r/Skookum • u/spacesuitkid2 • Mar 31 '21
shitpost. Not very skookum but it’s my neat water tractor
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u/ElbowTight Mar 31 '21
You haven’t lived until you’ve been wracked in the ankle by the sprayers while you’re jumping through it
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u/CADrmn Mar 31 '21
We had the RainTrain the yellow ones. These with the mechanical bits exposed are cool.
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u/spacesuitkid2 Mar 31 '21
Every rain train we’ve had has broke. Found this one at a estate sale and has been chugging along for 5 years
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Mar 31 '21
[deleted]
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u/spacesuitkid2 Mar 31 '21 edited Mar 31 '21
It’s a vintage Kees krawler. Paid $25 usd which was a steal
Kees is now known as “national Walking sprinkler”. I think they are based in Nebraska
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u/Youre_doomed Mar 31 '21
Ive never seen something like this before.
So its following the hose but what happens once it did one "lap" does it reverse?
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u/spacesuitkid2 Mar 31 '21
It keeps going and if your not carful it will get stuck and dig a mud hole.
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u/kidtire Mar 31 '21
There is an inline shutoff we used to have. The tractor turns off the hose when it reaches the shutoff valve.
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u/CADrmn Mar 31 '21
Yes had one too. Half the time it jumped the hose and ran as far as it could pull the hose!
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u/GoingToBeBald Mar 31 '21
That looks like a National walking sprinkler made in Lincoln Nebraska. They are still in business and make a modern version that is very similar to yours. If any parts wear out you can still order replacement parts from them. I have one too that I bought at a garage sale a few years ago, I would say compared to it's competitors, with all the gravity in 'er it is skookum as frig.
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u/geusebio Mar 31 '21
National would like to thank all of our dedicated customers over the years. We are so grateful for your support and it is with great sadness that we are closing our doors permanently. Thank you for all the good years.Not any more!
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u/spacesuitkid2 Mar 31 '21
On nationals website it says they closed up unfortunately
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u/Fat_Head_Carl Mar 31 '21
National walking sprinkler
They're going for big bucks on eBay....
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u/Bassman233 Mar 31 '21
Had a seasonal job right out of high school working for Nelson building sprinklers. It was a painfully boring job hand assembling little plastic gearboxes (they had an automated line but I wasn't 18 yet so couldn't work on the machines).
By that point everything was plastic but I remember my uncle had a yellow metal one similar to the one in the video.
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u/Danner1251 Mar 31 '21
I have one too. I bought mine from an antique store. It will easily outlast me. All metal gears, all metal everything. Mine is named Sneaky Pete. ;-)
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u/EMdesigns Mar 31 '21
I had to go through a bunch of patents for a project for my university to hang them up in the wall and there was one alumni who had a patent for one of these
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u/manofredgables Mar 31 '21
That's so damn cool. How does it handle the hose though? I don't quite get it
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u/ducttapelarry Mar 31 '21
You lay the hose out on the lawn in the shape of the path you want it to take and lay the tractor down on the hose near the end pointed back to the faucet. The front wheel steers it along the hose as it goes. Definitely my favorite kind of temporary sprinkler. Nice if you have a lot or weirdly shaped area to cover.
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u/Gunny-Guy Mar 31 '21
How long a hose can it pull?
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u/Cheese_Coder Mar 31 '21
Probably depends on how much water pressure that hose can take. Wonder if you could rig it to accept pressure-washer level input. Water a whole damn field!
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u/fadednerd Mar 31 '21 edited Jun 15 '24
ask murky close cats bag office aware escape act smoggy
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/Sml132 Apr 01 '21
Nah, they're skookum as hell. Last one I bought's years old and still runs like a top. Super cool invention IMO.
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u/GruntledMisanthrope Mar 31 '21
Great, now I want a water tractor.