Troy Built Lawn Tractor

Antique doodlebug pulling challenge Sunday

ORRINGTON, Maine — Doodlebugs — homemade farm tractors made decades ago from old automobiles — will be arriving in town on Sunday for an old-fashioned weight-pulling competition.

“Most people around here call them jitterbugs,” said Bruce Bowden, museum director for the Curran Homestead Living History Farm & Museum, which is hosting the event.

The antique machines were commonplace during World War II, when U.S. factories were making items in support of the war instead of farm machinery, and recently have gained in popularity in New England, said doodlebug owner Randy Chapman of Troy.

The homemade farm vehicles start out as some type of old motor vehicle. “You basically tear the cab off and try and gear it so it goes a little slower, so it has a little more pull,” Chapman said Wednesday. “It’s just a bunch of old automobile parts thrown together.”

Chapman, who is a member of the Maine Antique Tractor Club, will have two doodlebugs at Sunday’s competition in Orrington, which begins at noon at the living history farm at 372 Fields Pond Road.

He said he’ll have his Model-A Ford from the 1930s pull in the smallest class, 3,000 pounds, and a 1940 International that has been repowered with a later-model diesel in the largest class, 4,000 pounds. There also is a 3,500-pound class. All vehicles must have been manufactured before 1950 and cannot be made from any tractor parts.

“There is a wide range of machines out there that people have built up here in Maine,” Chapman said.

The circa-1890s Curran Homestead was a subsistence farm that utilized crops, animals, wood and local resources, such as ice from Fields Pond, to provide food, shelter and cash for the Curran family.

A group of local volunteers decided 20 years ago to take the 30-acre dilapidated farm and turn it into the Curran Homestead Living History Farm & Museum, which provides visitors a glimpse into the area’s past.

“We’re excited that the drivers have agreed to schedule their next meet here in the Bangor region as a special event during our 20th anniversary year celebration,” said Irv Marsters, Curran Homestead’s treasurer.

Doodlebug owners joined the Maine Antique Tractor Club three years ago, said Robert Clark , a leader in the tractor club from Smithfield.

“They are a part of the agriculture heritage,” he said. “A lot of folks had them.”

In the last year, three new doodlebug owners have joined the club, Chapman said.

Q&A: What is the difference between lawn tractors?[briggs and ...

Lawn Tractors are limited to mowing and pulling utility carts and such items. NOT for Ground Engaging rigging such as plows, rototillers cultivators..etc.

Lawn” “Yard” “Fairway” are your basic grass cutters.

The Briggs and Stratton Engines have a long term reputation for quality as does the Kohler. Never had a lot of dealings with the Kawaski but John Deer uses those nearly exclusively in their lawn and garden machines.

Garden tractors are heavier built with stronger transmissions or trans axles. Garden tractors can handle tasks from tilling new ground to plowing or blowing snow including mowing.

$ 2000. 00 will get you a honestly excellent quality Tractor capable of doing a variety of jobs. A recall due to a gas tank…… thats what I want to hear from a company!!!, means they are taking responsibility and fix it instead of hoping nobody notices….. there is nothing terrible with ayp mowers! they are a excellent mower at a excellent price….

For engines, I prefer briggs…. they last nearly as long or longer, take a beating better (I’ve severly overloaded em, run em on crap gas, and over reved em for hours on end…. even ran a couple low on oil to see how long they would last and they came back alive when I unseized em)

and most of all, alot cheaper to fix!!

In the end a garden tractor is made heavier to do heavier jobs like tilling, hauling, snowthrowing, etc….. a lawn tractors/fairway/yard will do the basic hauling of heavy loads and cut the grass…

Consumer sites – lawn tractor advice?Anyone know of any excellent free consumer advise sites. I really don’t feel like subscribing to Consumer Reports paid site as I don’t reckon I would use it enough to be worth the money. Any opinions on Kohler vs Briggs & Stratton on lawn tractors? I need to buy before my grass starts getting too long. I went into a new home on 3 acres of land, and my ancient push mower just isn’t going to be enough. I am leaning toward a Huskee 46″ lawn tractor at Tractor Supply Co. with a 20hp Kohler engine. I was really disappointed with the quality of the Briggs & Stratton engine on my last push mower, but I really don’t know much about Kohler.

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