Two-Way Tractor Has World's Biggest Cab

Two-Way Tractor Has World's Biggest Cab TRACTORS Cabs 18-2-4 Fitted with what may be the world's largest tractor cab, this home-built 4-WD articulated "two-way" tractor also features an operator turntable that rotates 180 degrees, making it easy to operate the tractor in either direction. The home-built cab is 8 ft. long, 6 ft. wide, and 6 ft. high. The seat, steering wheel, hydraulic levers, and foot pedals are mounted on the rotating turntable which is built from 3/8-in. steel plate. "I built it 15 years ago, but it has many of the same features found on today's 4-WD tractors. I spent only about $20,000 to build it," says Lowell Langerman, Fayette, Iowa. "I wanted a cab big enough that I could stand up and walk around in and also be able to sit sideways in the cab to operate without looking back over my shoulder all the time. To rotate the turntable I simply grab onto something and pull myself around." Langerman built the tractor out of an old 4-WD articulated loader tractor that was equipped with a front-end loader and a small 6-cyl. gas engine. He stripped the tractor down to the frame and replaced the original engine with a 711 cu. in. diesel engine taken from a Mack semi-truck. He also installed the Mack truck's 5-speed transmission, 2-speed Browning transmission, and radiator. The new engine was heavier and longer than the original one so he moved the rear axle back 2 1/2 ft. for better weight balance. He also mounted 16.9 by 24 dual tires on both axles. A 2-speed power divider salvaged from a 5-ton Army truck provides 4-WD. The transmission's output shaft is connected to the power divider's input shaft, which is connected to the front and rear axles. A home-built Cat. III 3-pt. hitch is mounted on the loader arms and can be raised up out of the way, allowing pull-type implements to be hooked up to a heavy-duty swinging drawbar. "The combination of the 3 and 5-speed manual transmissions and power divider gives me 30 forward speeds so I can pick the gear and engine rpm that provide optimum ground speed for the equipment I'm pulling and adjust the rpm's at the same time with-out having to change gears all day. It works

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