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Grain Cart Boasts 23 MPH Top Speed
"I used it this fall to help an area farmer haul soybeans and I was able to keep up with four combines so they never had to stop to unload," says Bob VanderLinden who built a nifty self-propelled grain cart out of a commercial grain cart and various combine parts.
The Redwood Falls, Minn., farmer started with a Parker Industries 710 grain cart box he bought new last December. It was purchased without rear axle and wheels, pto shaft and bin ladder.
He decided to power the cart with a 407 cu. in diesel engine and the hydrostatic drive out of a mid 1970's IH 915 combine. He also fitted the rig with a combine cab.
The engine and cab mount above a front steering axle off a junked IH 1480 combine. He used the final drives and axle off the 915 combine. He had to cut the frame in half and lengthen it to fit under the grain cart. He purchased two 33-in. driveshafts to extend the final drives out to the ends of the axle.
"The rear 30.5 by 32-in. tires are taller than what were on the 915 combine," VanderLinden says. "This gives me a faster ground speed - 23 mph top speed unloaded -and better flotation in the field."
He converted the 17-in. dia. pto-driven auger on the grain cart to hydraulic drive with a kit from Parker. He also installed a flow control valve in the cab so he can vary auger speed from 0 to 300 rpm's.
"Figuring out how to best run the unloading auger was the hardest part of the project," he says. "I was going to belt drive the auger off the combine's separator clutch, but it turned the wrong way. Driving the auger hydraulically works well. I can unload an en-tire 700 bushel load in a few minutes with the auger running full bore."
After keeping up with four combines harvesting 50 bushel per acre soybeans this fall, VanderLinden figures he'd be able to keep with two combines harvesting 180 bushel corn.
The project took three months to complete. He painted machine Parker green. Out-of-pocket expense was about $2,000, not counting the price of the cart.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Bob VanderLinden, 25986 350th St., Redwood Falls, Minn. 56283 (ph 507 641-3039).


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1998 - Volume #22, Issue #6