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CAPABLE of pulling any two-horseload with ease, at good speed
and
nominal gas consumption, this homemadetractor, made from junk
automobile parts,costs only about $50 to build. Althougha low hitch
is provided on the rear-axlehousing, the high hitch, also shown, is
safefor most loads, as it was found that, withthe tractor anchored,
in several tests todetermine its turn-over tendency, the for-ward
wheels lifted 15 in. but no more. Toinsure a more efficient cooling
and lubri-cating system than that provided on aFord model-T motor,
which is used in thistractor, a water pump and an oil pumpmay be
added, but these details are leftentirely to the discretion of the
builder.
Starting out, you will need an old Fordpassenger car. If you
already have one,well and good; if not, your local junkyardor
wrecking establishment will supply one
at low cost. Stripped ofunnecessary parts, thecar will take on
some-what the appearance ofFig. 2. From this picture,you can
readily see thatthe car purchase shouldbe made with an eye to agood
radiator, a fair mo-tor and an unsprungchassis. The
front-wheelunit, too, a l though not
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shown, should be in good condit ionas this forms a part of the
finishedtractor. A l l in al l , parts f rom threecarsa Ford
passenger, a Chevroletpassenger and a Ford t ruckgo in-to the
making of the new uni t .
W i t h the chassis str ipped, the f irstjob is to install the
new shaft. Thisconsists of a number of pieces, in-cluding a
Chevrolet transmission tostep up the power supplied by theFord
motor, as shown in Figs. 3 and4. Start bui ld ing up the shaft
by-fitting a rear-half universal housingfrom a Chevrolet over the
Ford un i -versal. As can be seenin F i g . 1 , t h e h o l e smust
be enlarged a l i t -tle w i th a rat- tai l filein order to get a
neatf i t . T h e C h e v r o l e tt r a n s m i s s i o n
comesnext, w h i c h must bepartly disassembled, as
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in Fig. 3, in order to re-m o v e the f r o n t m a i
ndriveshaft. This shaft isto be taken to a machineshop and t o o l
e d d o w nslightly to fit w i th in theFord universal. The
re-assembled transmissionis shown in Fig. 5. Thissketch shows a
1-in. steelcollar, which is fitted to the trans-mission by means of
threestuds extending through the collarand into the holes in the
Chevroletuniversal housing, as in Fig. 6. Thecoupling alone is not
sufficient toproperly brace the transmission, soa crossframe truss
of angle iron isfitted into place as in Fig. 7. Thisholds the
transmission by means oftwo long bolts, properly spaced by meansof
two 1/2-in pipe nipples. A second tr ipto the machine shop is
necessary to havethe shaft splined as shown in Fig. 8. Theheavy
port ion is already splined to fit theFord truck differential of
which it is apart, but the splines on the lower halfmust be
machined to fit the Chevroletuniversal, as shown in Fig. 12. Next,
a5-5/8-in. length, cut f rom the rear of theFord truck driveshaft
housing, is brazed
to the Chevrolet universal housing, as inFig. 13. The jointed
parts are then boltedinto place, as in Fig. 14, w i th the
splinedshaft inside. The final piece is the Fordtruck differential,
which is bolted to theshaft housing. A detail of the manner
ofsupport ing the differential is given in Fig.15. A length of
boiler plate, 6 in. wide by1/2 in. thick, is turned over at r ight
angles,and the ends are cut out to fit over theaxle, fastenings
being steel straps twisted
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to shape and bolted into position (Fig.10). Fig. 16 shows the
endpiece. Theexact line on which to cut off the chassisis
determined by this piece, the cut beingmade so that the endpiece
can be boltedto the rear of the differential, as shown.Additional
bracing is provided by theoriginal truck trusses, which are cut
tosuitable size and boltedto the frame, as in Fig.11. This
completes thed r i v e s h a f t assembly.The universal joints
arenot used for flexibility
angle iron. F i t t ing is best done by dr i l l -ing the cleats
first, then dri l l thirteenevenly spaced holes around the r im,
and,finally, use a fit-and-try method to locatethe remaining holes,
as shown in Fig. 25.The cleats are fastened at an angle ofabout
45.
The forward-wheel assembly includesthe original Ford
pas-senger-car ax le , withwheels and r ims , asshown in Fig. 17.
Theaddition consists of twot r i a n g u l a r wedges of
but only to insure simple and satisfactorycouplings.
N o w for the rear wheels. Each of theseis made f rom a Ford
passenger-car rearwheel, the or ig inal hub being removedand the
hole for it enlarged w i t h a file sothat a t ruck hub may be
subst i tuted, as inF ig . 23. The latter should be placed sothat
the bolt holes of the hub w i l l comebetween the old ones, in
order to assuresufficient ho ld ing qualit ies. The outerpart of
each wheel is made f rom a 7/16 by6-in. i ron band, bent to fit a
Ford or Chev-rolet r im and fastened w i t h three bolts asshown in
the r ight detai l of F ig . 23. Eachwheel is f itted w i th th i r
teen cleats wh ichare 11 or 12-in. lengths of 2 by 2-1/2-in.
boiler-plate stock, cut to the dimensionsgiven in Fig. 20. The
holes for the sixbolts that hold these plates to the axlemust be
drilled very carefully so that thebolts wi l l be tightly wedged
into position.The slight swelling of the axle at thispoint wi l l
be sufficient to keep the platesfirmly in place. Fastening the
frontwheels to the frame is accomplished byusing two old-style
front-frame bearings(Ford), which are bolted on either side ofthe
frame as in Fig. 21. Such bearingscan only be found on models up to
andincluding the 1921 Ford. The opening inthe lower bearing is
fitted wi th a bushing,to take a 3/4-in. bolt, passing through
thetop of the triangular plates. The unit is
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assembled as in Fig. 19, using lock wash-ers under the nuts. As
a tractor has adecided tendency to set nuts spinning, itis a good
idea to use lock washers wher-ever possible throughout the entire
as-sembly. One other th ing about the f rontwheel assembly: For l
ight truck farm-ing, the original steering-gear t ie-rod canbe left
in place, but if you anticipate heavyduty, you may as well remove
this now aslater and substitute a heavier rod. Thestrain on the
rod, especially when thewheels are tipped in and out of a furrow,is
considerable, and a l ight rod wi l l usu-ally buckle.
The rest of the job consists of finishingtouches. You may use a
standard tractorseat, fitting this into place wi th a fair
lyflexible length of steel, as in Fig. 18.Wood flooring is nailed
over two lengthsof 2 by 4-in. stock, preferably hardwood,bolted to
the frame. The gas tank ismounted under the seat, and, in this
po-sit ion, allows a gravity feed to the car-buretor. Start ing is
done by hand, w i than ignit ion battery strapped into placebehind
the gas tank.
A l though it adds nothing to the run-ning qualities of the
machine, a simplesheet-metal cowling w i l l greatly improveits
appearance. This should be made torun f rom the original dashboard
back,w i th l ighter lengths turned over at r ightangles, fitting
over the frame at the f rontand along the flooring at the rear, as
canbe seen in the picture of the finished job.W i t h this cowling,
a wooden instrumentboard may be fitted neatly wi th in .the
met-
al hood, as shown in Fig. 22. The originalFord hood can be used
over the motor.
Two examples of hitches are shown inFigs. 9 and 22. The higher
one is usedfor l ight loads, while the lower hitch isbest for heavy
loads. The upper orie con-sists of a piece of heavy iron plate
secure-ly bolted to the rear crosspiece as shownin Fig. 15, while
the lower one comprisesseveral individual pieces, riveted or
weld-ed together, and is attached to the rear-axle housing. Running
the tractor maybe a l i tt le puzzling at first, especially ifyou
have had no experience w i th a model-T Ford. W i t h both
transmissions in high,the tractor is simply a Ford truck wi th
a7-1/2 to 1 ratio between motor and rearwheels. There are, however,
several in-termediate combinations of gearing whichwi l l readily
allow even the slowest plow-ing speed without stall ing the
motor.Normal tractor speed is obtained by put-t ing the Ford
transmission in high andthe Chevrolet in first. One hour at
thewheel wi l l show what this tractor w i l l do.
If the instructions given in this articleare carefully followed,
no difficulty wi l l beexperienced in bui lding the tractor.
Youmight question the fact that passenger-car wheels were used on a
truck rear end,but this arrangement was found mostpractical as
truck wheels were too small,being 3 in. less in diameter than the
pas-senger-car wheels. When you have com-pleted this tractor, you
may be assuredthat it has plenty of power for averagework, and wi l
l be found especially suit-able for t ruck farming.