ironnut
Member
Unfortunately yes indeed I actually built it. We have mixed a lot of concrete in the intervening years, at least 50 yards. I don't really have any pictures from when I was doing the build. Some years ago I wrote the following description and posted on another forum. There is even a reference to a tractor.
gordon
The Personal Sized Redi-Mixer
Look carefully, as you will never see another one like this. This is a
personal sized "redi-mix truck". The word truck is a bit of a stretch in
this reference, but basically all the pertinent features found in the
larger versions of the cement truck are here.
The unit is the result of a need to make numerous small batches of concrete.
My wife and I are building a house, and while it didn't make sense to
use this thing for the foundation and walls, it seems appropriate for the
small patio, footings for retaining walls, and numerous other small jobs.
The basic design was driven by the cement mixer itself. This unit was
a commercially available item, that mounted on the back of a utility
tractor via the 3 point hitch. Drive was through a car tire that rode on
a roller that was driven by the tractor PTO. This unit was made by an
outfit in Kansas, the Universal Pulley company. I got it for free, as the
pto drive was missing. My design did not need it so I got a good deal.
The mixer by my calculations and empirical research, is a 1/5 cubic yard
working capacity. Originally I was going just mount it on a trailer and
have a small gasoline engine power it and move it around with a small
compact tractor that a friend of mine owned. Somewhere between that
idea and when I found the engine that is on it today, the idea expanded to
be the self-propelled version.
The engine is a 4 cylinder water cooled flat head design, manufactured by
Waukeshau. It is about 65 cubic inches in displacement and has a governed
speed of 3500 rpm. It was originally part of a military generator set. A local
salvage company had it sitting on a pallet next to the street with a 4-sale
sign on it. It didn't have the generator attached to it anymore, but was
bolted to a home made frame of considerable weight. The existing lash-up had
no flywheel, only a 4 groove pulley about 3 inches in diameter. If the
engine ran at all, it must of ran like krap. Anyway, I bought it for $75 as
is. I remove several layers of grunge and removed the oil pan. I cleaned
the oil intake screen and pump and made sure that it pumped oil. It took
several hours of screwin' around to get a couple of valves loose, but after
that I had compression and spark.
The carburetor took several dunkings in the cleaner and lots of poking and scraping.
Getting a new float turned out to be one of the more difficult challenges.
I had to do some welding on the intake manifold as there was some damage and severe corrosion.
I tried out a new liner and some aluminum wire in my wire welder which worked quite nicely.
The engine is an aluminum block so the whole thing is quite light, well
under a 100 lbs.
For a flywheel I went to the local tractor salvage place and bought a
flywheel from the pony motor that is used to start a John Deere 70 diesel.
(See, there is a reference to an old tractor). It took a bit of machining
to match it up to the engine, but it looked like the right size and weight
for the machine. The pony engine is of similar displacement and also
a 4 cylinder design although a V-4 in stead of the Waukeshau in-line 4.
The gear teeth in the flywheel also gave me another idea, that of using a
starter motor to get things rolling. It came with a recoil starter.
Anyway, it took quite awhile to get the thing put together, but it basically
started right up. Sweet sounding and quite smooth.
The frame is constructed of 1 1/2" x 3" rectangular tube, with eighty or
ninety thousandths wall thickness. The rear end came out of a 70s vintage
Toyota, the rear tires from a Ford Ranger pickup, and the steering axle
from an Air Force cart of some nature, that another salvage place had.
The steering box was from a 70s vintage 1/2 ton Chevy pickup, and the
steering wheel from a John Deere Combine. The steering linkage is by
Rube Goldberg, implemented by yours truly. It does some pretty bizarre
things to get steering half-way normal. Brake master cylinders are from
a Pontiac Sunbird, one for each wheel. The drive is hydraulic. A variable
displacement pump delivers oil to a hydraulic motor. Top speed is a relaxed
walk. The radiator is from a Honda Civic, as is the alternator.
A second hydraulic pump powers the cement mixer, which is driven by a
hydraulic motor. An adjustable flow priority valve, separates the oil
flow to the motor and the remainder to operate 3 hydraulic cylinders
(loading, dumping and chute control).
We have actually mixed some concrete with this creation. I have a few
issues to work out before I start a serious project, but the basics
do work.
Specifications:
engine: Waukeshau (1950's vintage)
displacement: 65 cubic inches
cylinders: 7, 4 in the engine and 3 hydraulic ones
horsepower: guessing about 20 hp.
air filter: K&N
rear end: Toyota pickup
steering axle: Military surplus (jet engine or bomb cart)
radiator: Honda Civic
alternator: Honda Civic
steering box: Saginaw (Chevy pickup)
steering wheel: John Deere 55 combine
drive oil reservoir: John Deere 55 combine ~2 1/2 gal
mixer oil reservoir: Custom fabricated ~2 1/2 gal
cement mixer: Universal Pulley company
mixer capacity: 1/5 cubic yard
hydraulic pumps: 2, variable displacement (drive) and fixed
gas tank cap: about 5 gals.
hydraulic oil cap: about 5 gals, 2- 2 1/2 gal reservoirs
hydraulic motors: 2, (ground drive and mixer drive)
seating cap: one
drive: hydraulic
speeds: variable, fwd/rev top speed (brisk walk)
weight: guessing between 1000 and 1500 lbs
cost: let's not talk about that
time-to-build: several hundred hours over a 3 year period
gordon
The Personal Sized Redi-Mixer
Look carefully, as you will never see another one like this. This is a
personal sized "redi-mix truck". The word truck is a bit of a stretch in
this reference, but basically all the pertinent features found in the
larger versions of the cement truck are here.
The unit is the result of a need to make numerous small batches of concrete.
My wife and I are building a house, and while it didn't make sense to
use this thing for the foundation and walls, it seems appropriate for the
small patio, footings for retaining walls, and numerous other small jobs.
The basic design was driven by the cement mixer itself. This unit was
a commercially available item, that mounted on the back of a utility
tractor via the 3 point hitch. Drive was through a car tire that rode on
a roller that was driven by the tractor PTO. This unit was made by an
outfit in Kansas, the Universal Pulley company. I got it for free, as the
pto drive was missing. My design did not need it so I got a good deal.
The mixer by my calculations and empirical research, is a 1/5 cubic yard
working capacity. Originally I was going just mount it on a trailer and
have a small gasoline engine power it and move it around with a small
compact tractor that a friend of mine owned. Somewhere between that
idea and when I found the engine that is on it today, the idea expanded to
be the self-propelled version.
The engine is a 4 cylinder water cooled flat head design, manufactured by
Waukeshau. It is about 65 cubic inches in displacement and has a governed
speed of 3500 rpm. It was originally part of a military generator set. A local
salvage company had it sitting on a pallet next to the street with a 4-sale
sign on it. It didn't have the generator attached to it anymore, but was
bolted to a home made frame of considerable weight. The existing lash-up had
no flywheel, only a 4 groove pulley about 3 inches in diameter. If the
engine ran at all, it must of ran like krap. Anyway, I bought it for $75 as
is. I remove several layers of grunge and removed the oil pan. I cleaned
the oil intake screen and pump and made sure that it pumped oil. It took
several hours of screwin' around to get a couple of valves loose, but after
that I had compression and spark.
The carburetor took several dunkings in the cleaner and lots of poking and scraping.
Getting a new float turned out to be one of the more difficult challenges.
I had to do some welding on the intake manifold as there was some damage and severe corrosion.
I tried out a new liner and some aluminum wire in my wire welder which worked quite nicely.
The engine is an aluminum block so the whole thing is quite light, well
under a 100 lbs.
For a flywheel I went to the local tractor salvage place and bought a
flywheel from the pony motor that is used to start a John Deere 70 diesel.
(See, there is a reference to an old tractor). It took a bit of machining
to match it up to the engine, but it looked like the right size and weight
for the machine. The pony engine is of similar displacement and also
a 4 cylinder design although a V-4 in stead of the Waukeshau in-line 4.
The gear teeth in the flywheel also gave me another idea, that of using a
starter motor to get things rolling. It came with a recoil starter.
Anyway, it took quite awhile to get the thing put together, but it basically
started right up. Sweet sounding and quite smooth.
The frame is constructed of 1 1/2" x 3" rectangular tube, with eighty or
ninety thousandths wall thickness. The rear end came out of a 70s vintage
Toyota, the rear tires from a Ford Ranger pickup, and the steering axle
from an Air Force cart of some nature, that another salvage place had.
The steering box was from a 70s vintage 1/2 ton Chevy pickup, and the
steering wheel from a John Deere Combine. The steering linkage is by
Rube Goldberg, implemented by yours truly. It does some pretty bizarre
things to get steering half-way normal. Brake master cylinders are from
a Pontiac Sunbird, one for each wheel. The drive is hydraulic. A variable
displacement pump delivers oil to a hydraulic motor. Top speed is a relaxed
walk. The radiator is from a Honda Civic, as is the alternator.
A second hydraulic pump powers the cement mixer, which is driven by a
hydraulic motor. An adjustable flow priority valve, separates the oil
flow to the motor and the remainder to operate 3 hydraulic cylinders
(loading, dumping and chute control).
We have actually mixed some concrete with this creation. I have a few
issues to work out before I start a serious project, but the basics
do work.
Specifications:
engine: Waukeshau (1950's vintage)
displacement: 65 cubic inches
cylinders: 7, 4 in the engine and 3 hydraulic ones
horsepower: guessing about 20 hp.
air filter: K&N
rear end: Toyota pickup
steering axle: Military surplus (jet engine or bomb cart)
radiator: Honda Civic
alternator: Honda Civic
steering box: Saginaw (Chevy pickup)
steering wheel: John Deere 55 combine
drive oil reservoir: John Deere 55 combine ~2 1/2 gal
mixer oil reservoir: Custom fabricated ~2 1/2 gal
cement mixer: Universal Pulley company
mixer capacity: 1/5 cubic yard
hydraulic pumps: 2, variable displacement (drive) and fixed
gas tank cap: about 5 gals.
hydraulic oil cap: about 5 gals, 2- 2 1/2 gal reservoirs
hydraulic motors: 2, (ground drive and mixer drive)
seating cap: one
drive: hydraulic
speeds: variable, fwd/rev top speed (brisk walk)
weight: guessing between 1000 and 1500 lbs
cost: let's not talk about that
time-to-build: several hundred hours over a 3 year period
