Building a CASE steam tractor

[DennisThornton 4,769]

I found this most interesting.

 

 

[Maxwell-8 4,276]

My (unachievable) dream is to own one!

Row torque, all steel. running on whatever burns. I love steam engines, and a the case 150 is la "Crème de la Crème"!

 

I have seen what plows they can pull, took many years for diesel tractor to come even close.

Edited May 11, 2021 by Maxwell-8

[DennisThornton 4,769]

2 minutes ago, Maxwell-8 said:

My (unachievable) dream is to own one!

Row torque, all steel. running on whatever burns. I love steam engines, and a the case 150 is la "Crème de la Crème"!

 

I have seen what plows they can pull, took many years for diesel tractor to come even close.

I'm a bit of a "prepper" and have collected hand powered tools and hopefully the knowledge to use them.  When Covid hit and many were wondering about the future a friend and I chatted about what to do if our liquid fuel storage ran out and there was no more available.  Steam was an option.  Unlimited firewood!  Would have to ditch the chainsaws of course but at least the fuel was here.  But then steam power has it's issues...  Probably a better approach for us was wood gas or perhaps alcohol, but I may never get around to it...

[Maxwell-8 4,276]

1 minute ago, DennisThornton said:

I'm a bit of a "prepper"

Me too, That's an other thing I love about steam.

I have been experimenting making my own bio-diesel. but you need methanol.

We got oil for about 50 years. hopfully, we find some more or make synthetic fuels that are maybe  better then regular gas

 

[DennisThornton 4,769]

14 minutes ago, Maxwell-8 said:

Me too, That's an other thing I love about steam.

I have been experimenting making my own bio-diesel. but you need methanol.

We got oil for about 50 years. hopfully, we find some more or make synthetic fuels that are maybe  better then regular gas

 

I have pictures of WIPED OUT grocery shelves in our biggest grocery, WALMART, and it made me nervous about having what I need right here at home!  I suppose I've got water, food and heat for at least a year but what about other things?  Generators, vehicles and chainsaws need gas.  Not recommended to store gas for that long...  I store kero and diesel for the big tractor but what about everything else?  I doubt we will see a really long term outage of electricity and liquid fuels but in the last 20 years I've seen:

100 year flood

100 year ice storm

100 year pandemic

and people fitting over toilet paper!

Sort of got me thinking that anything could happen!  Solar storm next?  Korea sending us some EMPs?  Wackos out there running nuclear capable countries now!

[Maxwell-8 4,276]

17 minutes ago, DennisThornton said:

sending us some EMPs

That is one i expect very soon!  That's why i still have a mechanical injection diesel, all the rest wouldn't work anymore maybe even or WH 

 

The moment I heard there was corona in china, i fastly did my recherche and bought all N-95 masks in the local stores. Toilet paper didn't bother my at all.

 

I have been thinking about making my own steam engine (maybe for in a WH) because I can't find one. But seems to be more complicated then anticipated. 

Edited May 11, 2021 by Maxwell-8

[Wheel Horse 3D 3,795]

Wood gas for vehicles, biogas generator for heating etc., passive solar for everything I can make it work for, and a ram pump, trompe combo for water movement/hydrogravity storage and compressed air.

Edited May 11, 2021 by Wheel Horse 3D

[DennisThornton 4,769]

I was in pretty good shape prior to Covid but even better now because of it.  I'd like to not just survive but be reasonably comfortable while surviving.  No electricity would change things but then the next serious blow would be not being able to make any electricity because of lack of fuels.  Short term would create no issues but long term could get old.  Do you frequent any survival or prepper groups?  I'd love to continue our conversation but perhaps not best here in this thread.

[Maxwell-8 4,276]

1 hour ago, DennisThornton said:

I was in pretty good shape prior to Covid but even better now because of it.  I'd like to not just survive but be reasonably comfortable while surviving.  No electricity would change things but then the next serious blow would be not being able to make any electricity because of lack of fuels.  Short term would create no issues but long term could get old.  Do you frequent any survival or prepper groups?  I'd love to continue our conversation but perhaps not best here in this thread.

survival or prepper groups don't really exist here. Maybe there are now because of corona. everybody here thinks the goverment has their back. wich i don't believe AT all.

 

We need to make an other tread then.

 

[Wheel Horse 3D 3,795]

1 minute ago, Maxwell-8 said:

survival or prepper groups don't really exist here. Maybe there are now because of corona. everybody here thinks the goverment has their back. wich i don't believe AT all.

 

We need to make an other tread then.

 

I got yer back, thread already created!

[Wheel Horse 3D 3,795]

That steam tractor is very cool. Imagine forging and riveting all that metal!

[Maxwell-8 4,276]

How many hours will one run before the fire burns thru the metal?

[Stormin 9,981]

3 hours ago, Maxwell-8 said:

How many hours will one run before the fire burns thru the metal?

 

Years and years and years.

[Maxwell-8 4,276]

21 minutes ago, Stormin said:

 

Years and years and years.

Yeah? Because the oilbarrels we use to burn paper burns out after a couple fires

[Stepney 2,325]

15 minutes ago, Stormin said:

 

Years and years and years.

..Or just one inattentive engineer letting his crown sheet go dry.. Think one went up at Rollag, MN a few years ago?

A Frick 20hp blew up a few fields away from my grandparent's. Sometime in the early 20's..

We still find shrapnel occasionally..

 

 

In my time around shows, I've fired on a Case 110 and a small Peerless, maybe 15hp.. there is just no feeling quite like watching that lap seam boiler shift and sway under 150psi.. We rolled the Peerless, the Case was running a sawmill. Just about nothing will stop a 110hp steam engine..

I can only imagine being at the throttle of the 150.

Legalities and liabilities have made running a steam engine in New England quite difficult.. but honestly it's for the better.

[Stepney 2,325]

Just now, Maxwell-8 said:

Yeah? Because the oilbarrels we use to burn paper burns out after a couple fires

 The firebox, with exception of the grates, is completely surrounded by water and boiler tubes through it's end..
Preferably, it should never get over perhaps 400*f.. and that's extreme in this 'case'.. see what I did there? At 250psi, water boils at 401*f.

The grates will fail, as will the ash pan without proper care. But the crown sheet and tubes should last a very, very long time..

Many a 100+ year old boiler still serviceable. 

Once the water sloshes off the crown sheet, unless you get extremely lucky and she simply blows a fusible plug.. billowing steam into the firebox and merely scalding the engineer or fireman..
Should the crown sheet completely fail, there will be very little of the engine left to find..

 

[Mike in NC 341]

This 150 Case is a Masterpiece! Cory, the owner, took a long time to build it and a lot of $$$$. There are videos floating around of them assembling the wheels with all the hot rivets and all. There are many new boilers being made that are way safer than some original boilers. Steam is very impressive. i have run several steam engines. I plowed with a 20 hp Minneapolis pulling 6 16" bottoms in heavy sod. It was a very fun time.