Amphibious ATV Converted Into Trail-Clearing Brush Cutter

Amphibious ATV Converted Into Trail-Clearing Brush Cutter ATV S “I use it to clear out overhanging trees along fence lines and small trees and brush alongside trails People are amazed at how well it works ” says Harvey Nielsen Melfort Sask who converted an amphibious tracked ATV into a one-of-a-kind brush cutter      He started with a hydrostatic drive 1975 Cushman Trackster equipped with a 2-ft high steel brush guard on front and a machine-length rollbar made from 2 1/2-in dia pipe that has a puckboard canopy on top Nielsen mounted an old 32-in dia sawmill blade about 6 ft off the ground on one side at the back of the rollbar The blade clears the rollbar by about 2 in An 8 hp Kohler engine bolted to the floor belt-drives a horizontal shaft that rotates the blade     Nielsen reaches behind the driver’s seat and uses a lever that’s connected to a belt idler pulley to engage the blade As he drives slowly along the guard on front forces bent-over small trees and brush up and onto the rollbar until they get cut by the blade and fall behind the machine and onto the ground     “It does a good job and is easy to use I built it because I’m 83 years old and at my age I need to do everything the easy way ” says Nielsen “The rollbar will catch any bent-over trees or branches as long as they’re at least 2 ft off the ground The big blade cuts through 6-in dia tree trunks like a hot knife going through butter ”     He says the machine came in handy three years ago when an ice storm bent lots of trees down along a 6-mile long trail leading to his hunting cabin “I drove along cutting everything off one side of the trail and then turned around and did the other side ” says Nielsen     “When I first started using the blade I thought I’d have to ease very slowly into big logs but I found out that I have to go at least 2 mph in order to keep big logs from binding in the saw I can use an engine stop button if the blade happens to jam up on a log ”     The blade’s original mounting bracket is bolted to a steel frame that bolts onto the rollbar “It takes only about 25 min to remove the blade and shaft ” says Nielsen     He admits this can be a dangerous machine with a big blade out in the open and chips and sawdust flying everywhere “The ATV can seat 3 people side by side but when I’m using the saw I don’t let anyone ride with me I also don’t want anyone close by ”     He bought the ATV used about 20 years ago “It was originally powered by a 2-stroke engine that was hard on gas so I replaced it with a 20 hp Honda engine ” says Nielsen     He says the ATV’s T-bar steering wheel makes the machine easy to handle “Top speed is only about 10 mph but I wouldn’t want to go any faster than that especially on rough ground or I might get bucked out of the seat ” notes Nielsen     Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Harvey Nielsen P O Box 1032 Melfort Sask Canada S0E 1A0 ph 306 752-9253

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.