Rebuilt Gleaner Does Double Duty

Rebuilt Gleaner Does Double Duty COMBINES Conversions 28-3-25 Uli Gehrer gets double duty out of his stripped down M6 Gleaner combine. When weeds need to be controlled, he mounts a 120-ft. MarFlex spray boom and 1,000-gal. tank on the machine. When it is time to swath, he drops the spray booms and installs the swather head to cart canola or other crops. "We had been in such wet conditions in the summer and fall that I needed something that could drive through the fields," says Gehrer, noting that the rebuilt M6 keeps going when other self-propelled units are bogging down. "I needed to be able to cut crops in a timely manner, especially canola." He started by stripping the Gleaner down to the cab, engine and frame and then raised it for 41 in. of clearance. Gehrer flipped the front axle final drives 90_ using a set of homemade adapter plates to mount them in the new positions. He cut the rear axle off and welded rectangular tubing to extend down from the frame to achieve the same 41-in. clearance when he remounted the rear wheels. When he flipped the final drives, they moved back a few inches, so Gehrer moved the cab back the same amount. He also mounted the big spray tank on the frame behind the cab. "I shortened the feeder housing and made it shallower to make more room and mounted the adapter plate for the swather and sprayer," explains Gehrer. He then welded upright braces on the rear sides of the frame for the two 50-ft. booms to rest during transport. A set of Bosch lights mount on top of the cab. For swathing, Gehrer picked up a MacDon 973 Harvest Header with an adapter plate modified to fit the Gleaner. Gehrer estimates that he has about $8,000 in the drive unit with the total cost for both rigs running in the low $20,000 range. Gehrer has used it with GPS and a light bar. He is looking forward to adapting a new auto-guidance system he bought for use with a tractor to the Gleaner. "It will be the only Gleaner sprayer to drive itself," notes Gehrer. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Uli Gehrer, Box 3, RR 1, Landmark, Manitoba, Canada R0A 0X0 (ph 204 388-6009; email: Ugeherer@mts.net).

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