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SURPLUS and SALVAGE PROJECTS
Here's What It Costs
For less than $175, including a new en-gine, you can have Pow'r Pup rolling inyour yard or garden. You can hold costsbelow this figure by doing all the workyourself, or you can buy some of theharder-to-make components listed so thatconstruction becomes primarily an assem-bly job. Your actual cost may thereforerange from below $175 to $350, and yourfinished Pow'r Pup will be comparable tocommercial garden tractors selling at $500to $600.
Suburban Tractor
Will: mow the lawn—haul leaves—do light grading—bulldoze snow—roll the lawn—plow garden—pull a discor harrow—cultivate crops—pull a seeder—tow a sled
By S. S. MINER
N
OT a toy, but a real man-sized tool, the
Pow'r Pup
goes a step beyond the strad-dle-type tractors now in widespread useand brings to the home workshopper, forhome construction, a rugged, simple, and eco-nomical machine for yard and garden work—and for leisure enjoyment too. Many Searstractor attachments will fit it, and you canbuild it for $175 or less.Based on used car parts (widely availablein junk yards) and various components fromSears Roebuck Co., it is extremely stable andmaneuverable. With three speeds forwardplus reverse, it will do any job from lighthauling to heavy plowing. The design callsprincipally for cutting, drilling, and weldingoperations. By special arrangement, a sup-plier has been established for components youmay wish to buy rather than make (seeMaterials List).The design is flexible enough to permit awide choice of automotive parts: you couldbase a small tractor design on almost anymanual-shift transmission and symmetricalrear end, and many small air-cooled enginesfrom 3 to 10
hp
would be suitable. However,any departure from the design given herewill require careful study of the problems in-volved. If you make changes, keep in mindthat the ready-made parts listed will fit onlythe
Pow'r Pup
as designed.
Your First Step
in building the Pow'r Pupis to locate the used drive-train parts fromthe right vintage Ford. These need not bein first class condition when you buy themand probably will not be, but be sure youget, from one source or another, all the essen-
SURPLUS and SALVAGE PROJECTS
121
Craft PrintProject No. 321
TRACTOR STEERING WHEEL ADAPTEDTO STUDE STEERING GEARTRACTOR SEATAND SPRING7.50/15 OR 16KNOBBY REAR TIRES3 TO 10 UP AIRCOOLED ENGINE2- STAGE SPEEDREDUCTION & SLIPPINGBELT CLUTCH
THROTTLE
A-FRAMEMOTOR MOUNTBATTERY SPACEIF NEEDEDLOCKHEED MASTEBBRAKE CYLINDER33 70 48 FORD REAR ENDAND DRIVE 5HAFT,'32 TO '38 TRANSMISSIONDRIVE SHAFT AND AXLES
SHORTENED
52" WHEELBASEROLL PINRETAINING COLLAR'51 TO'53 STUDEBAKERSTEERING COMPONENTS16X4 FRONTWHEELSRETAININGCOLLAR
tial parts: a transmission, driveshaft andhousing, universal joint and joint cover, andrear end complete with drums and internalbrake parts. Lay all this loot out on theground somewhere and clean off the outside(it will probably be pretty dirty) with aputty knife and kerosene, or use a commer-cial degreaser.Before taking the parts into your work-shop drain the rear end and transmission.Then remove the two axle housings from thedifferential housing. In these earlier Fords,the bevel pinion gear at the inner end of the axle shaft is forged directly on the endof the axle itself, hence the axle housing mustbe removed from the differential housing, andthe differential carrier must be taken apartin order to withdraw the axles. Disassemblethe rear end, clean up the axles and housingspreparatory to working on them, and unfastenthe backing plates and lay them aside.
First Job is to Cut
the spring perch arm(Fig. 2B) off each axle housing. Hack saw itas close as possible to the housing boltingflanges. Then cut a section out of the axlehousing itself close to the bolting flange (Fig.3A) with a hack saw, or in a power cut-off saw if one is available. The amount to beremoved will depend upon two things: therear wheel tread of the original car, and thetractor tread width desired. Half the differ-ence between these two dimensions is theamount to cut out. Make these cuts at 90°to the centerline of the housing.Check one of the brake backing plates tosee that it is not bent, then bolt the cut-off
38" TREAD
SURPLUS
and
SALVAGE PROJECTS
housing end to it. Support this on blockingand clamp the axle housing in assembled posi-tion with three 1/4-in. rods, hooked at one endand threaded at the other (Fig. 3). Check with a carpenter's square and steel tape todetermine parallelism and proper centeringof the backing plate and bell flange. Be sureto align the wheel cylinder opposite one holeof the bell flange so that when assembly iscompleted the wheel cylinders will be at thetop on each side.An alternate alignment method is to clampthe bell flange of the axle housing to the faceplate of a large lathe and support the cut-off housing end in aligned position on an arbor.In either case, once proper alignment hasbeen achieved, weld the two parts together,tack-welding first on opposite sides to avoiddistortion. Shorten both axle housings in thismanner.
There are Three Methods
(Fig. 3B) forshortening the axles themselves: 1. Cut themoff to the desired length, retaper and threadthe ends; 2. Cut a section out and butt-weldthe remaining portions together; and 3. Cuta section out, slip a perforated sleeve overthe cut ends, and weld together. For the ama-teur the third method is easiest but has thedisadvantage (with the Ford axle) that theinner shaft bearing and other parts must be