"Monster" Self-Propelled Tiler Goes Anywhere

"Monster" Self-Propelled Tiler Goes Anywhere TILING MACHINES Tiling Machines 22-3-20 "Nothing compares with it for shear size and strength. It'll keep going no matter what the conditions without breaking down or getting stuck," says Mark Schuelke, Bedford, Iowa, about his "Bigfoot" self-propelled tiling ma-chine that's 13 ft. high, rides on 43-in. wide, 66-in. high flotation tires, and is equipped with a 12-ft. dia. digging wheel that can dig 7 ft. deep. It weighs 50,000 lbs. Schuelke finished building the machine last summer and used it soon afterward to dig 45,000 ft. of tile. It's powered by a 330 hp Detroit 871 diesel engine and has hydrostatic ground drive. The operator sits on a hydraulically-raised and lowered platform 7 ft. off the ground on the right side of the machine. The rear-mounted digging wheel drops dirt onto a rubber conveyor which throws it off to the side. He started with a used rubber tired Michigan 280 bulldozer. He needed a bigger engine so he bought a used Detroit 871 for $1,000 and overhauled it. "I'm well pleased with it and wouldn't trade it for anything on the market. Some other self-propelled tilers have almost as much power as mine, but none of them are built as heavy or have as much flotation," says Schuelke, who uses the rig to do custom tiling within a 50-mile radius of his farm. "It took me 1 1/2 years to build. I built it be-cause I had too many breakdowns with the commercial machines I was using. I spent less than $100,000 to build it. The closest comparable machine sells for about $200,000. I paid $6,000 for the dozer, $3,500 for the digging wheel, and $20,000 for the hydraulics. The machine has more than $2,000 worth of hydraulic fittings in it. The axles came off the original dozer as did the drop boxes. "The combination of high horsepower and a big digging wheel lets me dig 30 ft. of trench per minute, compared to 12 to 15 ft. per minute for most machines. One day I dug 90 ft. per min. Speed is important because in recent years farmers have been planting earlier and harvesting later, which reduces the amount of time available to do tiling work. "The digging wheel is off a Jetco commercial tiler and was originally designed to dig a 36-in. wide trench. I took the center cutter out and installed a 14-in. center cutter so that now it digs a 23-in. wide trench. Most of the time I dig 4 1/2 ft. deep and I can vary the speed of the digging wheel as I go." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Mark Schuelke, 2449 Tennessee Ave., Bedford, Iowa 50833 (ph 712 523-3119).

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