Home-Built Plow Tractor Is A Real Workhorse

Home-Built Plow Tractor Is A Real Workhorse SNOWBLOWERS Snowblowers 19-1-8 "Around here, if you need something fixed or built, you go to see Fred," says Ballinfad, Ontario, farmer Bob Anderson, about Fred Mowatt, a Burk's Falls-area innovator. Anderson contacted FARM SHOW about one of Mowatt's most remarkable accomplishments, an industrial grade, go-anywhere, move-anything 4-WD snow plow/tractor he built from scratch 12 years ago. Put together almost entirely from spare parts he had on hand, Mowatt's tractor resembles a commercial timber skid loader. But it's completely unlike anything on the market. "It's hydraulically articulated so it goes around trees, through mud, anyplace you can't go with what's commercially available," says Mowatt. "The operator sits dead center, just like on a big 4-WD tractor, but it's really a medium-sized vehicle. It's just built a lot stronger than anything you could buy." In fact, Mowatt once pulled a 12 by 68-ft. mobile home weighing 17,500 lbs. out of a foot of mud with his tractor, he notes. A German-built V-6 engine out of a Ford Mustang powers Mowatt's snow plow/trac¡tor. The motor mounts in front of the vehicle's frame, which is made out of a 1960's vintage International truck frame. Weighing approximately 3,000 lbs., the 9-ft. long by 6 1/2-ft. wide vehicle is chain driven with number 80 industrial strength chain. A 3-to-1 reduction unit from a 4-speed Ford truck transmission to the final drive, instead of the more common 2-to-1 unit, gives the vehicle,extra pulling and pushing power. Mowatt made the 4-WD system out of Ford 1-ton truck differentials and fitted the vehicle with four heavy-duty V -grip 12-in. wide tires. To articulate the plow/tractor, Mowatt used a 2-way hydraulic cylinder with 15-in. stroke. He attached pin assemblies, like those on a timber skid loader, to hinge the sections of the frame, permitting them to turn. There are hydraulics on the front of the tractor, too. These lift the tractor's 8-ft. wide snow blade, which can be set manually at a right or left angle. Mowatt mounted a heavy-duty drawbar on the back for heavy pulling. I just needed something better than you could buy, a real workhorse that would do all my heavy work," he says. "The only thing it needs right now is a new coat of paint since the red's faded in the past 12 years." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Fred Mowatt, Box 96, Burk's Falls, Ontario POA 1 CO Canada (ph 705-382-5272).

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