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"Ralph uses his skills as a retired shop machinist in his machine shop and enjoyed the challenges of his mower conversion project. However, he says he'd not do another one for three times the several-thousand-dollar price he originally asked.
"I sized it in my head and extended the front end six to eight inches, and I machined the front post, then fitted the ends with cone bearings," he explains. "The front axle was machined at about 10-degree angles. At the top of the post, I fabricated a gearbox from a Model A Ford steering column. I used a worm gear, but I had to machine a new pinion gear to obtain 180-degree steering."
Still, it was trial and error.
"The front grille was made from the tubing that JD lawn tractors were crated in. He sawed them down the middle and made a die, then formed the grille bars.
"When I changed the tractor to a tricycle type, the frame was too light," he says. "I had to reinforce with 3/8-inch plates on each side, the length of the tractor, and also make other bracings. I mounted a 17 hp Koehler engine and relocated the gas tank. The exhaust manifold was redesigned. There were a lot of pulleys to be machined and many guards and shields to be made and mounted.
"The differential had to be dismantled and machined in order to mount hubs with electric brakes salvaged from a house trailer, enabling me to install individual brakes to each rear wheel," he adds. "I was unable to find 16-inch trailer rims, so I found two rims the width I liked, and took out the centers. I welded in a 1-inch plate and machined it to fit the trailer hubs. While it was in the lathe, I cut a groove in the 1-inch plate and laid it out, drilled and tapped holes, so if one wanted to mount dual rear wheels, it would be simple."
"Ralph molded a hood cover using fiberglass, a difficult procedure in itself. But don't let the complexity of Ralph's conversion discourage you: his experience and project were unique. You don't have to be an engineer to make models.
"Jim Turnbull's Deere L project wasn't easy either. Take your time, he says.
"I like to use parts of old riding mowers, because they're small and plentiful," he says. "I found the L's steering wheel in a junkyard about eight years before I decided to build the model. But I knew that I would have kids and eventually build them something like my dad built for me!"