Has any of you ever made or seen a Wheelhorse on front skis for winter use?

[ebinmaine 67,627]

@Mows4three I'm calling you in on this one Dave.

It's your "fault" I'm even processing this thought.

The title kind of speaks for itself.

Dave got me thinking that it would be some kind of practical and useful for part of the Season up here in Maine to have a tractor that had some nasty chains on the back and some sort of steering skis on the front.

Thoughts or pictures or information on Other makes would be acceptable but it's a Wheelhorse that I would be thinking of doing this to.

@wallfish John my friend I'd love to see what kind of designs you have in mind here.

 

 

[Chris G 3,296]

I can't say I've seen it done. But i have thought of this myself on several occasions. I think it could be done fairly easy. I would personally take snowmobile skis and make a mount on it to attach to axle and steering. Then the rear I would use atv tires on and then add a wheelie bar style frame to the rear axle with a small extra wheel. With the purpose of a tensioner and then trim down some studded snowmobile tracks and use them on the rear. That's a quick rundown idea. There would be a bit more fabrication then explained, but would be fun I think.

Edited November 13, 2018 by Chris G

[fast88pu 3,324]

Was thinking of doing that to this for the winter

[Tankman 3,518]

I have seen front end skis on a Horse and, in this forum.

Someone with a memory might point us in the right direction.  

[LengerichKA88 1,883]

This could be interesting lol. 

 

Found this while googling 

 

[ebinmaine 67,627]

Norman at I save tractors built a half track green one.

 

 

[953 nut 55,321]

1 hour ago, ebinmaine said:

some sort of steering skis on the front

Wheel Horse made them years ago!

 

 

 

 

 

They were called "Snowmobiles!"                                 

[ebinmaine 67,627]

10 minutes ago, 953 nut said:

Wheel Horse made them years ago!

 

 

 

 

 

They were called "Snowmobiles!"                                 

Quite true! Quite true!

 

 

[C-85 685]

I would like to see how this tractor was built , this would be really cool to do!

 

We briefly had a pair of used W/H snowmobiles and I got to drive them for a while when I was a kid.  I didn't really like them much, if I remember correctly the tracks didn't have much of any tread, so they spun a lot.  I'm still glad I tried them and didn't know at the time how historic those rides would be!

 

We had all kinds of used snow machines back when nearly every company made one.  In the mid 60-70's we were a dealer of Ski-doo, Ariens Arrow (we called them Ariens Error), Fox Trac, Moto-Ski and Snow Pony.  I really liked the Ski-doo's, but my favorite was the Moto-Ski's, they were the toughest!  I wish I had one of those now for a conversation piece!

 

C-85

[AMC RULES 37,130]

Sorry it took me a minute...

 some of us do still have to work you know. 

[wallfish 17,012]

4 hours ago, ebinmaine said:

@wallfish John my friend I'd love to see what kind of designs you have in mind here.

Off the top of my head. I'd prefer to keep it simple and an easy swap back and forth. Build small boxes which attach to some child size skis or cut some big ones down.

Basic idea is to attach them directly to the front wheels and held on with ratchet straps. Use 2 sides of 3/4 plywood (so the wheels can turn them) and attached to a bottom piece that gets attached to the ski. Some wheel chocks to hold the tire in the correct place and also used to hold the 2 sides together. Maybe double up skis, 2 per side so it's wider???

 

Edited November 13, 2018 by wallfish

[953 nut 55,321]

This is what worked on Model Ts.

[19richie66 17,508]

13 minutes ago, 953 nut said:

This is what worked on Model Ts.

 

That is awesome! Reminded me of this 😁

[Pullstart 62,912]

What about just large diameter wheels with no tire?

[LengerichKA88 1,883]

50 minutes ago, 19richie66 said:

That is awesome! Reminded me of this 😁

Ya beat me to it!! 😂 that was the first thing that came to mind 

[Digger 66 3,481]

6 hours ago, ebinmaine said:

@Mows4three I'm calling you in on this one Dave.

It's your "fault" I'm even processing this thought.

The title kind of speaks for itself.

Dave got me thinking that it would be some kind of practical and useful for part of the Season up here in Maine to have a tractor that had some nasty chains on the back and some sort of steering skis on the front.

Thoughts or pictures or information on Other makes would be acceptable but it's a Wheelhorse that I would be thinking of doing this to.

@wallfish John my friend I'd love to see what kind of designs you have in mind here.

 

 

 

Have you been watching "Funny Farm" again 

[ebinmaine 67,627]

2 hours ago, pullstart said:

What about just large diameter wheels with no tire?

I was thinking about doing something similar to that for the rears. I won't be able to get to it for a long long time but I would be neat if there was steel wheels like some of the thirties and forties vintage tractors used

 

[ebinmaine 67,627]

1 hour ago, Digger 66 said:

 

Have you been watching "Funny Farm" again 

Watching Funny Farm?

 

No. We are the funny farm...

[jebbear 377]

Right when you think that you have seen it all....! Amazing!

[AMC RULES 37,130]

4 hours ago, wallfish said:

Off the top of my head. I'd prefer to keep it simple and an easy swap back and forth. Build small boxes which attach to some child size skis or cut some big ones down.

Basic idea is to attach them directly to the front wheels and held on with ratchet straps. Use 2 sides of 3/4 plywood (so the wheels can turn them) and attached to a bottom piece that gets attached to the ski. Some wheel chocks to hold the tire in the correct place and also used to hold the 2 sides together. Maybe double up skis, 2 per side so it's wider???

 

 

 

 Appears as if your idea is sound John. 

 

 

 

[ebinmaine 67,627]

5 hours ago, 953 nut said:

This is what worked on Model Ts.

Owls Head transportation museum has one similar to that.

Maybe a Buick about 1925 or so...

[wallfish 17,012]

59 minutes ago, AMC RULES said:

 Appears as if your idea is sound John. 

Guess they could be made of steel too!

Surprised that guy went without chains.

@ebinmaine how about adding some paddle type tires?

Edited November 14, 2018 by wallfish

[Mows4three 826]

11 hours ago, ebinmaine said:

@Mows4three I'm calling you in on this one Dave.

It's your "fault" I'm even processing this thought.

Gee Eric, you sure took the bait on that one, didn't you?!?!?  LOL!!!

 

Seriously, this looks like a fun project.   Slip some old Ski-Do skis onto your axles and off to the races you go!   I'm going to hang on for the ride on this thread!  Hope a couple of RSers come up with some novel ideas. 

 

The photo below was somewhere deep deep on the interweb, but it shows what we we gabbing about earlier today. 

 

Let's see what ya got fellas!

 

Cheers!

 

Dave

 

 

Edited November 14, 2018 by Mows4three

[ebinmaine 67,627]

The more I think about it the more I like the idea.

 

I won't mess with this for at least a month so please be patient with me.

We really need to get a couple other things done first.

@wallfish I like those paddle tires but I have several sets of chains hanging out waiting for a job to do.

 

[Retired Wrencher 5,465]

9 hours ago, wallfish said:

Guess they could be made of steel too!

Surprised that guy went without chains.

@ebinmaine how about adding some paddle type tires?

John those are Kick A>> paddle tires. I f you could mount them on a tractor.