gonna build a homemade tractor

[missourihick]

I want to build a tractor,bigger than a doodlebug.
I have a loader and backhoe to go on it . I plan to use a 460 ford engine with auto trans in front of a clark 5 speed driving a rockwell 2 speed rearend.I plan to keep the dual rear wheels and put the chains on the tires. I wanted to keep the front springs since I don't have a good way to build the pivot for the front axle. The front suspension is off a cabover truck,so I think it would hold up to a loader being on it. I plan to make the hoe a quick attach type so I can use the tractor for field work too.Right now it looks like I will have to use the air brake rearend.Oh well ,it'll have an air compressor to work air tools too. I will post some pictures later when I get all the parts started going together. Right now I am looking for any ideas and input. I hope I can save some headaches by learning from someones elses mistakes. By the way, I have done this before(on a smaller scale),and am capable and able to do something of this magnatude. I just hope I can have enough time to finish it this winter. Any input is appreciated.

[Egon]

Just wondering how much traction the rear wheels will provide for pulling.

Garbage trucks have what is essentially a front end loader on them and I have seen truck mounted hoes.

Around here you see many old stripped down trucks with grapples used to haul logs out of the woods.

Egon

[missourihick]

I know a guy who has an old cut down truck with a log skidding winch on the rear. Thats where I got the original idea. It has a dodge 360 with auto trans with a 4 speed behind. I've driven it and it does not lack for traction or power. I figgered if I am gonna build it I might as well use the old loader and the hoe I have lying around. The transmission I have is used,but good and the engine is new rebuilt with a few upgrades I intended to use in a 2 ton.It is the equivelent of a factory police intercepter. I wish I had a 6 or even a 4 cyl engine to use.

[PineRidge]

Sounds to me like a real project. Please post pictures here at the site as you progress for everyone to enjoy. Good luck to you.

[ns_in_tex]

Sounds like an interesting project.

I wonder if another option, in place of chains, might be the tractor type tires I see on fertilizer trucks.

Might be more money.

[Taylortractornut]

Chris for the rear end you could find an old skidder rear end or an old S9 Euclid or TS9/14 Terex scraper rear end. I have a good friend that buildt a draft tractor like that to chisel plow several acres of cut over. He couldnt justify a tractor that size. We had a nightbor with a load of od 260 AC scrapers with a few parts machines so Mark bought th rear axle then put an old diesel GM truck in front of it. they built a better frame to join the 10 speed truck to the rear axle. Then later added a lower gear box to make a better ratio. then build a good draft hitch. It had some pretty good front tires they put chains on then used the scraper tires on the 260 axcle since they came with the deal. Mark bought a big 6 shank v ripper at an auction for about 150 dollars and hooked his hydraulics up. He cleaned up all the roots and branches on his cut over. then left the pine stumps to rot or be harvested. Now its head high in new trees. He sold the tractor a few years ago ill see if I might be able to track it down.

[slowrev]

The drive train on an old junk combine can provide some very good parts for tractor construction. I have an old New Idea combine hull. The drive hube are HEAVY, gear reduction with hydraulic brakes built in. They also fit standard full size tractor rims. The rear steering apparatus ( power steering ) will make a fine feont axle for my hauler I am making.

[missourihick]

I have some old combines, but I wanted the truck tires because they're smaller and I can mount the hoe closer to the axle center.back when it was a case backhoe it was way light in the front end even with the 500# weight and the loader and wheel weights.

[jmc]

I don't know what you are going to do with the loader but it seems to me that a loader supported by springs (your front suspension) would be a little awkward for some stuff. Say you wanted to peel off a couple of inches of dirt. As the downforce on the bucket increases, the springs will compress and the bucket will dive.

[missourihick]

The reason I planned to keep the springs is I don't know of a good way to build a pivot for the axle. The springs are very heavy,but I know what you mean about scalping in to deep.