Mini IH Truck Built From Cub Cadet Mower

2016 - Volume #40, Issue #5, Page #20

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“It brings back a lot of memories from back in the days when I was growing up,” says 86-year-old Robert Sallee of Coffeyville, Kansas, who converted a Cub Cadet riding mower to look like an International Harvester truck from the 1930’s.
    The truck measures 11 1/2 ft. long and is painted IH red and black. It’s equipped with a 4-ft. wide by 5-ft. long dump box that has a wood bed. The truck’s lugged rear wheels are chain-driven just like they were on trucks from the 1930’s. Power is provided by an 18 hp Kohler engine and the mower’s hydrostatic transmission. The semi-circular front fenders are off a trailer.
    The truck features a wooden cab and a hinged metal hood with a gas cap on top that serves as a handle. The steering wheel is original, but the Cub Cadet seat was replaced with a bench seat that can support 2 people. There’s even an old fashioned ooga horn off a 1928 Dodge truck.
    Sallee stripped the Cub Cadet down to the frame, transaxle, wheels, and engine. He lengthened the frame by 5 ft. by bolting heavy angle irons alongside the Cub Cadet’s original frame. Then he used heavy pipe to build a new rear axle about 2 ft. behind the Cub Cadet’s original transaxle. “I had to build a new rear axle that would carry more weight than the original one, in order to support the dump bed,” explains Sallee.
    He removed the wheels from the transaxle and replaced them with sprockets. Then he mounted the wheels back on the new axle and mounted sprockets next to them.
    “The Cub Cadet’s original rear axle doesn’t carry any weight at all and is now used only to chain-drive the new axle,” says Sallee. “I replaced the Cub Cadet’s original rear tires with 8:50 by 12 lugged tires that provide better traction on wet ground. I also installed compression bearings on the Cub Cadet’s front spindles to make the truck steer easier.”
    The mower was originally equipped with a 12 hp Kohler engine, but it proved to be underpowered so Sallee later replaced it with the bigger 18 hp Kohler. “In order to make room for the new engine I had to widen the frame by 2 in.,” he says.
    Old-time trucks had wood beds with metal strips on the joints, so Sallee made his truck bed the same way. He made a steel frame and laid boards on top of it. He cut a small groove on the edge of each board for the metal strips to hold them when the strips were bolted to the frame.
    “There are no bolts or nuts in the wood itself,” says Sallee. “I had a hard time finding the 1 1/4-in. wide metal strips, and when I did find them they were expensive. I had to pay $80 just for a handful of strips.”
    The bed is raised and lowered by a heavy duty hoist and cylinder with 2,000 lbs. of lifting capacity. It has a metal headboard made out of 1-in. sq. tubing, and Sallee used 3/8-in. metal rods to spell out his last name and add it on top of the headboard.
    He used 2 pieces of expanded metal to build the truck’s grill and painted it silver. The bench seat can be raised to access the gas tank and an electric-hydraulic pump that powers the dump bed.
    Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Robert D. Sallee, 1285 CR 4700, Coffeyville, Kansas 67337 (ph 620 251-3463).

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Mini IH Truck Built From Cub Cadet Mower AG WORLD “It brings back a lot of memories from back in the days when I was growing up ” says 86-year-old Robert Sallee of Coffeyville Kansas who converted a Cub Cadet riding mower to look like an International Harvester truck from the 1930’s The truck measures 11 1/2 ft long and is painted IH red and black It’s equipped with a 4-ft wide by 5-ft long dump box that has a wood bed The truck’s lugged rear wheels are chain-driven just like they were on trucks from the 1930’s Power is provided by an 18 hp Kohler engine and the mower’s hydrostatic transmission The semi-circular front fenders are off a trailer The truck features a wooden cab and a hinged metal hood with a gas cap on top that serves as a handle The steering wheel is original but the Cub Cadet seat was replaced with a bench seat that can support 2 people There’s even an old fashioned ooga horn off a 1928 Dodge truck Sallee stripped the Cub Cadet down to the frame transaxle wheels and engine He lengthened the frame by 5 ft by bolting heavy angle irons alongside the Cub Cadet’s original frame Then he used heavy pipe to build a new rear axle about 2 ft behind the Cub Cadet’s original transaxle “I had to build a new rear axle that would carry more weight than the original one in order to support the dump bed ” explains Sallee He removed the wheels from the transaxle and replaced them with sprockets Then he mounted the wheels back on the new axle and mounted sprockets next to them “The Cub Cadet’s original rear axle doesn’t carry any weight at all and is now used only to chain-drive the new axle ” says Sallee “I replaced the Cub Cadet’s original rear tires with 8:50 by 12 lugged tires that provide better traction on wet ground I also installed compression bearings on the Cub Cadet’s front spindles to make the truck steer easier ” The mower was originally equipped with a 12 hp Kohler engine but it proved to be underpowered so Sallee later replaced it with the bigger 18 hp Kohler “In order to make room for the new engine I had to widen the frame by 2 in ” he says Old-time trucks had wood beds with metal strips on the joints so Sallee made his truck bed the same way He made a steel frame and laid boards on top of it He cut a small groove on the edge of each board for the metal strips to hold them when the strips were bolted to the frame “There are no bolts or nuts in the wood itself ” says Sallee “I had a hard time finding the 1 1/4-in wide metal strips and when I did find them they were expensive I had to pay $80 just for a handful of strips ” The bed is raised and lowered by a heavy duty hoist and cylinder with 2 000 lbs of lifting capacity It has a metal headboard made out of 1-in sq tubing and Sallee used 3/8-in metal rods to spell out his last name and add it on top of the headboard He used 2 pieces of expanded metal to build the truck’s grill and painted it silver The bench seat can be raised to access the gas tank and an electric-hydraulic pump that powers the dump bed Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Robert D Sallee 1285 CR 4700 Coffeyville Kansas 67337 ph 620 251-3463

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