Forged With Fire

Forged With Fire

Some of you knew of the tractor project going on at the farm but for those that didn't.....

Sam bought a Farmtrac tractor from his Uncle a few years back. It's done A LOT for us on the farm already, but Sam has always dreamed of getting a front loader (the thing that goes on the front with the bucket). Loaders built for his tractor are super expensive not to mention not made anymore (Ford discontinued the Farmtrac brand years ago), so when he won a loader in an auction for a super good price, he was ecstatic! We got it home, and sadly, it didn't come with the brackets needed to attach it to the tractor. Sam found the only supplier online, waited a few weeks to get it, then received a message saying...they don't make it anymore. And so started his determined plan to make them himself. 

First, he made the design based off of online pictures and the measurements of the tractor. He then 3D printed the bracket shape to make sure it would work how he needed it to. (the circle is the part of the tractor that the loader bracket will attach to. 

He ordered the steel that he needed and got to work with an oxy propane torch. 

The material was so thick that it took A LOT of effort on Sam's part to get the appropriate bend. And he was struggling with the torch to heat it up enough because it was cooling down just as quick with the ambient air. 

So, Sam went back to the drawing board and decided that we needed a forge. How "convenient" that this project gets him two dreams in one, haha. 

The forge was able to heat a larger section of the bracket making it MUCH easier for Sam to hammer into the right shape. 

It only took a month or more, but he finally got the 90* angle. 

All this effort convinced Sam that there was no way he was going to be able to get the round shape he needed without a forge press (three dreams in one? This project is kind of suspicious, haha). He went back to the computer and designed a jig that would help get the desired shape then ordered the steel to fabricate it from.

Here's the set up after Sam machined the plates and cut the rods to length!

And the resulting shape!  He did have to warm the material up a little with the oxy propane torch to soften it up.

Then he had to weld on a small hollow shaft on the end where a quick-release pin would go through. Luckily, we already had a welder. 

We had to take the shaft to a machine shop first to get the hole drilled to the proper diameter. We kind of freaked the guy out bringing the kids in because apparently it's not usually open to the public. However, it was a great experience for the kids to see the big equipment and watch the men work. I did take the kids out when they started drilling the metal, but we got to go for a walk AND the kids got to go touch a rail road track for the first time. It was a good day. 

After that, Sam cut a notch in the brackets, sanded off the scaled exterior from forging, and took them to a paint shop to be powder coated
. We did have to wait a couple weeks (the shop was working with yellow equipment at the time), but it was worth the wait!

Beautiful! And so professional looking!

This is one of the brackets finally connecting the front loader to the tractor.

Several months and headaches after buying the loader .... It's already done so much for the farm!

Pax Domini cum spirito tuo temper sit,

Torey, Sam, Rylee, William & Luke

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