86turbodsl
Member
I own a small horse farm, in rural Michigan. I've got two Super 55's. I love my ollies, but
they are just too small. I need a loader tractor for hay, snow removal, etc.
I'm finding the S55's are just too small / low HP to do the job, and they get stuck a lot with our bad mud around here.
I know there were 1550/1600/1650 utility tractors, but they are just too big to get into the barns. The perfect size would be a White 2-60 or one of the fiat equivalents, but then I have headaches getting parts and the 4WD models are just unobtainium around here and cost mega bux when you do find one.
So my idea was to take a garden variety 770 or 880, since they are MUCH more common around here, and put something like a 16.9x30 rear tire on it, or even 28s off a combine, and take off the standard row crop front end and adapt a Dana 44 off a 4x4 truck. The axle would have a 1/2" plate truss welded on the top kinda like the Super 55 mount, with a center pivot at the front of the tub, and stay arms like the S55. That would drop the tractor down quite a bit for easy entry / exit. I would adapt a hydraulic motor to the Dana, and a shuttle valve on the cockpit to FWD/REV the flow as needed, only pulling it in when going gets tough.
The other part is that the 770 or 880 would take a cab a lot easier than a 55 would. Better placement of sheet metal. I would end up with a much beefier drivetrain, better access to the PTO clutches, and more power from the 6cylinder. As far as I can tell, the only thing I would be giving up is the draft sensing 3pt hitch, which I don't use much cause I don't plow much.
Am I crazy, or does this sound very buildable? Good running 770's can be had for like 1200 around here. Add some parts and I think you're done for 2K.
Thoughts?
they are just too small. I need a loader tractor for hay, snow removal, etc.
I'm finding the S55's are just too small / low HP to do the job, and they get stuck a lot with our bad mud around here.
I know there were 1550/1600/1650 utility tractors, but they are just too big to get into the barns. The perfect size would be a White 2-60 or one of the fiat equivalents, but then I have headaches getting parts and the 4WD models are just unobtainium around here and cost mega bux when you do find one.
So my idea was to take a garden variety 770 or 880, since they are MUCH more common around here, and put something like a 16.9x30 rear tire on it, or even 28s off a combine, and take off the standard row crop front end and adapt a Dana 44 off a 4x4 truck. The axle would have a 1/2" plate truss welded on the top kinda like the Super 55 mount, with a center pivot at the front of the tub, and stay arms like the S55. That would drop the tractor down quite a bit for easy entry / exit. I would adapt a hydraulic motor to the Dana, and a shuttle valve on the cockpit to FWD/REV the flow as needed, only pulling it in when going gets tough.
The other part is that the 770 or 880 would take a cab a lot easier than a 55 would. Better placement of sheet metal. I would end up with a much beefier drivetrain, better access to the PTO clutches, and more power from the 6cylinder. As far as I can tell, the only thing I would be giving up is the draft sensing 3pt hitch, which I don't use much cause I don't plow much.
Am I crazy, or does this sound very buildable? Good running 770's can be had for like 1200 around here. Add some parts and I think you're done for 2K.
Thoughts?