Hay-Raking School Bus

Hay-Raking School Bus SCHOOLBUS CONVERSIONS Schoolbus Conversions 29-1-20 "It frees up a tractor and lets me go down the road at highway speeds. And, I can get through narrow gates without ever having to fold up the rake," says John Maxfield, Admire, Kansas, who converted a Ford school bus with a 351 cu. in. engine and automatic transmission into a 10-wheel rake carrier. He bought the 30-passenger bus at a sale for $600. He stripped off the back and fitted the frame with a Koyker front-end loader that's facing backward. He made a frame for the loader that straddles the bus frame and is bolted in place. The rake, which was originally 3-pt. mounted, attaches to the loader arms via homemade brackets. A belt-driven hydraulic pump is used to raise and lower the loader. The operator controls the loader using valves mounted on the loader right behind the driver's seat. "It really works slick," says Maxfield. "I usually rake at a speed of about 14 to 15 mph. To travel to another field, I just raise the rake 3 or 4 ft. off the ground and hit the road. The loader can raise the rake about 11 ft. high, so I can raise it right over sign posts and narrow gates. "The only disadvantage to this idea is that I have to sit sideways in the van seat to see what's going on in the field, which can sometimes give me a stiff neck. I'd like to make a bus conversion with a reversible operator's station and with the automatic transmission put in reverse. That way I'd always be able to look straight ahead. However, steering from the back would probably result in some loss of maneuverability," he notes. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, John M. Maxfield, 1407 Rd. 280, Admire, Kansas 66830 (ph 620 528-3476).

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