Old Grouch.


We were maybe twelve. Dave Deirens older brother Dean had been into go karts and one had filtered down to us kids. As I recall it had went first to cousin Paul who when he tired of it sold it to me.

I put an old 1&1/2 horse cast Iron Briggs on it, direct drive, no clutch, no governor. It was a cool cart, slicks and mags all round, only about a half inch off the ground, this was at the time a pro kart, McCullach as I recall.

 Yes they made mostly motors but we were told they built some carts too, and this was one of them.

Lester was a small town, no police. Like always, mostly we were just bored. With no other cart to race against we got a stop watch from somewhere and took turns doing time trials around the block. 28 seconds seems right, but I could be wrong.

Aware of the danger we posted lookouts on each corner during runs to stop traffic until the cart cleared. The roads were summer slick, hot blacktop and pea gravel. we were having a ball.
John Folkens, Dave Deiren, Lyle Fecht and I imagine a couple others.

 I was at the wheel southbound down the hill past Matilda Agesons going to beat the band when a car approached the corner from the south. Couple of our boys posted in the middle of the road raised their hands to stop it.

Some older guy and his wife, fancy car, As i skated around the corner spewing gravel I glanced up to see as big a scowl as you can imagine.
Run done he went his way, I mine.

It is a gorgeous January day 55 some years after the event. For some reason the scene pops into my mind.
It all came back, the warm summer sun, the pea gravel, the smell of raw fuel, the sound of the open exhaust, and the thought of what an old sour puss he must have been to not be able to enjoy the experience also. To not see the Norman Rockwell beauty, to only feel the inconvenience.

Out of towner, none of us kids had ever seen he or his wife before.

And I remind myself, never be that guy.

Realized I had never posted the story about losing my Father Duane. Chair is doing just fine, use it every day.

January 22-09

Dads old chair just gave out, came home one weekend and the
recliner mechanism had broke. The chair meant a lot to Dad,
not in a sentimental way but because he just did not get
around good anymore mostly he sat in his chair and watched,
watched the news, watched the neighbors come and go, watched
the trains headed north with coal.

There was another in the basement, my nephew Travis and I
were tasked to bring it up, we plunked it into place. It was
far nicer looking then the old one, rich brown leather. No
swivel though, that and it sat low, hard for Dad to get out
of it. Just four stout legs with the reclining feature.

Even in his younger years, back when he was putting in long
hours building his business Dad appreciated a good chair.
Now when he needed one the most it did not have a swivel. He
could buy another but not today, He was not a patient man.

I went to the garage, found some plywood then tore the
swivel off his old chair and brought them both into the
living room. Seeing the possibilities Dad perked right up,
excited now he told me where some screws were, directed me
to the saw and his drill. It went quite well, Dad watched
every move made, offered suggestions. My sister Laura was
worried, worried when we ran dri-wall screws into the nice
legs, worried the extra four inches would dump Dad over when
he tilted it back. Dad and I weren't concerned with pretty,
just function, plywood and two by fours screwed together, no
mitered ends, no sanding or staining. When finished it
looked like a lumber truck had crashed.

. Dad was ecstatic. He just could not get over how well it
worked.

Every Sunday I came home now, every Sunday when leaving I
would pause at the door where Dad sat in his chair, grasp
his hand and tell him I loved him, he could never say it
back.

Later as he got weaker and it was more difficult for him to
reach the phone I built him a shelf alongside the chair arm,
we screwed it right to the side arm, my sister Laura again
winced, this time as we drove screws right through the
leather on the sides. We told her, told her not only was it
just a used chair, it was Dad's used chair, and if he wanted
to drive screws through it was is business. Screwed the
phone right down to the shelf also, big screws, ugly screws.
Dad loved it.

I noticed now when I was preparing to go Dad would look at
me and get his hand ready, and when I grasped it he would
hold on a little longer, our eyes would meet and feelings
would flow between us, still the words could not come.

Time passed and now even the chair was not a comfort, he was
getting sores and had trouble finding a position did not
hurt. Then the day came he could no longer make it to his
chair. My sister Karen the nurse came for the week, I showed
up Friday evening to take my sons place, my sister Laura was
getting ready to leave. Dad seemed OK but strangely both
Laura and my son Alan kept dragging their feet and ended up
staying also.

In the early morning Dad started to slip away from us, oddly
the kitchen drain picked this occasion to plug, Mom was in
the room with us, not altogether with it, sort of groggy but
still quipping about what we were going to have for supper.
We all sat on the bed and rubbed and held Dad, he pursed his
lips, we thought to say something, no he wanted Mom to kiss
him, one last time. Then he was gone. We sat with him for
some time. It felt right to be there, not hard like you
might think. I was so glad Karen had came down, and so glad
Laura and Alan had stayed.. We all felt very close,as close
as we ever have.

In time we gathered in the kitchen, the hospice nurse Marge
showed up followed by the fellow from the funeral home, they
put Dad on a gurney, I helped them carry him out past his
chair and place him in the hearse.

He never did say it, nor did he have to, his eyes said it
when he looked at me waiting with his outstretched hand, in
his custom built chair.

 The Littlest Christmas tree.

When you are young no time is more special then Christmas. How I and my three siblings Larry, Karen and Laura looked forward to it.

In our small town of Lester Iowa the season kicked off when the Christmas trees arrived at J.D. Chamberlain's lumber yard and hardware store. J.D.s was a fixture on main street his main building being cement block which my Father told me were cast by hand from molds mail ordered from Sears and Roebuck The trees arrived and were set out in front for all to see, my youngest sister Karen and I begged our father Duane to buy one.

I do not recall how long it took to persuade him, days or weeks, but I do remember looking them all over with Dad in tow. A small one caught our eye, short needled not over four and a half or five foot tall. Dad grabbed it with a strong hand stamping the trunk on the pavement to shake out the snow and get and idea of it's spread. We fell in love with the little tree.

Once home we set it up in the corner of our living room and over the next day it's branches spread.

Typically one side of a tree has a bald spot, a missing branch. Common practice is to set the ugly side to the wall. Our little tree was absolutely perfect no matter from what side it was viewed. Karen and I being the youngest were so proud of it. We simply beamed when company came, could not wait to tell the story of finding our tree, to show them how perfect it was. I remember Dad and Mom smiling as we told our story.

At the time I thought they were proud of the tree also, now at 66 with children, and grandchildren, of my own, I realize they were not so much proud of the tree but of us kids for being so happy with it, proud of us being so pleased with such a simply thing.

Christmas over our little tree was set outside in the snow where it was covered with popcorn strings the the ground around it covered with old bread heals, this for the birds to feast on.

For the past two weeks running up to this Christmas of 2017 not a day has gone by I don’t think of our little tree and how special it made our family’s Christmas back in 1958.

Times, events, as a child, are like seeds scattered on the ground. Many never germinate, others sprout soon to fade away. But sometimes the least likely grow and grow into a wonderful memory we can carry and cherish our entire life.

It is the time of year to remember one of our most important jobs is to scatter those seeds, and to not be discouraged when sometimes they do not grow, to have faith, absolute faith, that some of them, as always, will live on long after we are gone. Merry Christmas to all.

Building a home built tractor.

Plan on getting some pictures taken to go along with the following text but for know this is what I have.

I always admired my Father Duane’s ability to fashion something workable from others scrap. Feed mills, payloaders, semi trailers, he was simply a wizard.

Some twenty odd years ago I built a small tractor which worked out better then I could have imagined. We have used it to spray, push cars into the shop, mow the lawn, pull at the local tractor pull, lift up motors and other heavy items with the back cherry picker, and most importantly, take nice long drives on gravel roads during warm Iowa summer evenings.

I would like to share my design with you and in particular point out the solution I stumbled onto which resolved the problem of multiple transmissions which stretch the drive-line out in length and make most home-built designs awkward with the engine hanging out over the front axle and the back transmission under your butt.

Simply put I incorporated a transverse frt. wheel drive trans-axle and engine and turned it around so the engine face forward. OK, now we have one drive axle pointing forward and another pointing backwards both hanging off to the right side of the center line.

As you only need to use one of the axles you will have to split the trans-axle and weld the spider gears up in the internal differential. Spiders welded up you can pull out the axle pointing to the rear and plug the hole left in the case. I simply fashioned a piece of aluminum which fit into the seal and then drove the seal into place.

The engine and drive-line I used came from a1984 Nissan Sentra. A garden variety 1600CC SOHC with a five speed manual trans-axle it was an engine , and trans-axle, I was familiar with and at the time of the build easy and cheap to procure.

Lets take a look at just what it gives us. A nice short little four cylinder overhead cam engine which runs smooth and is very reliable coupled with a quiet easy to shift fully synchronized five speed trans-axle Also tucked into the gear box is a final drive set which further reduces the rpm by about a 3.5 to one ratio.

Hi-Lo range

1984 Nissan 4x4 pickups used a divorced transfer case which rather then hanging on the back of the transmission were mounted to frame rail with a drive-shaft from the transmission powering it. Mounting one of these on the right hand frame rail in front of the engine allowed me to run the drive shaft from the trans-axle right into the transfer case then hook up to the output shaft which would have originally ran to the front axle with another drive-shaft which then had a straight shot at the nine inch Ford rear end in the back of the tractor.

Wow! What a difference this layout makes. I was able to set the engine and trans-axle in place and simply slide it back and fourth on the frame rails to a spot which gave the best balance. And talk about luck. I was able to use one of the stock drive-axles from the Nissan to couple to the transfer case and then the stock 84 Nissan pickup rear drive-shaft to couple to the nine inch Ford rear end.

All I had to do with the back driveshaft was hybridize the rear u-joint, the front axle shaft simply required an adaptor to couple to the transfer case.

The frame.

I used 3x3 3/16s square tubing . Tricky part with the frame is you need to know the height of the back and and the front axle. Better get the front axle and the rear end set up with the tires you plan on using. Your front axle is going to have to a pivot a few degrees so you need to determine how much clearance you need between the top of the axle and the bottom of the frame members. See specifications.

For me all that was required was to overlap the frame rails just ahead of the back axle. This gave us the three inch drop needed to keep everything level. See pictures.

One little tweak which worked out well. Before I tacked the frame together I laid the rails up in the drill press and put some holes through the rail centers both vertical and horizontal. Believe I used a ¾ inch bit. Holes in place I fitted them with short pieces of ½ inch black pipe welded into place and then ground flush with the frame surface. This gives nice mounting points to bolt any future attachments to. With the pipes welded into place you can cinch the bolts down tight without worrying about collapsing the frame. Much easier to do while the individual frame members can be placed in a drill press.

Rear end

The differential used was a Ford nine inch from a sixties something Ford pickup. A nice thing about the nine inch Ford is that ratios are available all the way down to about 6.5 to one. Initially went with the 6.5 to 1 set. Worked good, pulled tractor pulls in second gear low range. By over reving the engine to about 7 or 7.5 K RPM we were able to top 50 MPH in high high. Not recommended, but felt we had to do it once.

The width of the rear end was good the way it was, no narrowing of the housing or axle shortening needed. I will caution the back wheel studs stick out a little further then the widest point of the tires. Yo get used t it and not a problem. Certainly makes a mess though if you get to close to a woven wire fence.

I will mention the nine inch Ford will do anything within reason, very easy to work on and set up. That being said if we got a tacky track at the tractor pull it would crack the spider gears like walnuts. I was able to locate a twin pinon nine inch differential which has four rather then two spider gears. Since making the switch we have had no further problems . If I was building another one though I would move up to a fourteen bolt GM rear end.

When building the tractor I assumed the weak link was going to be the welded spider gears in the Sentra trans-axle. These are not much larger then a silver dollar. I was so in love with the drive-line layout I could not resist going against my better judgment and going forward with the build. The last thing I expected problems with was the nine inch ford.

The little spiders in the Sentra trans-axle have never given a bit of trouble whereas those Ford spiders caught between all the reduction in the drive-line and the height of those tall semi tires have not. I might also note the Sentra clutch, no bigger then a pie plate, has been replaced once in twenty some years and am sure if it wasn’t for starting out those heavy sleds at the pulls the original would still be doing fine.

Steering

Used a tilt steering column out of a 80s GM car. As you can see in the pictures rather then mount the column to the frame I mounted it to the trans-axle. This has worked well. I had thought I would use a steering box below the column and then transfer the motion forward via a drag link to a pivot which would hook to the tie rod between the two front wheels.

What we ended up mounting a power steering rack from a mid eighties GM front wheel drive car parallel to the frame. The steering column hooks up to the rack with a knuckle, the one tie rod end is not used and the one pointing forward attaches to the aforementioned pivot. Using the rack eliminates the use of a drag link. This has worked well. We mounted two power steering pumps both from mid eighty vintage Nissan Sentras. One pump handles the power steering while another taps into a larger welded reservoir which takes care of the rear lift cylinder.

Wheels.

My father had a small fleet of semi trucks. The aluminum Bud wheels they use are scraped if they develop a crack. For the first five years they are warrantied after that they are simple pitched. Dad had a couple with cracks which I felt comfortable using due to the tractors light weight and low air pressure, ten lbs. To adapt them we used ½ plate steel. Takes some time to get everything centered up and drilled but using the five bolt axle flange, with the studs knocked out of it, for a pattern on the small circle and the truck rim for a pattern on the large circle it worked.

My Friend Larry who at the time ran a machine shop turned the adapter plate into a circle with his lathe. He also turned the center to fit the hub of the axle. The wheels, tires and adapters have never given any problem, following from behind they run true. Note rather then bevel the holes in the adapter to match bevel of the lug nuts I simply turned the lug nuts around. Also note although I put ten holes in the outer diameter lug nut holes when I started fitting the studs I realized on my light little rig ten big studs was overkill so we just used every other one.

Front Axle

I spent the better part of a weekend building the first front axle. Not happy with it when done I threw it out and started over this time using a set of front spindles of an old Datsun 620 pickup truck along with some 3X3 by ¼ inch square tubing. I doubt you would be able to find a set of them anywhere now as all those old Datsuns have rusted away. That being said the Datsun spindles mated with a pair of wheels from a Dodge D-50 have worked well.

Setting up your Ackermen angle.

My Father always preached setting up the Ackermen angle. When you turn the outside wheel has to turn a lesser angle as it is making a wider turn. If your steering arm tie rod end holes are both straight back from the spindle center line when you turn both wheels will turn the same angle the outer tire being partially drug around the corner. You can feel this when driving as it will feel like the brakes are being applied on corners, the tighter the turn the more noticeable. Also, the shorter the wheelbase the more noticeable.

Dad said to set it up properly draw a straight line from the center of the back axle through the spindle, or king pin, center line. Drawing the line on each side you end up with a vee. Now just make sure where your tie rod end hooks to the steering arm is on this imaginary line. Interestingly if you extend the line past the center of the king pin so it goes forward of the frt. axle you can hook the tie rod up there also.

Look at some trucks or even cars, some have the tie rods in frt. of the axle, some in back but if you look they all will be set on that imaginary line. I have heard on some heavy trucks they have different steering arms available for different wheelbases.

I got in a hurry and did not pay close attention to my steering arms, simply left them as they were.. Sure enough, with my shorter wheel base I could coast along, turn the wheel and feel everything bind up bringing me to a stop. Some cutting and welding to put my tie rod connections on the magic line and it rolls very smooth during even tight turns. Remarkable difference. Note most of the steering spindles and arms are malleable cast steel, not cast iron. As such they weld up nice. When I needed a good tapered hole to hook up the drag link to the tie rod it was a simple matter of going to the junk yard and cutting an end off a 80s something GM front wheel drive steering arm and welding it into place.

Radiator

Hard to find an automotive radiator narrow enough. Mine came off a 1980 water cooled Volkswagen Fox with a 1800 CC motor Nice package in that the cooling fan is controlled by a temp sender which is screwed right into the radiator. This is one of the few cooling senders or switches which has heavy enough contacts it can carry the load of the fan without a relay. just power in and power back out. This package has been trouble free.

Roll over protection.

The ROP is simply built with square tubing. I angled it back about 14 degrees. It has ½ inch thick pads on the bottom which bolt to the base. This allows the ROP to be unbolted if need be. The cherry picker as you can see is built off the ROPs. Also has a set of lift arms and a center link for three point use. Not used much now but for several years I mowed with it. Had an older 5 foot three point mower which I converted from PTO to its separate engine a 16 hp Briggs Van Guard. A chain hooked up from the cherry picker arm to the mower deck which allowed it to be lifted about a foot. Always worked good with the exception of being awkward around trees.

Fenders.

When building the tractor I figured the fenders would be the big easy. I planed to buy a pair of used flat top tractor fenders and bolt them up. Ready for them I found used scarce and when found expensive. Plan B worked out well though. Made use of some ten inch channel iron and cut one edge off. I welded on a piece of 3X3 angle iron to widen it out then as I remember welded some steel to the frt. And back edges to add some more depth then took string from the center of the axle and drew a arc on the fenders edge and cut it off with a torch.

Using some 5/16 steel rod I put it on the fenders edges to give a nice rolled finish to it. As I spotted in place we used the torch to heat it so I could make the tight corners. Once in place welded it on solid with 1/16 inch rod then went over it with a die grinder and three inch 36 grit sanding pads to smooth it all out.

I like the fenders, they are sturdy and we often use them to stand on when spraying with a hand wand.

Fuel tank

For a gas tank we used a 6 gallon marine tank. Located under the seat it sits loose with a ring of 5/16 steel rod welded to the floor to keep it in place. You can grab the tank with your hand and lift up on it to see how much fuel is left. Simple is good. Five gallons of fuel lasts forever.

Hood.

I had a lot of fun playing around with different hood designs. I ended up using a pair of front fenders off a late seventies Dodge D-50. You can see in the pictures they were trimmed right above the top of the wheel opening. We then used a piece of common steel for the center section. The hood tips forward.

I am not a body man but am happy with the way it turned out.

Dash

The dash is formed of 1/8 inch flat steel. How to make those nice round curves. I stumbled on to this trick. I have a shop press which has a base of steel channel irons on edge three inches apart. Lay the flat steel across them then take a good heavy piece of heavy angle iron and place its sharp edge against the flat steel parallel with three inch gap between the press base, now bring the ram down into the angle of the angle iron and start pumping. The sharp edge of the angle iron pushing through the three inch gap will form the smoothest bend in the flat steel you could ask for.

Spider gears

Welding the spider gears. I asked about welding spiders on one of my auto tech sites, iATN. A ton of responses with a number of different techniques. The take away, they all work. I simply went down to the local farm store, bought some cast iron rod and burned it together, no finesse to it.

Choosing an engine and trans-axle.

At the time of building mine non computerized car engines were plentiful. Today finding a good one is hard. This means you may have to make use of a car engine which is fuel injected and computer controlled. A lot more wires but fuel injected is nice. There are two kinds. Pre 1995 and post 1995 . 1995 engines and later are called OBD 2 . OBD 2 cars have advanced diagnostics, more inputs, more outputs, more wires. Some such as the Evap. system can be discarded. Of course this means you will always have codes set in your computer so a check engine light is not gong to do you much good as it will always be on. Other systems such as fuel control, ignition and such will have to be maintained.

Just keep in mind when you find your donor motor and transmission you will want not only the engine and trans-axle but the engine control module, or ECM , and all the wiring which goes with it.

You could do a lot worse then finding an early nineties four cylinder pre-OBD Toyota..

A decent scan tool and a good wiring diagram will be needed to sort through everything. Once hooked up and properly wired no reason it shouldn’t be trouble free. A good friend who is an auto tech with access to online wiring diagrams and service information would be very useful.

Automatic trans-axles?

What about an automatic trans-axle? I believe it would work good and stand up well. The hardest part would be pulling the automatic all apart to get to the spider gears and then getting it back together without screwing something up. Automatics are easy to work on, if that is what you work on all the time. For the rest of us it can be trying. I have another project I have been working on, an articulated loader which makes use of a G.M. three speed automatic trans-axle. I welded the spiders in it, they are the very last thing to come out of the case, everything else has to come out to access them. So far, knock on wood, it is working well.

Building one today.

Let me tell you how easy it could be. I spent, “wasted”, a bunch of time trying to figure out where everything went, the dimensions needed for the frame, how much offset in the frame, how everything would fit. Doing one today I would simply start with a frame the dimensions of mine. I would use the three inch overlap knowing it would be perfect for 14 inch front tires and semi truck rear tires. Once I got the frame rails cut I would spot weld the the frame members together. Next I would build adapters for the rear truck tires and mount them up to a rear end and spot weld the rear end to the frame. Next I would grab an old wheel barrow wheel and build a fork for it and spot weld the fork to the front of the frame giving me a rolling chassis.

Once you have a rolling chassis it is much easier to deal with. Yes, it will be a lot of work but once you have it roughed out and rolling on wheels you can break it down to one project at a time. One key point I cant stress enough, spot weld everything until you are sure how everything is going to fit together, only then do your final welding.

So, how does it work? A slick nickel. I have a little thirty horse L series Kubota. With it's ag tires it is pretty lumpy on the road, only goes 12 MPH. Straight cut gears in the transmission are loud. No synchronizers so you have to pick out your gear before you start, no shifting on the fly.

Compare with the home-built. Tires are smoother for a much nicer ride, the transmission is synchronized, and quiet as a mouse. You can run around town at twenty MPH without over revving, smooth as can be.

My grandson Evan loves going for evening rides in the summer time. We have a lot of gravel roads here in Iowa that have little traffic. We often go out ten mile or even fifteen before turning back.

During the county fair we put a straight pipe on it and go tractor pulling. If the track is tacky we can get the wheels up and, in second gear low range, pull the motor right into the dirt. The front push bumper makes moving cars and trucks around at work a piece of cake. Always our choice for spraying with a spray bar up front and hose and wand in the back.

Despite the rear end not being posi traction you have to work pretty hard to get it stuck.

Yes, it takes some time to get it all together. But of all the projects I have done this is the one I enjoyed building the most, and the one I have got the most use and enjoyment out of once built. Never been any regrets for the time spent on or with it.

Let him roll.

From early this spring.

As a young boy I got into some scrapes, was at times places I should not have been, doing things I should not have done. With age comes if not wisdom reflection and regrets. You carry them like the burden they are, may wish to place them on another's back but they transfer poorly, I guess that is only fair.
That being said two pursuits I have no regrets about, motor scooters and fishing. As a young boy they captivated and entertained me, when I wasn't engaged in them I was day dreaming about them. In my heart of hearts, the one which you carry from earliest childhood to the grave they are front and center. No matter on the banks of the Mud Creek with pole in hand and the song of the meadow lark near, or putting along some country road with a cast iron flat head Briggs, Red wing black birds chattering my passing. Those two endeavors are the song in my heart, the best of me, the best I got.

My son Alan,now forty, should have been a motor head. I was in the business, worked on motorcycles. Go karts and dirt bikes should have been front and center through his childhood. I recall making the decision, I determined if he did not show interest in motorbikes and such I would not push it. Fishing is where his heart was and I was more then happy to oblige him. Although neither of fish today we share many good memories No regrets.

My grandson Evan and I are close, as a young boy he lived with us. He loves the smell of gasoline. Gave him an old hydro-stat Bolens garden tractor at 8. He terrorized our neighborhood for three years, no one got killed and any fool could see it made his heart sing.

The old Manco four wheeler stood forlorn and alone, two hundred bucks and it was mine. A hundred and twenty dollar motor, a ninety dollar clutch, fifty bucks for disc brakes, some time and some welding. The kids got good hands, better then mine. I love to watch them work, place the bolts, start the nut, flip the clutch, no not this way that.
I gave him our pasture. Know it will get tore up but grass can always be regrown.
He called Friday, could I come get him after work? Saturday morning we worked on his seat which was in shambles. A new plywood base and some stapling put it right. Problem was the snow this past week. It had the pasture covered and there simply was no place else to take it.
Evan called Miss Connie who has a nice long graveled lane. “Maybe next week, too soft now Evan”.
He took it like a man yet the disappointment clearly showed on his face. My mind went back to country roads and Redwing blackbirds.

Told him we would load it up and find somewhere. Four miles out, not a car in sight. We dropped the ramp and rolled it off. Head east I told him, I will be right behind you. The look on his face, like he had just won the lottery.

She topped out at 18 mph, little slow I thought. A mile down the road he twisted around and grabbed the throttle at the motor and we were soon going 33. Stopping at a crossroad I cast about for a tool spying only a crescent wrench. Smash the gas pedal down I told him as I made some cable adjustments to put things right.

The gravel roads were decent mostly hard in the middle soft on the sides. We had Pandora radio set to Guy Clark. Every-time he would turn to see what I wished him to do next I would motion him forward, “let him roll”.

This way that way, around Ryan then Swan lake. He looked so happy, just a kid and his cart with a ticket to ride. Swan Lake was the best, some nice short sweeping ninties. He saw them coming, had the pedal to the floor, carrying just enough speed to get some drift . Making the exit he would turn and grin, like he was saying. Did you see that ?

The miles pile up, still no cars. Every corner now he is expecting me to load him up, every time he looks back I motion on, “let him roll”. Stopping before an intersection we chat a bit, with a grin he tells me it is actually quite soothing. I nod my head, understanding perfectly. We are over twenty miles into it, I tell him to turn right.

I go to follow then see the sign, Minimum Maintenance road, No Plowing.
Well shit, I am not taking my Expedition and trailer down there. I pull over and wait for him to realize I am not following.

He goes, and goes and goes. Good God kid, turn around. Finally no more then a muddy speck on a muddy distant hill he pulls over and makes his turn and it is with great relief the speck becomes larger and larger. I have the ramp down, he rolls around the intersection and onto the trailer in one fluid motion, covered in mud.
We laugh as we recount the trip. I admonish to him that this is a one time deal, “don’t you be expecting it again.”. He grins. A big happy muddy grin.

I encourage you to take a listen to the Guy Clark song, Let him Roll. Not relevant to this story except the chorus, "Let Him Roll." Was playing in my head the entire run, every-time he looked back, every-time I motioned him on.

I Am Back! Having for a time lost my interest, and my password I am back after not posting since 2011.


The lesson.

I was young, perhaps ten. Off in a corner of Dad's repair shop I was intensely trying to cut a piece of steel with a hand hacksaw. Lots of motion, not much cutting. Walking by Dad stopped, watched for a couple seconds then said simply, “let me show you something”.
Picking up the saw he pointed to the angle of the teeth, “ only cuts on the forward stroke, you are wasting your time putting pressure on the back cut, just let it coast back then put your weight into the forward cut, not to much pressure now, you will feel when its right.”

He put the saw to my work, it looked so effortless, the teeth bit into the work the filings falling out on every forward stoke.
Handing the saw back he went his way. I put his lesson to work. Although the cut was not as quick as his I found my rhythm, the sweet spot.
I never use the hacksaw I don’t think of my Father, remember back to the time he stopped what he was doing to set his youngest son right.
A sharp blade, a good solid saw frame, pressure, coast, pressure, coast, then lighten up on the final stroke, the light clink as the piece hits the bench.

 Been ten years, you did good Dad, miss you. Roy

Building a tractor cab.

Having completed the second tractor cab for my 2003 Kubota L3000DT, the first being a miserable failure, I thought I would touch on some of what I learned in the hopes of saving others from my mistakes.

As mentioned the first cab was a train wreck born out of desperation. For starters I began the project well into a tough winter following a subzero ride to scoop out my daughters acreage. Under pressure and looking for quick results I used 1/8 thick angle iron. I did finally manage to fashion a frame with a half- arsed working door, a plexi-glass windshield and piece of plywood for a roof.

The angle iron had too much flex and my haste resulted in a cab which not only was an embarrassment to myself but my entire family both living and dead. With spring breaking I pushed it off into the scrap pile where it rests as we speak.

Rule number one, don't build a cab with angle iron.

Rule number two, don't wait until winter is upon you.

Rule number three, do use square tubing. It holds it's shape and is relatively easy to work with..

Tools recommended, Chop saw, large and small squares, welder, preferably mig, a protractor or angle finder of some sort. An assortment of clamps and vise grips, die grinder with cut off wheel is handy as is a ninety degree die grinder with 2 inch 3M Rol-Loc 36 grit sanding discs

Overview of problems to resolve.

Mounting the cab.

I decided to keep contact between the cab and the tractor itself to a minimum. The lower front of the cab mounts to the loader frame down low. The only other point of contact is the rear mounts which are GM rear wheel drive transmission tail-shaft mounts, PartsMaster Part # 2378.

By limiting the cab to tractor contact points to four I hoped to keep the cab isolated from picking up and amplifying vibrations. No through a very hard winter this seems to have worked well. I figure if the rear mounts settle I can easily put some steel shims under them to regain the proper height.

The door.

Although two doors would be nice with only a door on the left side I was able to make the right side, and the cab itself, much stiffer then had a second door been added.

The door is the most challenging part of the build as it's opening must hold it's shape and space is very limited in particular at the bottom between the frt. of the rear tire/fender and the loader mount. The odd shape dictated by the limited space makes getting a good stiff door opening difficult.

How Wide

Another design issue is how wide to make the cab. The fenders on the L 3000 DT flare in towards the front. It is tempting to narrow the cab up so that you can follow the line of the fender all the way down By moving the cab outboard the cab runs out of fender to follow as it drops down towards the bottom of the door.

I decided to make the cab wide and by using good weatherstripping was able to fill the gap between fender and cab. I am very glad I chose the extra width as it is hard to find room for everything inside as it is. For sure mounting the heater and leaving room for my small dog would have been tough had I narrowed it up.

Windows.

I chose tinted automotive glass which has a film of plastic between two pieces of glass. This can be glued in or mounted with rubber molding as used in older cars and trucks. The glass shop had the molding in bulk rolls. As my cab was constructed of square tubing I used 1/8 by ½ flat steel spot welded inside the window openings to slip the window molding into. Most of the tack welds on the ½x1/8th inch flat steel were kept on the inside.

The outside seam where the ½ flat attaches to the square tubing needs to be sealed so it does not leak air and water into the cab.

For this I used a epoxy body sealer, Evercoat Maxim, 710822. This fits into a caulk gun. There are two chambers in the tube each holding one part of the epoxy, when you squirt it out it goes though a special end where the two parts are mixed together before they hit the end of the nozzle. I put rubber gloves on using a finger to spread the sealant into the seam. This did work although if doing it again I would try a Popsicle stick

When dried I sanded some and am happy with the way it turned out. You do get two of the special nozzles with a tube of the sealer they being one shot deals due to the epoxy quickly setting up in them. Plan your work accordingly.

I did not make the rear window as large as the opening instead tacking in some pieces of 7 inch wide 1/8 steel in on both the top and bottom to shorten it up. Having been is use for a winter I will report I am happy with this small rear window. I did cut out for lights on the top seven inch piece. Had I to do it over again I would have left the lights off and simply relied on the factory lights which I moved from the fenders to a light bar.

Fitting the windows was more complicated then I thought. For starters I had assumed cardboard would be the perfect material to make the patterns. The glass shop asked I make the patterns the exact size of the opening they then would deduct the margins required to compensate for the width the molding. I tried this on the first window a small fixed side one and it came ¼ inch short. Frustrated but early in the build I simply replaced the piece of ½ inch flat steel with ¾ inch to allow it to work.

In preparing the next pattern, a much larger one, I noticed the cardboard was hard to hold and keep straight. Afraid of getting more glass which didn't fit I chose instead to use some light,and cheap, luan wood floor under-layment. . This I could rough cut then slip into place and mark with a pen. Cutting it closer yet I then used a hand plane to get a perfect fit. I asked the glass company to keep the patterns for me.

Now, if a window did not fit, we would have the pattern to verify it was not I that screwed up.(-:

Of course my windshield was next back from the glass shop and did not fit. Turns out the cutter had forgot he was to allow for the margin and had cut to the exact size of the pattern.

I will add that even the floor underlayment was wobbly, on a couple of the larger windows I screwed some two by twos to the back of them as stiffeners. This all sounds like a big deal but is not, the wood cuts and planes very easily and time spent getting good patterns is invaluable.

This windshield molding is nice stuff to work with and pretty forgiving. I had last worked with this style of window retention in the beginning of my carrier as a mechanic when installing windshields in old Ford pickups.

The one difference between then and now is the moldings I used on the cab have a flap on the back side which when the glass is in place you roll into place to lock the molding into the glass and opening. This works well but takes a knack to roll in and get properly seated. I used a short cotter key puller. If you get everything just right it goes in pretty slick. Certainly helped to use soap water in a spray bottle to lube it up. All I can say is it takes some dinking around to catch on to. The whole time I did it I was thinking there should be a neat little special tool which rolls it in with less effort. Completed I asked the people I got the glass from and found they too use a cotter key puller.

Typically this molding runs the entire distance around the glass with only one butt seam. Normally the corners are curved and you can scoot right around them. I also saw on some cabs they put 45 degree angles on the corners and are still able to use but one piece of molding resulting in a single seam or butt end.

I choose to make the front and back window openings with 45 degree corners and on the side glass went with straight corners which dictated four separate pieces molding for each glass. The front side windows are rather hybrids due to there odd shapes using some of each.

I will note on the lower side windows I chose to use ¼ thick poly carbonate due to some inside corners. I figured cutting the inside corners would be too much of a challenge for my glass shop and that any scratching from use would not be terribly noticeable so far down the belt line. The poly I was able to cut with a jig saw without problem.

As far as cutting the rubber molding I had the best results using a fine toothed hack saw. I made a point to engage the back flap of the molding into it's little groove then lay the molding flat on a wood bench and saw thru it. I found a hacksaw to work just fine. I had much better luck with this method then using a razor knife.

The frame

Back to the square tubing frame. I used 1&¾ by 1/8 inch thick square tubing for the main frame and 1&¼ by 14 gauge for the door and window frames. I considered using 14 gauge for the main frame as most of us, myself included go to thick when using square tubing. Concerns about the integrity of my door opening holding up caused me to opt for the 1/8 inch. No regrets at this time.

The heart of this build, and most likely yours is the front of the cab and how it ties in with the tractor cowl and dash. In my case I was able to come straight up from my perch on the loader brackets then angle the tubing forward and then angle it back this combination let the lower bar which supports the bottom the windshield run straight across the top of the dash panel.

Neat trick.

Setting this front corner up is tricky, mine comes up 22 inches, then angles forward and then angles back. Here I stumbled on a trick I found to be of great aid.

To make a pattern for you corner post grab a piece of scrap square tubing, mine happened to be a length of rusty 1.5 inch 14 gauge. Now do some eyeballing and determine just how far you want to go up to your first angle. . Now take your pattern piece and put in the the chop saw and cut it clear thru with the exception of the very back side. You can now easily bend this to the angle of your choice. Do the same for the next angle joint, being careful you cut on the proper side so you can bend it the direction it needs to go..

Now you have a nice pattern stick you can bend as you please. I was able to clamp mine to the lower leg of the loader brackets and then see just how close I was to being able to cross the dash panel where I wanted and tweak it as needed.

Also now I could stand back and visualize how the cab would look. Once bent you are able to cut the pieces of your corner post out and then laying the pattern right on top of it tack it together, the second corner is made by simply using the first as a pattern.

Two frt. corner posts made you can position them then add the two frt. cross pieces to form your front windshield opening.

A note about chop saws. I recently got a new DeWalt. On this saw I am able to move the back stop forward. This allows one to center the square tubing up exactly under the blade so when you cut thru it comes straight down making it very easy to cut thru the entire tubing without cutting into any of the bottom wall. Without this feature it would have been harder to make the pattern piece as my old saw would have came in at an angle.

A tip on the door and and any opening windows, build the openings first keeping them as square as possible. It is important to keep the margin between the door or window frame and the opening the same all around. I would suggest clamping or tacking into the inside of the opening some 3/16 or ¼ inch , as you see fit,steel plates to act as temporary aids. Now you can fit the individual pieces of the door or window into the frame clamping them to the shims you just installed. Pieces all fitted and clamped you can tack weld them together and when firmly tacked on all corners you can pull it out on the bench for finish welding.

For what it is worth when I built the window and door I did not miter my corners instead simply butting them together. I did cut small pieces of steel and close off the holes left by the open ends of the steel tubing.

For dressing the welds I used a small 90degree die grinder with two inch 3M Roloc 36 grit sanding discs. These work well. They are flexible, fit into tight spaces and give a nice finish to the welds.

With the front end formed up you can start adding the rest of the cab being careful to keep everything as square as possible. One word of caution. I made a simple perch on the ROPS to mount the aforementioned transmission mounts. On my tractor the ROPS is not square with the world. Looks square but is not. I found it best to ignore the slightly out of kilter, 5/8 inch off, ROPS and keep the cab square.

Cab built you will want to fill in all the gaps left between the cab, tractor cowl and fenders.

I used 16 gauge steel to build panels which were then bolted to the cab to fill in between the cab frame and the cowl and pedals ect. This is not so hard as it may seem. Use cardboard to make your pattern. A friend allowed me the use of his plasma cutter, this made short of work of making the cuts. Had the plasma cutter not been available I would have used the die grinder with a cut off wheel.

Weatherstripping.

While making the cab I spent a good deal of time Googling about trying to find a source for weatherstripping which would work well. I came up empty.

However, while taking the wiper motor and transmission out of a friends junked 93 Dodge Dakota I noted a piece of nice four foot weatherstripping between the hood and the cowl. This worked perfectly to fill the gap between the frt. panels and the cowl. Searching for more I visited the local junk yard and found a variety of different styles. Some worked perfectly to seal the door and window openings, others worked well for sealing the cab to fender gap. Most of what I used came from the hood to cowl . Also noted some of the trunks had nice pieces.

You should be able to see in the pictures how you can lay a piece of 1/8 by ½ flat steel on the inside of the door or window, tack it into place and then slip the weatherstripping onto it This worked far better then I could have imagined. On the hinge side of the door and window a simple household adhesive backed weatherstrip worked fine.

Door latch

Looking for a door latch I thought to try a storm door handle. I thought this would be rather chinzy but for lack of something better gave it a try. Very happy with it so far. Also used storm door closer to dampen the door. This also worked out better then expected also.The rubber weatherstripping used has a cushion effect so that with the latch adjusted the door stays nice and tight and the combination of the stripping cushion and the dampener give it a nice vault like feel.

Hinges

The hardware store was also tapped for the simple steel screen door hinges. These were welded on and have removable pins so both the door and window can be removed.

Roof

Now to the roof, I had originally planned on purchasing a formed plastic cab top built by Westendorf Manf. called the Cool Cap. However my son got involved in building canoes which got him involved with fiberglass resins and cloth. As the cost would be much less I opted to simply build the roof from wood, when done we lay two layers of glass cloth across the top to seal the roof and then coated the sides, front and back with fiberglass resin. The underside I coated with polyurethane varnish to seal it up and finally coated the top and sides with a poly-urethane white paint.

Where the wood top contacts the top bars we used the same weatherstripping used to seal up pickup truck camper shells.

I also welded in 45 degree angle braces in the corners of the top roof cage to stiffen it up. These are about a foot long.

Wipers.

A friend had a junked out 93 Dakota pickup which had just what the Doctor called for. As you can see in the pictures the motor mounted nicely into the upper corner the wiper arm fitting into the right lower corner.

Some points on the wipers, be sure to use a motor without the hideaway park feature. On the Dakota one wiper pivot had a long drive arm, one had a short arm. You want one with the long arm. Use the short arm and the lever will go past center. To clarify, the wiper arm off the motor is going to go around in a circle. If the arm on the wiper pivot is as short or shorter then the wiper motor arm it wont go up and down but around and around,or, get pulled to the top and stall at top center.

Also, pay attention to the length of the rod between the motor and the wiper pivot. I cut mine long and then overlapped it playing around with the length clamping the two together with a vise grip to fine tune my wipers down position ect.

Careful on locating your motor . See where the motor parks, when parked you want the motors arm pointing straight away from you wiper arm pivot, if not your wiper will not park at the bottom of the windshield but part way up and then duck down when started before sweeping back up.

There is a lot of geometry in wipers. Rome was not built in a day, study it out before welding anything permanently.

I also swiped the Dakota's wiper switch which mounted nicely onto the Kubota's steering column and also borrowed the washer tank and the delay wiper module.

One other modification to the wipers was the wiper arm itself. As with most arms it is bent to allow the wiper to lay flat along the windshield when parked. My wiper arm originally was mounted on the left side and then swept to the right. This left my angle backwards so when at rest the wiper stuck up at a sharp angle. To fix this I had to pull the bent arm out of the arms base and flip it around. There was rivet holding this outer arm into the base section. I found a short screw to take the place of the rivet and all was well.

Another wiper tweak I went from an 18 inch blade to a 22. Trouble was the holes the arm snaps into are different from 18 to 22 inch blades. This was resolved by snapping the plastic insert from the 18 to the 22.

Yet another wiper tip, pay attention to where you mount the lower pivot arm, play around with how the blade lays against the bottom when at rest and how square it is when at full up and against the right cab corner. By moving the blade pivot location right or left you can find the sweet spot where it works and looks the best.

As for wiring the wipers, I suggest whatever you use go to a friendly auto repair shop and beg, borrow or steal the correct wiper wiring diagrams.

To recap, the TOP six reasons I liked the 93 Dakota wipers.

#1 Park is park, they are not hideaway park where the wipers drop under the cowl out of sight.

#2 The shafts the wiper arms slip onto are not indexed, you can put the arms on any position you want.

#3 The rod which runs between the motor and pivot is easily cut then overlapped, clamped into place, and played with till the length is perfect.

#4 The wiper switch/TS stalk is easy to take off and remount on your tractors column.

#5 Both the motor and the pivot are easy to mount.

#6 You can't beat free. (-:

The point is, certainly there are many used wiper setups that will work. Just make note these are the features you are looking for. If you don't have access to some other used ones and are going to call a junk yard to get one the Dakotas should be plentiful and you know they will work.

I should also note if you are spooked by the wiring and don't wish to wire in the factory switch and have the park feature and intermittent you can simply wire the motor up as on and off.

Heater.

I inherited a little fleet store heater from my father, a Maradyne Model 8000.The pictures pretty much tell the story here. I will note it is drawing outside air from the underside which keeps the air much drier and less likely to fog

On the Kubota there were no taps for hot water instead you take off the bypass hose which is just a short loop and hook the hoses up to those nipples. Important to note you can not put a shut of valve in this line, the bypass circuit has to have water flowing at all time or your in danger of overheating.

You can install a H valve which will prevent it from being blocked off when shut off. I won't go into the details of how an H valve works but if your going to use one some research is in order. At this time I am not using a water valve of any kind.

Defrosters

As you can see in the pictures 1&1/2 PVC was used to fashion defrosters. I am not saying they don't work but believe they should be larger to really get significant air to the glass, this being said I have had absolutely no trouble with the windows fogging, which I credit more to using outside air, and the dryness of our winter air, then to the defrosters themselves.

Blower speeds.

Searching for the easiest way to control the speeds of my heater fan I found a place on line listing a simple three speed switch with the blower resistor required to give multiple speeds hooked right to the back of the switch. Part number for this unit is 119-9910. Believe it was originally used on early Mustang after market AC units. Quizzing some AC friends on the internet Glenn from La. had one in stock and was kind enough to donate it to the build.

Several storms into this winter I have found the heater to work very well. I have had no problem with the windows fogging up. Coming in from my daughters acreage the other day I had the heater turned to low fan speed with the outside temps about 5 to 10 degrees and was comfortable in shirt sleeves.

Headliner.

For a headliner I simply used a square of ½ inch chipboard which I was just barely able to slip in place around the wiper mount and door closer bracket. A trip to the carpet store yielded a piece of light gray outdoor carpet which is easily glued and stapled onto the chipboard .

The headliner did quiet the interior up somewhat. I had planned on a car radio but instead chose a simple set of ear muffs with the radio built into them. This makes the long trips to my daughters much more bearable. With a regular radio and speaker setup I think the thing would have to be turned up so high to overcome the interior noise it would be annoying.

Sealing it up.

A cold wind will certainly highlight any shortcomings you have in sealing up your cab. I am including pictures of rubber matting I used to seal the area under the seat, around the side levers and also the floorboards. This has been both cheap, easy and effective. The matting is the stuff they use to protect pickup boxes. Got mine at the fleet store for 50.00.

Planning ahead for this matting I welded a1/8 by 1 inch flat bar across the back inside of the cab to bolt the rubber to. This allowed me to attach the matting to the bar and then drape it under the seat and down to the floorboards. This was easier done with the seat out of the way. In the process I built some extensions and raised the seat 2&7/8 inch. This made it much easier to fit the rubber under the seat and also at 6 ft. tall I like the higher seat better. I should note it is still low enough my 5-8 daughter has no trouble working the pedals.

You will note the rubber matting is also used around the clutch pedal and steering arm on the left lower side of the cab. This was a problem area. When pushed in the clutch pedal breaks the plane of the 16 gauge steel panel, when the steering arm, which is right beside the clutch pedal is full back it also breaks the plane but in the other direction. I tried a couple different methods to seal this up finding the rubber matting attached on two sides and loose on two sides was by far the simplest and most effective.

Paint.

I had planned on using aerosol cans of Kubota orange available from the dealer but at the last minute decided to take to the body shop and have done professionally. As is so often the case, with time running short everything promptly went straight to hell.

Although only one Kubota orange the body shops supplier booted it mixing the paint five shades to light. With storms approaching and glass to put in I choose to go with what we had and if it bothers me I can strip it back down next spring and put it right. As it was the last piece of glass was put in on a Friday night and the first big storm hit that Saturday.

How doe's it work​?

I love it. The door opening and frame, a big concern, are holding up well. I like the way the door feels with the damper and and might add the little locking collar on the door dampener is handy for holding the door open at times. At the end of the dampeners travel the door is open 90 degrees.

Getting out with snow boots on is a little awkward due to the narrowness of the the door opening down low but certainly manageable. Once in plenty of room. The heater does a fine job. The last storm I was driving around in my shirtsleeves with the fan on low, outside temp. was 5 degrees.

The cab is a little noisy as I earlier mentioned, lots of transmission noise and engine noise comes in, the radio headset resolves this. The cab itself is very quiet, no rattles, hums or buzzes.

The cab is perhaps a couple inches higher then it would have to be but with the raised seat I am very happy with it, visibility is good. I had thought I might want to install a small window above the clutch in the 16 gauge steel panel but having put some hours on it do not feel it is needed.

The wiper works very well. Couple days I used them to good effect.

Cost?

What did it cost to build? I made no effort to keep track of the steel costs. The glass, poly and rubber molding came in at about 700.00, which was less then I expected. The body shop bill was 350.00 This could have been cut had I painted it myself. The wood for the roof, fiberglass resin and ect. I don't think would be over 150.00. The heater, wipers, odds and ends were freebies but I think 250.00 would be fair. With steel maybe 1750.00 or 1800.00 total.

Time

No effort made to keep track, I would guess 150 hours although I am certain a second one could be done much faster.

What is it worth?

I looked up a new cab and believe the Simco was 2500.00 and then you start adding the options, wipers, heater, extra for hard sides ect. When we priced a Kubota cab for Dad's old 520 articulated loader I recall it being well north of 5K.

For me, it was a very enjoyable project which gave me a good deal of satisfaction during the build and once completed and in use I just love it. No comparison to moving snow without a cab as opposed to with one. I actually find myself looking forward to foul weather.

I will list some of the dimensions below.

Main frame square tubing, 1&3/4 by 1/8 inch

Door and window frames 1&1/4 by 14 gauge

Door at narrowest point, 8”

Door at widest point, 26”

Height of door opening, 65”

Front to back at longest point,50”

Seat to headliner, 31”

Height of windshield, 31” width 37”

Height rear window, 22” Width, 37”

Overall height of cab from ground, 91”

Height from ground to floor of cab 22”

About welding on that ROPS.

I believe on my tractor there is a warning to not weld or alter your ROPS. I did. It is as simple as that. You do not have to and I am not telling you to. You can bring up a frame independent of the ROPS to attach your cab to.

For me it seemed like make work to ignore a nice stiff mounting area and I could not see where my welding would weaken the ROPS. You need to be aware of the risks and make your own choices when it comes to safety though. My cab is a one off design, I have done no safety testing of it. I make no claims about it's safety. I am not selling plans, I am simply showing what I built and how I built it. You are in charge of you.

I thank you for listening, Copyright, Roy Gage 2/10/11