Modified Challenger Designed To Pull Planter

Modified Challenger Designed To Pull Planter TRACTORS Conversions 23-3-1 When Illinois farmer Tim Scheetz set out to find "the perfect planter", he decided on a Canadian-built Seed Hawk air seeder that he felt would be able to plant no-till narrow-row corn, beans and wheat without plugging. FARM SHOW featured the planter in our last issue (Vol. 23, No. 2). To pull the planter, he recently reworked a 1995 Cat Challenger tracked tractor which he bought used this spring. He stripped the $125,000 tractor down to the frame. Then he remounted the cab further ahead on the frame, raising it 16 in. and reshaping the hood. He also eliminated the back fuel tank and fitted the tractor with saddle tanks. The most important part of the conversion was installing a first-of-its-kind sliding fifth wheel hitch on back of the Challenger frame to pull the planter, which is fitted with a detachable "gooseneck". Hydraulic-driven roto-tillers mount ahead of the air seeder. A tilting cargo platform and boom pull seed and fertilizer wagons right up onto the planter. Scheetz can even carry an anhydrous or liquid fertilizer wagon right on the planter. He calls the reworked Challenger a self-propelled "cargo cart" and he used it for the first time this spring. "It's a high flotation system that reduces compaction, increases the payload, and eliminates the need to plant into tire tracks," says Scheetz. "It has really helped out this year. We've had a very wet spring but I've been able to get into the field much sooner than conventional planters. The roto-tillers create an ideal seedbed in almost any soil condition. This fall I plan to replace the big 30.5 by 32 diamond tread tires on back of the trailer with hydraulically-driven rubber tracks which will increase flotation even more." Seed is carried in hoppers right over the planter's seed meters. Scheetz can load 38 bags of seed into the hoppers in only about 5 minutes. If one of the seed hoppers runs low in the field he can even use the planter-mounted boom to load individual seed bags into the hopper. This spring Scheetz hauled a 1,000-gal. liquid fertilizer tank and a 1,500-gal. anhydrous wagon right on the planter. The tractor's original cab was relocated to a platform that mounts over the radiator housing. The top of the cab is now 12 ft. above the ground. "The driver has a great view of the planter and can see all the row openers right from the cab," says Scheetz. He mounted a homemade ladder assembly on each side of the cab for access. The cab tilts forward to allow engine access. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Tim Scheetz, 2141 N. Co. Rd. 900 E., Nauvoo, Ill. 62354 (ph 217 453-2599).

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