If you want to get the attention of your neighbors, just head to the field this spring with a Hummer truck pulling a five-bottom plow.

Tom Kendle thinks Hummers, which are commercial versions of military Hummers, make perfect farm utility vehicles, especially when equipped with a 3-pt. hitch and pto. In fact, he developed his own patented design for a 3-pt hitch that can be easily bolted to any Hummer.

"One outstanding feature of the Hummer is that you can have torque on all four wheels even if a wheel is in the air," says Kendle, an employee of the A.M.G. plant in Mishawaka, Ind., where Hummers are built. "With true 4-WD final reduction at the wheels and a naturally aspirated diesel, it puts 10,000 lbs. of torque on the ground. With the turbocharged option, that goes even higher."

The first time Kendle drove a Hummer, he knew it had farm potential. He thinks it makes sense to buy one in place of a pickup because it'll do everything a pickup can do plus work in the field.

One of the options available for the Hummer is a 12,000-lb. winch which can be attached either front or back. Kendle uses the winch plates to mount his add-on 3-pt. hitch.

"I can carry a 1,500-lb. bale around on a spike without any extra weights on the Hummer," says Kendle. He has also used the truck to pull a 24-ft. drag across the field at 10 mph using 0.39 gal of fuel per acre. "That's twice the speed and half the fuel of a tractor."

To make the unit even more versatile, he adds a hydraulic motor with a pto shaft mounted to the hitch. He uses an 8, 16, or 24 hp hydraulic pump to produce the power for the unit. The advantage of a separate power unit is constant pto speed regardless of what is being done with the truck.

Kendle has also mounted his 3-pt. hitch to the front end of conventional tractors, and he built a smaller one just for garden tractors.

He has also mounted his 3-pt. hitches on the front of a '78 Ford 250 truck equipped with a snowplow bracket. Kendle sells his medium duty 3-pt. hitch with or without electric hydraulic assembly. The garden tractor unit will soon be available. The pto unit with the 16 hp generator, shaft, motor and hoses and the dozer blade areavailable.

For those who would like to see the units in action, Kendle sells a video and he also has a booklet of pictures of his units in use.