Automatic Dump Rear-Unload Silage Wagon
"My rear-unload silage wagon dumps automatically and eliminates the need to have a man at our bunker silo to open and close the endgate," says Alvin Olson, Clearwater, Neb.
His Stanhoist wagon is equipped with a scissors hoist operated by a hydraulic cylinder. The endgate originally had to be manually opened and closed. Olson added two single-acting cylinders to the wagon - one to unlatch the end gate and one to open it. All three cylinders are controlled from the same hydraulic outlet so that by moving one lever he can raise the wagon and then open and shut the gate.
The endgate was originally equipped with two lift-assist springs, one on each side of the wagon, to pull the gate down after the box was unloaded. Olson replaced one of the springs with a 10-in. long cylinder. He mounted the cylinder under the wagon floor to trip the gate latch mechanism at the bottom corner of the box. He teed hydraulic hoses for the two cylinders into the hoist's cylinder hose.
As hydraulic pressure is applied, the cylinder under the wagon floor unlatches the end gate. Then the hoist cylinder starts to push the wagon up. Finally the cylinder near the top of the endgate starts pushing the gate back and holds it in the open position. To shut the gate, Olson puts the hydraulic lever in the "float" position. As the wagon starts to drop down, the endgate begins to close as it's pulled back by the remaining lift-assist spring. A pair of lift-assist springs he mounted under the wagon floor then latch the gate shut.
"I salvaged the single acting 2-in. dia. cylinders from an old combine reel. I didn't want to use big cylinders because if the end gate ever catches on anything and fails to open, the small cylinders aren't big enough to cause any damage," says Olson, who added 4-ft. high sides onto the wagon to increase capacity. He used 1 1/2 by 3-in. steel tubing as a framework and tied the two sides together with cross rails.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Alvin Olson, Clearwater, Neb. 68726 (ph 402 887-4460).


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1994 - Volume #18, Issue #4