I first built a "standard" tow mixer. While using it I had a confrontation with a crazy woman down the road who flagged me down and accused me of spreading toxic waste in the street where her kids play. Asking her why her kids play in the street did not help the situation and she refused to believe it was just paper and water. She kept threatening to call "the housing authority" which indicates to me that she moved here from some public housing since there is no such thing as a housing authority around here. Her trailer sits in her parent's side yard.
After some thought I realized I could save a lot of fuel by not moving the truck or mixer, just moving the blade. The truck (1959 Apache) gets 9 mpg with a tailwind, but in no-tow mode I can mix all day with a couple of gallons of gas. I put the tow mixer up on blocks. I put a 90 gallon water container on the tongue to hold it down. Then I bought a drive shaft complete with universal joints from a junkyard. I welded the universal joints onto steel plates with holes matching the lug bolts on the truck and on the mixer, and bolted it between the truck rear end and the mixer. I put that corner of the truck on a block. Later I buried a 4' long piece of 5" angle iron 3' into the ground, and bolted the other mixer hub to it so it would not turn. Almost eight years later it is still chugging along.
no tow mixer
The picture was taken before the angle iron anchor was installed, trying to use the weight of the mixer on the one wheel to stop rotation. That was not so great, the wheel tended to slip when the blade hit a chunk of paper.
spaceman
compostbob@ymail.com wrote:
Spaceman posted a few days ago that he uses a no-tow mixer. Can he (or anyone else who uses a no-tow mixer) post details on how it was built. Thanks! Compost Bob
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