Post by hermitjohn on May 3, 2015 21:37:36 GMT
www.green-trust.org/junkyardprojects/FreeTractorPlans.html
I ran across this website. Several downloadable pdf files of old Mechanix Illustrated and Popular Mechanics articles on building such. Now the antique automotive parts they use would be hard to come by at any price and unless you found them sold as scrap at some farm auction, they would be expensive I imagine. But its the ideas shown that would let one create from modern parts, say a manual transaxle from front drive car from a pick a part type place. Though manual anything automotive is getting harder and harder to find and more expensive. I was shocked to see a plain jane old 3spd car transmission listed for several hundred dollars on Craigslist recently... Another Rip Van Winkle moment! My brain is stuck in past where, the three speeds would sell $1 to $5 at auction and the 4spd truck transmissions bring $5 to $25. Those days are gone forever I guess.
I especially liked the Farmette tractor though not sure where you would get multi-groove v-belt pulleys like that anymore (least not at reasonable price) short of some old feed grinder or something at farm auction. Maybe one could be bit more modern and weld couple microgroove pulleys together and use modern microgroove belts.
Quite a kick seeing them making garden tractors with engines smaller than 10hp. In modern world people have been conned into thinking more like 20+ horse "small" engines just to mow suburban lawn.
I ran across this website. Several downloadable pdf files of old Mechanix Illustrated and Popular Mechanics articles on building such. Now the antique automotive parts they use would be hard to come by at any price and unless you found them sold as scrap at some farm auction, they would be expensive I imagine. But its the ideas shown that would let one create from modern parts, say a manual transaxle from front drive car from a pick a part type place. Though manual anything automotive is getting harder and harder to find and more expensive. I was shocked to see a plain jane old 3spd car transmission listed for several hundred dollars on Craigslist recently... Another Rip Van Winkle moment! My brain is stuck in past where, the three speeds would sell $1 to $5 at auction and the 4spd truck transmissions bring $5 to $25. Those days are gone forever I guess.
I especially liked the Farmette tractor though not sure where you would get multi-groove v-belt pulleys like that anymore (least not at reasonable price) short of some old feed grinder or something at farm auction. Maybe one could be bit more modern and weld couple microgroove pulleys together and use modern microgroove belts.
Quite a kick seeing them making garden tractors with engines smaller than 10hp. In modern world people have been conned into thinking more like 20+ horse "small" engines just to mow suburban lawn.
