’s power steering pump and alternator to the Pinto engine The Chevy’s power steering box is connected with U-joints to the steering column off a Dodge truck An 8-gal beer keg tucked under the hood serves as the fuel tank with an electric pump delivering fuel to the carburetor He used aluminum to build the hood and dash and 1/2-in conduit for the grill and also added homemade gearshift levers and aftermarket gauges He used 6-in angle iron to build the hitch     The tractor’s exhaust runs down the right side of the tractor and comes out in front of the rear wheel The front bumper is a piece of 2 by 3-in sq tubing with 2-in sq on the top and bottom An old tire on front serves as a bumper “Sometimes we have to push cars around our shop and if we get up against the back of a car the tire keeps from bending it up ” says Bishop     On the day he took the photos Bishop was raking hay and had the rusty gas tank from a small engine strapped to a hub on one of the tractor’s rear wheels “The tank is filled with clean nuts and bolts and as they tumble around they knock the rust off the inside of the tank ” notes Bishop     Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Wesley Bishop 27 North Hood Rd Lawrenceburg Tenn 38464 ph 931 242-4221; Rmwfam3@gmail com

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