do i need a john deere

[randyt]

i thought i'd post this old swamp buggy my dad and granddad made in 1961. it took them 7 days. it's put together out of old truck parts, transmissions and misc. the main truck is a 47 dodge brothers. we used this rig in our sawmill operation when i was a kid and we would winch logs out of the swamp with it. it still runs and runs good. i use propane as fuel for it. it's getting a little old and i need to upgrade the steering.

growing up during my formative years around this type of stuff i always thought a fella was suppose to make what he wanted. i still feel that way.

even though this isn't wilderness survival it should fit in with self sufficiency.


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[COWBOYSURVIVAL]

Nice! Looks just like somethin' Papaw had..

[Alaskan Survivalist]

I have rigged a lot of stuff like that. In keeping with logging I found pieces of a 120 year old Lane sawmill laying rusting in a field that was brought to Alaska to build the railroad. It was powered by steam but I hooked it up to a straight 8 Crysler motor out of a 1952 Koering cable operated Backhoe (motor in front of Jeep) and used rails and got most everything for the carraige for from an old chinese mine in the Hope area. 58 inch blade ripped some big logs.

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[randyt]

that's a cool sawmill. it's always a good thing to put stuff together from odds and ends.

we had a few sawmills over the years starting with a bel saw, a meadows, a mobile dimension mill and currently my brother in laws and i own a 01 frick. been in the blood for a long time. i have a couple planers i need to bring back in operation. one is a 20 inch single head and the other is a four sided sticker that will make just about anything. tongue and groove,moldings and trim and dimensional lumber. the four sided machines bearing are getting wore and i need to re babbit the bearings before i can put it back in operation. these machines we run with a tractor and a drive belt. i don't know why i fool with this stuff, old habit perhaps.

[Alaskan Survivalist]

I have had a Bellsaw and Mobile Dimension. That VW sure was a slab wood making beast. It started getting so restrictive I got out of the business but I still have a bandsaw mill up north my nephew is using. I don't miss it much but I also set him up with 5 Stihls. I am sure kicking myself in the *** for not keeping at least one for around here. I have been gathering pieces for a small operation to be used in conjunction with a tree removal service to make a few extra bucks when I retire. I have a hundred ways to make small amounts of money but never figured out how to make enough to add up to anything so I just stick to small ventures now.

[LowKey]

Randyt, that is an excellent cob!

[Rick]

Randy - I absolutely love it. That's what it's all about to me. To take odds and ends and make something useful or, as AS did, take something that once was useful and bring it back to life again. There's no better feeling than to stand back and watch something work that hasn't worked in a long time. My stuff is on a much smaller and less complicated scale but that doesn't stop me from appreciating American artisans at work. Thanks for posting that!

[randyt]

thanks for the comments. i kinda wondered about posting about this, thought maybe i was getting away from the intent of the forum.

i think it's a neat thing for folks to create what they want or need either large or small.

[Old GI]

Oh man! When I was very young, the neighbor kids and I would make things like that and run them through the cedar swamps of South Jersey (usually at night with no lights) or hook a car hood to the machine and play crack-the-whip while riding the hood. Yes, a survival miracle; but it my have led to later life endeavors when I was still immortal and invincible (oh to be young again)

[hunter63]

randyt, thanks for posting, up here we call those "doodle bugs" mostly used for plowing snow and some swamp running.
Some were also used as poor mans tractors.
One company was making tractor conversions for WWII Jeeps as well.

Friends father made one with 2 transmissions, used two front axles from old 4X4's, so steered both front and back, 60" tractors tires all way round. I swear you could drive it up a wall, and if it flipped over, was still room to keep driving up side down.

I get a big kick out of this stuff, and get a subscricption to Farm Show Magizine from time to time. It's full of all the home stuff, and loads of ideas.

http://www.farmshow.com/

[Rick]

Old GI - I did that once with the lid off of a coal hopper. Flipped the dang thing and hung a thumb in the hinge. Darned near took my thumb off. Man was that fun.

[Alaskan Survivalist]

hook a car hood to the machine and play crack-the-whip while riding the hood.

I spent my childhood clearing the homestead and had an small homemade cat my father made and used a car hood to drag things with it. Things I would never be able to lift as a boy I could roll onto the hood and drag where ever it need to go. Very useful!

[Winnie]

Lordy! You guys are taking me back! My dad was a great maker/tinkerer. The odd gadgets he made! After this thread and Crash's, I'm feeling all sentimental!

[Rick]

AS - Did you homemade cat look something like this?

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[Alaskan Survivalist]

AS - Did you homemade cat look something like this?

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Imagine something like my skidder except with thinner metal tracks.

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[Alaskan Survivalist]

Randyt and I seem to have similar backgrounds in small scale logging. My truck had to be street legal but I hung winches on all 4 sides and would drive her deep in the woods, set outriggers, stab boom straight in the air and winch logs directly in bed from 200 feet in all directions. Most of the modifications like log bins and headache rack were easy.

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At some point I will post something on hand methods of logging more in keeping to help homesteaders starting out on other thread and I know randyt, you will have much to offer when I do. Keep it coming!

[randyt]

i find this kind of stuff very interesting.

i blame it all on my granddad. during ww two when resources were in short supply he spent his time fabricating tractors from model t's and a's. he also made lawn mowers from a washing machine maytag engines and the old style rotary push mowers. he would couple these and sell them. he never bought anything new and pretty much always built equipment over. in his machine shop most of his equipment had automobile transmissions on them for reverse and speed control. i have his old drill press and it has a tranny adapted to it. he also had a phase converter and a line shaft that run a few pieces of equipment. i learned a lot from him. probably the most important was the can do and will do mind set. thanks for the interest.

[Alaskan Survivalist]

probably the most important was the can do and will do mind set.

Agreed! That's the knowledge that has been lost!

[randyt]

beings all this is interesting, i'm gonna dig through the pictures of a our planer operation. my grandpa had the idea he wanted to run the sticker on steam so we bought a boiler and picked up a couple steam engines. the plan was to run the sawmill and the planners on steam. we got the planer up on steam and then my grandpa got tired. i do have pictures and memories, i'll dig the pictures up.

i have one steam engine left, it's a little two cylinder locomobile engine my grandpa picked up somewhere. i ended up with it and have been wanting to couple it to a generator. just seem like i don't ever come up with the time and money. and on top of that i need to come up with some bearings for it. anybody know where i can buy locomobile parts?

[randyt]

i thought i'd post a couple pictures of the little locomobile engine just in case it looks familiar and somebody may know where parts are available.



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