well i was talking tractors with my buddies and he brought up a tractor that sparks my curiosity., this is what he had to say its long but its all he remembers about the thing. about all i gather from it is that its a hot bulb tractor, make is unkown.
“I spent some time in the mines in Africa, and there was a tractor there that I really loved, but I don't know who made it. I suspect it was Russian, because the lables had some Russian looking writing, but I could be entirely wrong. I think it said something like TS and then a number on an information plate somewhere, but I don't really remember.
It had a hood that was partially or fully orange it was also removable, and squarish in shape. It looked a bit like something that might have been designed between the 60s and 80s, but there is no telling. The combustion chamber stuck out the front. The thing was huge, and powered by one piston, which moved horizontally fore and aft, and this cylinder was massive. From the looks of it, it had to be at least the size of a volleyball or something larger. One started the motor by first lighting a fire in front of the thing, and a steel funnel was attached to the combustion chamber over the fire. This heated the combustion chamber. After that, two people grabbed large handles on a giant wheel located on the side of the machine and attempted to turn the engine over. But once it started I don't think it was capable of even 5 mph, but it would literally move anything you connected it to. I'm telling you it was massively huge, in a very big way. :) Aside from the hood, which may or may not have gone with the thing (I'm pretty sure it did) and the fenders (made of 1/4 or 1/2 inch steel, with ladders to climb up), it looked like a train or something. The working bits looked very old style, very similar to a LANZ but everything was tougher, bigger, badder. The body panels were squarish, with angled lines, making me think it was made later, sometime after the 60s.
It was just rediculous, like one of those massive tractors used on huge farms, only built with ancient technology. I do think it was four wheel drive, though I'm not positive. It seemed to have a massive hydraulic setup on the rear, resembling a three point, though I recall more back there, perhaps for some special application. It did have a PTO. Also As I recall, the tires were taller than me, I'm 5'8 or so so maby 6 feet, maby a little larger.” (Again on engine startup…… he kept saying it over lol)
The engine was started by lighting a fire under the combustion chamber, which protruded in front of the front axle. The heat and flame were then directed by a metal funnel into the chamber to heat it up. I believe there was some sort of flame directing apparatus that was lost, that superheated the flame, like a volcano kettle. When it reached a certain temperature after an hour or so, two people grabbed a wheel, about four feet in diameter or larger, on the right side of the tractor (from the seated position, this wheel was on the right), by retractable handles mounted on that wheel, and turned it over, or rather, attempted to turn it over. It took some serious might to spin that thing.
Myself and a native by the name of Raphael (don't ask), the two victors in the one handed blacksmith's anvil throwing competition I started, were barely able to turn it over.
Ths wheel was connected by a belt, a huge belt, to the motor. I think this belt was the better portion of my own weight. This was no ordinary belt, it was a belt to end all belts. So far as I remember, the tractor was brought out of mothball whenever an immovable amount of rock needed to be moved, whenever an unrecoverable vehicle needed to be recovered. It's last journey was a 150 mile trak, taking months, towing a trailer full of rock that would make our biggest dump trucks blush across that harsh wasteland, as well as enough fuel to make the journey. It wasn't going anywhere in a hurry, but it definitely went wherever you pointed it.
The tractor itself was rigid, with what I would call the engine and transmission casing in one massive casting running the length of the tractor. I'm telling you, I'd have considered this thing impossible to build. If one ever had to tear it down for service, he would need the shop they use to repair those super dump trucks.
It was a cabless design, and the size of it was more impressive given the nature of the technology, and the design, rather than in comparison with modern day giants. It was like an old fashioned midsize tractor, but the size of the biguns we make today. The castings were just stupid big. The whole thing was built like a tank, from the fenders, to the frame, which was in effect a single lump of cast iron, front to back, top to bottem. Just impossibly large castings.
I mean, I've seen bigger tractors, but not built like that. It was like a diesel ship motor with wheels, and only one cylinder. I know I could have shoved a vollyball in that cylinder, maby a basketball.
There were definately backwards letters and funny letters on the information plates. At the time, I immediatly thought Russia. After all, who else but russia would build something like that, and put backwards letters on it? -Leo-
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