Look What He's Doing With Old Tires

Look What He's Doing With Old Tires MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT Miscellaneous 17-3-39 "I've discovered some great new uses for old tires that turn them into money-savers," says Joe Gillmore, Springville, Iowa, who's an expert at finding ways to put discarded old tires to use around the farm. Gillmore picks up used truck, auto and tractor tires from area tire dealers. Some of the new uses he's found include fence posts, hog feeders, round bale feeders, covers and mats, farrowing huts, and even rubber driveways. The tires bring Gillmore a little extra-come. He gets 75 cents per car tire, $2.20 for every truck tire, and $6.00 for every rear tractor tire that he hauls away Gillmore ma his own machine to cut the tires. It cuts strips from 4 to 8 in. wide and also punches holes. He's considering setting up a custom tire cutting operation so he could travel to other farms and make products from old tires for a fee. Here's a rundown on some of his tire "recycling" projects. Fences and fence posts ù Gillmore strips the tread from 7 or 8 steel-belted truck tires and nails them together to make 8-ft. long fence posts. He spaces the posts about 10 ft. apart and buries them 4 ft. deep in the ground. "They're as strong as any steel post," says Gillmore. He makes a near-solid fence by cutting the sidewalls in half and screwing the top and bottom of each piece onto horizontal strips of tread that bolt onto the posts. The bottom strips are from truck tires and the top strips are from old car tires. Outdoor sow feeder ù He uses 1 1/2-ft. wide bias-ply truck tires to build outdoor sow feeders. He cuts the tires in half and screws them together at the sidewalls, then bolts them to a cement floor. He bolts 8-in. wide strips of head across the bottom of the tires to contain feed. "Portable feeders can be made by bolting the tires onto a platform made from strips of tread. They work great for getting sows out of the mud," notes Gillmore. An electric sawzall is used to cut out a hole in the top of each half tire for dumping feed. Gillmore says he's in the process of perfecting a low-cost indoor swine feeding system made from old tires and recycled plastic milk jugs. Round bale feeder ù He uses 7-ft. dia. construction equipment tires and highway guard rails salvaged from highway reconstruction projects to build round bale feeders. He cuts the sidewall off the top and leaves the bottom sidewall intact. The heavy duty galvanized steel rails are used as up-right supports. The bottom of each rail is lag bolted to the tire and the top is bolted to a 4 in. wide strip of tread. Another strip of tread is attached vertically between rails. Gillmore buys the guard rails from Don Stickle, Anamosa, Iowa (ph 319 462-2030 or 2035) who was featured in a recent issue of FARM SHOW (Vol. 16, No. 2). Round bale cover ù You can put four or five rear tractor tire treads together to make around bale cover complete with a "handle" on top, says Gillmore. He cuts the tires in half and cuts off all but 3 or 4 in. of the sidewalls (he leaves one sidewall on the two outside tires). The tires are bolted or screwed together and caulked with silicone. "They're completely waterproof," says Gillmore, who uses a front-end loader to move the 800 lb. covers. Round bale "pallets" ù Tire rubber is cut into 3 by 12-in. pieces, punched, and threaded onto steel rods to form 4-ft. wide, 6-ft. long, and 3-in. deep mats. They can be used like pallets to keep round bales off the ground so the bottom stays dry. Farrowing hut ù Pairs of bias ply construction equipment tires are used to make farrowing huts. The 32-ply tires are 7 ft. in diameter and 3 in. thick. They're placed one on top of the other and lag bolted together. The bottom half of the bottom tire is cut off and the bead is removed from the top side, then the sidewalls of both tires are screwed together. "The sidewall works like the guard rail in a conventional farrowing crate to keep the sow from crushing baby pigs when she lays down," notes Gillmore. A strip of tread across the opening is used to keep the bottom tire from spreading

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