"Made It Myself" Truck Mounted Chopper Box

"Made It Myself" Truck Mounted Chopper Box LIVESTOCK Feeding Equipment 34-3-29 Wes Roberts couldn't justify the price of a truck-mounted chopper box. However, after seeing how much faster a neighbor could haul silage with a truck, Roberts knew he needed one. "He was hauling three loads for every one that I did," recalls Roberts. "We had four big wagons, but by the time I was heading home with one, he was coming back for another load. I couldn't keep up." Using his neighbor's unit as a template, Roberts converted one of his self-unloading wagons. He cut the pto shaft off and slipped on a hydraulic motor salvaged from an auger on an old gravity box. Control valves for reverse, stop and bypass from the gravity box auger were also used. "We put some steel uprights in place to stiffen the side we would be dumping into," explained Roberts. A truck cab and chassis purchased from another neighbor fit the bill perfectly. Its frame had already been doubled, so Roberts didn't need to strengthen it. Even the frame rails on the truck lined up with the frame of the wagon bed. "I welded some pieces of steel even with the top of the frame to set the wagon on and then welded another piece on top of that to keep the box from moving around," says Roberts. "Then I drilled holes through the bed and bolted it to the truck frame." Roberts paid only $1,500 for the truck and another $300 for steel to reinforce the sides. Even including the cost of the wagon, which he already had, his chopper box truck cost considerably less than purchasing a new one. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Wes Roberts, 11334 Forks Rd., West Winfield, N.Y. 13491 (ph 315 855-4353).

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