Home-Built Rock Crusher

Home-Built Rock Crusher ROCK PICKERS Rock Pickers 23-4-11 "My home-built rock crusher lets me get rid of rocks right in the field. I never have to handle them again," says Ivan Trantham, Millerton, Pa., who spent less than $1,000 for rock quarry crushers that he mounted on an old truck frame. He uses an 84 hp Ford 7600 tractor to pull the pto-driven rig across plowed fields before he plants. He simply drops rocks into an opening on one side of the machine and they're crushed into small pieces which fall onto the ground. The pieces range in size from 1/2 to 2 in. in dia. He bought the used rock crushing equipment from a company that normally sells to rock quarries. It consists of two large jaws made from solid cast steel mounted on an offset camshaft that's belt-driven by a big 3-ft. dia. pulley-flywheel. A second flywheel mounts on the other end of the shaft Trantham mounted the crushing components on a semi tractor frame cut down to 6 ft. long and fitted with dual wheels. In operation, one person drives the tractor while another person walks alongside the machine and drops rocks into the jaws. The pulverized rocks fall back onto the ground. "It'll crush rocks so big it takes two men to lift them," says Trantham. "The opening measures 24 in. wide by 32 in. long. It'll crush rocks up to 3 ft. in diameter as long as the rock has a pointed end that fits into the opening. The jaws will then snap the point off, making room for the rest of the rock. "I use it on about 30 acres a year. I set the machine to crush rocks to 1/2 in. dia. pieces although it can be set as wide as 2 in. The size can be changed by adjusting a big nut and bolt on back that's used to close the jaws together. One advantage of my rock crusher is that I don't have to spend any time hauling rocks. Another advantage is that the pulverized rocks release minerals and nutrients back into my fields. My neighbor uses the machine to fill holes and low places in his driveway with crushed rock. Surprisingly, it isn't very noisy - if a soft rock gets thrown in it's hard to even hear it being crushed. "I bought the rock crushing components from an Indiana company for $800 and paid $100 for the truck frame. The rock crusher components weigh 12,000 lbs. Total weight is 16,000 lbs. so my 84 hp, 2-WD tractor has all it can handle on plowed fields. I pulled the gears out of the truck axle to make it lighter and welded a steel plate over the opening where the gears had been, then filled it with oil to lubricate the axles." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Ivan Trantham, Rt. 2, Box 152, Millerton, Pa. 16936 (ph 570 549-5343).

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