diesel lombard tractor

[Peter Drouin]

The skis must last a long time with steel over the w oak like that. Is there a finn on the underside of the steel runner?

[loggah]

There is a 1/2" x 2" steel skeag under the 1/2" x 5" steel shoe,just like on a snow mobile .

[Peter Drouin]

There is a 1/2" x 2" steel skeag under the 1/2" x 5" steel shoe,just like on a snow mobile .

Yeah, I thought so. Back in the day they must have parked the back tracks up on some wood so not to freeze in. Like my 690 JD got it up on AT&T poles.

[Mainer_for_life]

Nice to see that loggah, I remember going to the maine antique tractor festival one year out of many and seeing a couple of guys who had brought out a Lombard. They restore them and had several pictures of them actually working when the first were bought and a timeline of the fix. They are one tough machine. It looks like you definitely know what you are doing so keep on trukin.

[loggah]

Peter,when they were not running these machines they were kept in a warm shed.Once the machines were started they were run outside and the tracks were run up on wood blocks and the machine was left idling while the tracks were allowed to cool off. They found that running a warm tracked machine directly into the snow, the snow would build up and freeze on the tracks making the grousers basically worthless.Mainer that would be the Brettons from Vasselboro,they have a number of lombard machines. Don

[Don_Papenburg]

How was the rear deck used ? To add weight for more traction or to haul supplies or smaller product out of the wood?

[loggah]

The deck was used to haul supplies,extra gas, reach poles, tools, just anything they wanted .Some may have put extra weight on it ,not sure.Here is an original picture of the machine im working on now,Ed Lacroix number 9 from the Allagash,churchill depot.This tractor is pulling a pretty good string of sleds.

[shinnlinger]

How did they stop all those sleds?

[Ianab]

How did they stop all those sleds?

At a guess they didn't use them on hills?  ;) :D

[loggah]

Air brakes !!!! ;D ;D ;D Actually  they did haul on some hilly ground.They had what were called "ROAD MONKEYS" usually green guys or old loggers that were not really able to log any more that kept hay or put gravel,sand in the sled ruts to slow them down. on some of the steeper grades the driver would put the tractor in neutral and coast that way the engine wouldn't overspeed. In the lombard brochures it is stated that the tracks were able to stand speeds of up to 20 miles per hour ;D

[shinnlinger]

Bet that was quite a ride!  How fast have you had one of yours?

[loggah]

Probably 7-8 miles per hour,but i didnt have 100 tons of wood behind me. ;D the brakes will stop the tracks with no problem ,but if you did that with loaded sleds behind you your going to jack knife.In the steam log haulers you could put the "JOHNSON BAR" to the reverse side and feather the throttle to help on a downgrade.

[47sawdust]

I'd like one of those for Christmas,but I don't know if I've been good enough!
Excellent work,great post.
Mick

[loggah]

You should have taken better care of the ones that were used at maidstone and wenlock and you would have one for christmas !!! ;D ;D

[loggah]

Well im getting the skis put together slowly,my wife took a few pictures of what im up to !! tacking them together before i finish welding them up.

[beenthere]

No snow in those pics... must have missed you in NH.

Ski's look great, and you are fast.... like Lyle Niemi.  ;D

[loggah]

Well we got about 8" of snow so far,since noon. My wife took the pictures this morning. ;D

[WmFritz]

I got to this party late... all I can say is WOW!!!

I hate to see your project go into hibernation Don, but I know what you mean about time.

[loggah]

Well i got 1 ski all done ,except for the 1/2" x 2" skeag on the bottom,and still working on the other one. Heres a few pictures . The bud lite bottle is for scale !! ;D these skis are 6' long 12" high,and 5" thick,all made up of 1/2" thick steel plate.When there all together there a bit heavy !!!! ;D ;D

[Peter Drouin]

Nice job, Must be 200lb each. What color are you going to paint them?

[sandhills]

I like your scale  ;).  I hope you don't drop one your toe, that'd hurt for awhile!  How'd you put the bow in the steel, heat, bend, and weld as you went around?  They look great, I have a buddy that can do that sort of thing with that heavy of iron and minimal tools to work with it, I'd just screw it up  :-\.

[47sawdust]

Don,
Is there a crane attached to the roof of the RV?I know your a  rugged old bear but ........

[loggah]

Closer to 300 lbs each with the mount bolted on ,im just going to leave it rusty for the moment!!! ;D ;D like a barn find. No crane , i do have a chain fall in the front of the shed ,but not where im welding. i pre-bent the top pieces using my big cletrac track and 280 lbs of  dead weight,me !!!! ;D ;D,then fine tuned the bend as i welded it in place.

[Peter Drouin]

300lb, well it won't do a wheelie. ;D

[loggah]

Actually the old time operators use to rear them up a bit and just hit the clutch for a second dropping the tractor and catching it in the air to break frozen sleds loose !! ;D ;D which resulted in bent frames on the early machines that didnt have the extended outside frame rails! ;D Lombard then pit a 1" thick steel plate the full length of the inner frame and then extended the outside frame and tying it back to the inner frame. He also used a strap iron strongback under the frame also. Both of my frames are braced up ,and they still are bent a bit.In logging you know how it is if a machine was designed to move 3 cords at a time most will try to pull 6 !!! ;D ;D Hopefully i will finish the other ski today and then i can slide them in place. In this picture you can see the 1" plate inside the channel iron and where it was notched out for bolt heads.The original engine only  weighed about 1500 lbs and the international engine weighs 3000 lbs,that should help keep the wheelies down also ! ;D