40-Year-Old Homebuilt Tractor Still Working Hard

40-Year-Old Homebuilt Tractor Still Working Hard TRACTORS Antiques Herb Lowe and his son Steve built a custom tractor nearly 40 years ago and Herb says it’s still “paying me back for treating it right and keeping it inside out of the weather when I’m not using it ” Lowe is 95 years old and says he and Steve built the tractor “when I had the ideas and he had the welding skills to put it together I was working for Chevron Oil at the time and my superintendent said I could use scrap metal from the yard to build the frame We drew up some plans and Steve welded the frame together The tractor is about 8-ft long like a small Ford ” The tractor uses a 4-speed Chevrolet truck transmission coupled to a 1949 3/4-ton Ford pickup rear end The axles were cut off to make the wheel track slightly narrower than a pickup The 16-in rear wheels are from an old 3/4-ton pickup and have 6:50 x 16 deep tread tires The 13-in front wheels from an old trailer are mounted on a bolster that Lowes built from scratch “We thought about different engines and finally settled on a 2-cyl 16-hp air-cooled Wisconsin that a farmer had on an old hay baler ” Lowe says “He had two of them and I guess I chose the right one because after all these years it’ll turn over a couple of times and start right up ” Lowe says “The transmission has a compound low so the tractor has plenty of power When you put it in fourth gear a person can go much faster than you ought to so you had better hold on and not turn too short It turns quick so the driver has to be careful ” The Lowes built the tractor for work rather than just for show The 4-ft front blade plows snow or moves dirt and gravel It raises and lowers with a hydraulic cylinder that Lowe says “holds steady at whatever level we want ” They mounted a hydraulic 3-pt and toolbar on the rear to handle a blade spring tooth rake or mower An oil pump with a 16-gal reservoir handles the hydraulics Lowe built a cardboard template for the hood and operator station and had a fabricator form the sheet metal The hood has openings for the air intake and exhaust They fitted a steering system from a wrecked car to extend from the front wheels up to the operator station Lowe ordered a cushioned fold-down seat from Northern Hydraulics and says the tractor is comfortable to ride on and easy to drive The 12-volt battery system provides electric starting and lights if Lowe needs to clear the driveway or mow when it’s dark “We used a lot of different materials and parts and put quite a bit of time into building the tractor and it’s paid back many times over the past 40 years ” Lowe says “We didn’t give it a name or a number but I suppose we could’ve called it ‘Bulldog’ for the shiny Mack Truck ornament mounted on the front of the hood ” Lowe adds Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Herbert Lowe 108 Halfturn Rd Rangely Colo 81648 ph 970-675-2171

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