We’re not trying to brag, but when it comes to weird Archimedean Screw tractors, BangShift.com is pretty much the internet leader on the subject. We’ve given you the history of the design and old footage of tractors from a hundred years ago, and now we’ve found one for sale in Alaska. Golly, we wish we lived in Alaska or had some sort of insane Arctic mission planned to warrant buying this thing.
This tractor was, according to the seller, one of two machines built by the Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding company in 1985. It can hold five crew members, weighs nearly 11 tons, and is constructed from aluminum. Power comes from a 300hp Deutz Diesel that has 12 cylinders and is air cooled. Up in the arctic, feeding the motor cool air probably isn’t a big problem.
Our favorite stats are the “performance” numbers. The tractor will make six knots at full bore on ice, 4.3 knots in the water. It can drag a load of 10-tons on solid ground and one-ton on the water. Obviously the machine is not designed for use on asphalt or concrete. The big aluminum screws would be ruined almost instantly. Interestingly, the seller claims that this tractor can pull itself up onto an ice shelf from the open water. We think that would take some operator skill.
This thing qualifies as 100% BangShift approved in our book! Bid early, bid often!
Source — eBay.com —Mitsui Engineering Archimedean Screw Tractor
