1764 County Road 1650N, Urbana, Illinois 61801
I built this tractor after my boys saw the Maytag tractor at the
Hawkeye Show in Iowa. They were collecting old Briggs &
Stratton engines for their project at school. They said, ‘Dad,
why can’t we have a tractor like that with our B & S
engines on it?’
So we went to a lot of engine shows and swap meets to find the
engines to build this square 8 engine. The engine is timed like a
V-8 engine. I have 8-5-S, HP, B & S engines, all 40 years old
and older, all timed to a common shaft with timing belts. It starts
with a starter generator. An electric fuel pump supplies fuel from
twin tanks to a single carburetor to a manifold that pipes the fuel
vapor to each engine. It has a belt governor to hold the engine
speed.
I put the engine on a Bolens 1050, 1969 model, garden tractor.
It starts and runs very good. It took four years part-time to build
and work out the bugs in it. I have taken the tractor to shows in
Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and Wisconsin. It draws a
nice crowd.
I collect old walk-behind and rider garden tractors.
I hope these pictures and this article will show other engine
collectors what it is like. Keep up the good work!
