Forklift Attachment For Swather

Forklift Attachment For Swather SWATHERS Swathers 24-1-13 "We have a 3,400-acre grain farm in South Central Manitoba and it seems that everything is getting heavier and more difficult to move around. We had a set of forks on a tractor front-end loader but you couldn't see what you were doing," says Maurice Vanwynsberghe, Crystal City, Manitoba. "My father, Roger, and I decided to equip our MacDon 4920 self-propelled swather with a forklift mast. We got the idea after taking the header off last fall. We were driving it around and realized it had all the ingredients to be a great indoor-outdoor forklift. "We bought a used Clark mast from an industrial scrap yard. We then mounted the mast and carriage on the swather tractor. "We built a frame out of 4 by 4-in. tubing. The hydraulics of the mast connect to the reel lift port. We can quickly disconnect the lift and install the swather header. We added over 1,400-lbs. of cast weights to the rear of the swather to give it the stabiliity that it needs. "We love this home-built forklift. It has a zero turning radius, and the operator rides in comfort with air conditioning. We can lift over 4,000 lbs. with a reach of 18 ft. We constructed a 4 by 8-ft. platform for it that we use as a man lift for building repair and painting." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Maurice Vanwynsberghe, Box 177, Crystal City, Manitoba R0K 0N0 Canada (ph 204 873-2688; fax 204 873-2688).

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.