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Self-Unloading Bale Rack
"My Dad built two of them 10 years ago and they've worked so well for us since then that neighbors starting asking us to build them. Demand grew through word of mouth so I've decided to start manufacturing them for sale," says Craig Shoemaker about his electric-powered self-unloading bale wagon that he recently put on public display for the first time at the International Plowing Match in Ontario, Canada.
From a distance, Shoemaker's 8 by 20-ft. wagon looks like any other bale rack, with a wooden deck and high sides made out of 1-in. sq. tubing. What makes it different is that the back panel is skidded back and forth across the deck of the wagon by two steel cables that are controlled by an electric-driven winch mounted under the floor of the wagon.
"When you're filling the wagon in the field, the panel remains at the back of the wagon. But when you unload, it pushes bales forward toward the front of the wagon so all the person unloading has to do is grab a bale and throw it off onto a bale elevator. No need to walk back and forth to the back of the wagon when unloading. Saves a lot of time and effort," explains Shoemaker. There's one steel cable on either side of the floor of the wagon. They're threaded through a pair of pulleys at the front of the wagon and two pulleys at the back. The cable winds up on a steel pipe located under the middle of the wagon deck. A 1 1/2 hp. reversible AC motor turns the winch pipe. Depending on which way the pipe turns, the cables pull the back panel of the wagon either forward or back.
"When you get ready to unload, you plug the motor into 110-V AC current. There's a simple on-off switch at the front of the wagon so the person unloading the bales simply flips the switch on momentarily to move more bales forward," says Shoemaker.
The self-unloading wagon sells for $3,565 (Canadian). The bale rack itself, without undercarriage, sells for $2,495.
For more information, contact FARM SHOW Followup, Craig Shoemaker, Shoemaker Fabricating, Rt. 1, Elora, Ontario N0B IS0 Canada (ph 519 846-2671).


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1993 - Volume #17, Issue #6