Lawn Tractor’s Tires Swapped For Tracks

Lawn Tractor’s Tires Swapped For Tracks MOWERS When Dick Critel owner of D&S Tires retired the company’s tractor mower after decades of use he had an idea Instead of sending it to the scrapyard he decided to replace the tires with tracks In December of 2020 employee Doug Bauer and others at the company began the transformation of the 1980 garden tractor As a long-standing tire and track retread re-lug and repair shop they had the experience to turn the idea into reality “The first thing I did was get it on the bench and strip it ” Doug says “Using a toy track tractor that we keep in our lobby as a model for the conversion we were able to scale everything to size to make it as realistic as possible ” He kept the original wheel rims wrapped them in steel covered and built with rubber like the undercarriage of a tractor The steering wheel was made compatible through a linkage block Twin master cylinders from a 98 Honda Civic for the hydraulic clutch actuated the disk brakes pushing fluid through the lines and applying optimal pressure Four-piston calipers came from a Honda CBR1000 Sport Bike Custom rotors and hubs were also added Bauer says the brakes were the trickiest part of the modification and a lot of effort was put into getting the lawn tractor to turn as it should After some trial and error it was scaled up using the Honda system This allowed for easier turning using the original steering column to move the block through the linkage system Eight months of effort later they successfully ran the newly tracked lawn tractor in the Cuming County Fair in West Point Neb where it looked and moved like the real deal The uniquely engineered machine will be used for advertising in the D&S Tire locations Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Amber Gott D&S Tires Inc 661 S Lincoln St West Point Neb 68788 ph 402-372-5572; amber@dstiresales com; www dstiresales com

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