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Don Skinner's Tractor Chair Lifts
Don Skinner's Tractor Chair Lifts
Don Skinner's Tractor Chair Lifts
Don Skinner's Tractor Chair Lifts
Don Skinner's Tractor Chair Lifts

Don Skinner's Tractor Chair Lifts are mounted on the Pawnee, IL, farmer's International Harvester tractors. An inclined track is fastened to each tractor, and a cable winch pulls a seat up and down the track. This type of lift is best suited to tractors that have steps and doors on both sides of the cab because the lift does obstruct access and visibility on the side where it's mounted. Skinner has the lift's mounting bracket attached to the tractor frame on the right-hand side, where a step is removed. The inclined track that guides the lift seat to cab height is a 6-inch-wide inverted channel fastened to a mounting frame at the bottom and the tractor's fender at the top. The lift's moving frame consists of the seat mounted on a bearing plate with rollers underneath that ride up and down the track. Also, removal of the tractor's doorstop lets the lift-side door open fully, making operator transfer easier. A 12-volt DC electric cable winch, powered by the tractor battery and controlled by a hand-held solenoid switch, is mounted to the upper edge of the moving frame so as to travel up and down the track with the seat (Fig. 2). The cable is looped around the winch spool only twice, with one end attached to the top of the track and the other to the bottom of the track, where it "rides" around a pulley, then attaches to a tension spring underneath. This tension spring plus a piece of rubber covering the winch spool ensure smooth operation of the lift with minimum cable slippage. Skinner swings the lift seat's right-hand-side hinged armrest (a) out of the way to transfer from his wheelchair onto the seat. Once he has raised the lift to cab level, he uses a combination armrest/slide board (b) mounted on the lift seat's left-hand side to transfer onto the tractor seat. This armrest/slide board is folded up during lift operation and folded down into the slide board when transferring.

Estimated Cost Cost range: See below

Limitations Limitations Addressed by Product: Lower extremity


SourceDon Skinner
R.R. 2, Box 196
Pawnee, IL, 62558
Last updated: Jan 25, 2022


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