"Tire Loader" For Bunker Silos

"Tire Loader" For Bunker Silos SILOS Silos 29-2-3 "Our bunker silo measures 120 by 60 ft. and it takes about 1,000 tires to hold the plastic down over the top. To make the job easier we made a bucket-mounted tire loader that really works well," says Jerry Gormley, Grinnell, Kansas. He bolted three 17-ft. lengths of 2 3/8-in. dia. drill stem pipe to the bucket on his Versatile 4-WD tractor, spacing the pipes about 3 ft. apart to match up with the bucket's three steel dividers. He drilled a hole through each divider, then welded a short length of strap iron onto one end of each pipe and bolted it to the divider. He also welded three angle iron brackets on the front lip of the bucket to hold the pipes in place. He has a tire pile where he loads tires onto the pipes. Then he drives up to the side of the silo and raises the bucket and also tilts it down, enough that the tires slide downward as workers take them off and place them on the plastic. "The pipes reach about halfway across the pile so we don't have to do much walking and worry about poking holes in the plastic. We use everything from car tires to big truck tires," says Gormley. "The pipes can carry about 50 car and truck tires at a time. We place the truck tires along the outside bottom edge of the silo, and put the smaller car tires on top. It used to take twelve people all day to do the job. Now it takes five people only about four hours." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Jerry F. Gormley, 2865 County Road 32, P.O. Box 36, Grinnell, Kansas 67738 (ph 785 824-3303).

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