Gooday all
ive always wanted to build a small tractor many many small tractors have been built using car components , commonly called a doodlebug, ive retired so i have time now but i dont have a large expendable income so it has to be frugal, i have a need to mow grass its about 1 mile of track through a wood i planted 25 years ago undulating but fairly flat , up till now ive used a full size tractor towing an 8ft wide cutting deck it dose the job but as the trees grow space is getting tight and its a fight to get through in a few places , its an old fiat 1880 tractor and as you might imagine with a fiat the bodywork has long left this earth for the recycling plant but the mechanics have struggled on till now but its failing clutch has gone now and although i will replace it one day just not now
so i want to build something to mow with, over the years i have collected anything that looked like it might be useful to this end, so no doubt many of you will just say "go buy a mower it will be cheaper" im not sure that will be true as i think i have just about everything needed and besides wheres the fun in just buying something l like tinkering in the workshop working things out and making stuff
here what i have to mow just a mile of this , fiat tractor might have 1 or 2 mows left as clutch slips in every gear except low 1
so the concept is simple engine and gearbox then another gearbox and into the back axle, that way i can be 4 times lower geared than a normal car drive train, but there are options i could forget the second gearbox and use an engine and transmission out of a 4wd such as a landrover discovery 1 low box can be 3 to 1 getting the gearing somewhere near and i have a 300tdi engine and box so thats a plus i also like the transmission handbrake that would make life easy but the downside is the rear output from the transferbox is offset down low the prop would never get back to the centre rear diff in a short space, so that sort of rules it out, is the rear transfer box out put on a P38 range rover in the centre ?? the 2.5 diesel engine and auto box might be an an option for a drive train for a small tractor, overkill perhaps but would look nice , i dont have one so would need to buy one so thats money spent, toyota hilux drive train might be an option as thats got a centre rear output on the transfer box, front out put could run forward to spin a brush for sweeping the yard maybe , then my other options as i have a couple is the transit engine and box the old banana bunch manifold out of the last of the smiley front transits, not hugely powerful but no electronics 1 wire to the injector pump and away we go, a lot to be said for keep it simple, gearbox is fairly short so i could squeeze 2 in one after the other ,
so where do i start ? well i think at the back axle, something like a transit axle while probably strong enough is way to wide, yes i know its possible shorten the halfshafts but l dislike that mine always break especially with the amount of torque generated with 2 gearboxes, so where to find a very strong yet narrow rear axle ideally with a locker or lsd ?
i imagine this being as wide as an old style mini maybe 5ft maybe a bit less,
ive always wanted to build a small tractor many many small tractors have been built using car components , commonly called a doodlebug, ive retired so i have time now but i dont have a large expendable income so it has to be frugal, i have a need to mow grass its about 1 mile of track through a wood i planted 25 years ago undulating but fairly flat , up till now ive used a full size tractor towing an 8ft wide cutting deck it dose the job but as the trees grow space is getting tight and its a fight to get through in a few places , its an old fiat 1880 tractor and as you might imagine with a fiat the bodywork has long left this earth for the recycling plant but the mechanics have struggled on till now but its failing clutch has gone now and although i will replace it one day just not now
so i want to build something to mow with, over the years i have collected anything that looked like it might be useful to this end, so no doubt many of you will just say "go buy a mower it will be cheaper" im not sure that will be true as i think i have just about everything needed and besides wheres the fun in just buying something l like tinkering in the workshop working things out and making stuff
here what i have to mow just a mile of this , fiat tractor might have 1 or 2 mows left as clutch slips in every gear except low 1
so the concept is simple engine and gearbox then another gearbox and into the back axle, that way i can be 4 times lower geared than a normal car drive train, but there are options i could forget the second gearbox and use an engine and transmission out of a 4wd such as a landrover discovery 1 low box can be 3 to 1 getting the gearing somewhere near and i have a 300tdi engine and box so thats a plus i also like the transmission handbrake that would make life easy but the downside is the rear output from the transferbox is offset down low the prop would never get back to the centre rear diff in a short space, so that sort of rules it out, is the rear transfer box out put on a P38 range rover in the centre ?? the 2.5 diesel engine and auto box might be an an option for a drive train for a small tractor, overkill perhaps but would look nice , i dont have one so would need to buy one so thats money spent, toyota hilux drive train might be an option as thats got a centre rear output on the transfer box, front out put could run forward to spin a brush for sweeping the yard maybe , then my other options as i have a couple is the transit engine and box the old banana bunch manifold out of the last of the smiley front transits, not hugely powerful but no electronics 1 wire to the injector pump and away we go, a lot to be said for keep it simple, gearbox is fairly short so i could squeeze 2 in one after the other ,
so where do i start ? well i think at the back axle, something like a transit axle while probably strong enough is way to wide, yes i know its possible shorten the halfshafts but l dislike that mine always break especially with the amount of torque generated with 2 gearboxes, so where to find a very strong yet narrow rear axle ideally with a locker or lsd ?
i imagine this being as wide as an old style mini maybe 5ft maybe a bit less,
