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Struck DIY garden tractor. PICTURES ADDED


fishnwiz

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Anyone here own or ever seen or hear of a DIY home built garden tractor?

I was at a old timers place the other day and there was a tank of a tractor I had never seen before. I asked the owner about the thing and was told that back in the 60s,  struck used to sell plans to build your own garden tractor. I did see the original plans that actually included blueprints. It appears that the kit came with a transaxle and other pre made parts and you had to find your own engine and other various parts.

The funny thing about this tractor is that it was a government job of a higher up at the Allis Chalmers factory located near my home. All of the parts and metal that was  needed to be build this tractor were "obtained " by workers at the Allis plant on their lunch hrs and during slow times at the plant ( shutdown ) the workers at the plant did all of the fabrication at the plant.

This tractor is one of 2 this guy built and had a 10hp cast iron briggs engine in it....way underpowered for this tank of a tractor.

I will try to get a few pics next week  if I can.

I could get both tractors for a song but how can you value something as obscure as this DIY Struck Garden tractor?

Edited by fishnwiz
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These are riding lawn tractor and not a dozer

I did not like the weight to hp ratio issues .

Also want to know value before I consider. 

 

Edited by fishnwiz
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Years ago my uncle tried to sell the DIY Struck dozer tractor here in Wisconsin. I remember him telling my Dad that he had to source the engine. He had a demonstrator and my Dad seemed pretty impressed with it but not enough to buy it. I was too small at the time to even ride on it. My Uncle was apparently not too successful selling them, because I never heard about it again.

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A four wheeled tractor? 

Never heard of those, only crawler and something called a mini Beep, looking like a scale model willys jeep.

 

 

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1 hour ago, GregB said:

A four wheeled tractor? 

Never heard of those, only crawler and something called a mini Beep, looking like a scale model willys jeep.

 

 

Yes...4 wheeled tractor 

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1 hour ago, macallis180 said:

Anxiously awaiting pix!

So am I....have not had a chance to get over and take pics.

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Im not sure I've heard of struck selling blueprints to build your own tractors of your own materials but I know that they sold kits that you assembled. The Struck Big Job" is there a four wheel tractor and its a big boy. They are fairly Popular with collectors and I see a few each year on craigslist.  I think the last one here sold for $600-$700?  It had a snow Plow and a mower deck and was in beautiful shape

 

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210CD869-F74E-4A9B-8604-264B7DEC4EFD-646-0000005A671A23BB.png.131d3ada9ad3386422f367fe299074d6.png

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The bluepriints I saw were out of the kit you speak of Josh.

According to the guy who has the tractor now it was a kit that was assembled at the Allis factory, by the workers. He stated that the kit was incomplete and that parts really didn't fit so anytime that needed to be redone was fixed or rebuilt. 

I was kidding  on saying that Jonny Cash one piece at a time statement and giving the impression that it was built from scratch. It was in kit form.

I know nothing about these tractors other than what was told to me by the owner. ...who is 90 years old.

Not trying to mislead anyone. 

Edited by fishnwiz
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Struck at one time had complete set of blue prints how to make your own crawler. Wasn't all that expensive when I bought them 45 years ago. :-)

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Interesting Robert

I did hear that Struck did sell bluepriints for crawlers. I don't know if the tractors plans were also available or not at that time.

 

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Unfortunately the price has gone up with the more interest I show in these tractors. I did not show my hand and really was not super interested in them because owner wants to pull the engines out of them and keep them for himself. 

Will see where this goes.:S

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5 minutes ago, fishnwiz said:

Unfortunately the price has gone up with the more interest I show in these tractors. I did not show my hand and really was not super interested in them because owner wants to pull the engines out of them and keep them for himself. 

Will see where this goes.:S

He probably really doesn't want to sell them. Sadly, the more interest you show...the more the price goes up.

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Last year he was talking about scraping them.

I offered him scrap price PLUS but no go.

I have NOT had a chance to view the 2nd of the two tractors as it is at a remote site 45 miles away.

Not sure of the condition on that one yet.

Edited by fishnwiz
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The DIY plans for the mini dozers of various revisions are floating around the internet as PDF files. I almost built one but then found a factory MD1612 and got it working instead.

While I like the little dozer, it's really a toy. Good for moving snow as long as it isn't too deep and moving light gravel. Outside of that, you're just kidding yourself. I get lots of positive comments and grins about it at tractor shows I take it to.

A few random pix from the repair process: http://images.ttyr2.com/index.php?directory=/albums/Struck

Sorry for the detour off the subject at hand.

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Am going on a road trip today to see if I can buy a few of these tractors. ....will keep you posted if anything happens. 

 

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3 hours ago, fishnwiz said:

Am going on a road trip today to see if I can buy a few of these tractors. ....will keep you posted if anything happens. 

 

We will be waiting anxiously!

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Well so far NO tractors. I did not have a chance to see the tractors again today for pics as owner had some sick issues. He did give me one of several books he says he has and it is obvious a STRUCK tractor. There are a large number of blueprints included. This is NOT the tractor that Josh had pics of rather its the smaller 12hp version. This darn thing MUST weigh in at 900+ pounds with 1/4 " plate construction. The running tractor has a nice Briggs which is not original but the other tractor 40 miles away does have the original motor. I have YET to see this other tractor.

I have attached a few pics AS well as the price list for this tractor...some of the prices are pretty cheap!  This is a 1971 model year.IMG_6834.thumb.jpg.2fbef06ba7c38e613dff526444bf7c82.jpg

IMG_6835.jpg

IMG_6833.jpg

IMG_6837.jpg

IMG_6829.jpg

IMG_6830.jpg

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