Self-Propelled Grain Vac Always Ready To Go

Self-Propelled Grain Vac Always Ready To Go GRAIN HANDLING Miscellaneous 31-5-18 Tom Peterson never seemed to have the right size tractor available to power his grain vac when filling or emptying grain bins. So he decided to make a self-propelled unit out of an unused irrigation engine and other irrigation parts. "You can get it into tighter spots," says Peterson of the unit that is about 8 ft. long. "And it's always ready to use." Building the cart to hold the engine was the hardest part of the job, the Cordova, Nebraska, farmer notes. He built it on two small center pivot wheels and used T&L hydraulic-driven planetaries, powered by a hydraulic pump, to make the cart self-propelled. The engine is turned backward and powers the grain vac by a reduction belt drive. He added a 110-gal. fuel tank, an electric fan-operated hydraulic oil cooler, a hydraulic outlet to power an orbit motor-driven auger and an aspirated intake air pre-cleaner. "We had to put a rotating screen off an F4 Gleaner Combine to keep the chaff out of the engine radiator so it doesn't overheat," Peterson explains. He changed the grain vac cart's tongue to pivot on horizontal and vertical axis, to cross uneven terrain. By standing on it, Petersen drives the unit with individual control of both drive wheels wherever he wants to go. "It only goes about 1 1/2 mph," says Petersen, who likes not having to tie up a tractor to move grain. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Tom Petersen, P.O. Box 108, Cordova, Neb. 68330 (ph 402 576-3007).

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