Giant Bale Grinder Adapted To Semi Tractor

Giant Bale Grinder Adapted To Semi Tractor BALE HANDLING Bryant Noot and his father Jay from Marion N Dak beefed up their custom hay grinding operation by converting a pull-type Mighty Giant tub grinder into a truck-mounted unit They repowered the semi tractor with the 410 hp Cummins diesel that originally powered the grinder so now it supplies power for both the truck and the grinder “We decided to make the conversion because during the winter and spring when a lot of our grinding is done I was always having to chain up the truck before pulling into a yard for grinding ” Bryant says “I decided if the weight of the grinder was on the truck instead of being towed behind it would be a lot easier to get in and maneuver around yards “Installing the Cummins engine was the easiest part ” says Bryant “We had that done in just a couple days ” Designing and adapting a drive line that would run both the semi and the grinder was more difficult “Originally I thought I’d use a dropbox from a firetruck because they power the truck and the pumping system ” Bryant says “Turns out those dropboxes are only rated for about 200 hp and we needed something that would handle twice that much power ” They eventually found a dropbox and transfer case with 3 gears on an old Steiger Bearcat tractor Bryant thought he’d be able to just remove one gear and install it but after dismantling the gearcase he found that the middle gear was an idler “I needed to cut a keyway and the only way to do that was with a Wire EDM electrical discharge machine One guy told me that might cost $500 or $600 just to turn the machine on ” Bryant however drove to Fergus Falls Minn and West Tool did the work he needed in less than an hour for $90 With the drive system figured out the Noots extended the tractor frame between the back of the driver and the rear end about 4 1/2 ft They also added about 12 ft of double frame to strengthen the bed so it would carry the grinder They removed the grinder’s hitch wheels and chassis and mounted the grinder on the extended semi-tractor frame The grinder originally weighed about 14 000 lbs when it was on wheels and now the whole setup weighs about 31 000 lbs The added weight on the truck provides plenty of traction in muddy and slippery conditions “Now when I get into a customer’s yard I manually engage a coupler that powers the grinder and that uses the standard gears in the truck ” says Bryant “I put the truck in 8th gear and the mill spins at 2 100 rpm’s A wet kit on the tractor moves the whole rig forward as needed during grinding It also runs the hydraulics on the discharge elevator lifting it up and down and moving it side to side and it lifts the tub to change the screen ” Bryant said the whole conversion went smoothly except for a minor glitch with 2 hoses that weren’t hooked up correctly and a seal that leaked in the dropbox With those problems fixed the machine grinds several bales an hour just like it did when it was a pull-type model driven by the independent engine “The machine takes 15 to 20 gal an hour for fuel depending on how hard a grind it is It’s definitely more economical than with two engines ” says Bryant He’s the third generation of North Dakota Noots to be involved in the hay business and says their new rig should keep the business growing They have about 100 customers in the combined hay moving and grinding business that his grandpa started His father also builds stack and bale moving beds and now Bryant is a big part of the business with the custom-built grinder “Adapting the grinder to the semi probably took me and my dad 5 weeks and cost about $12 000 ” says Bryant “but it was way less than buying a custom-built rig like this As far as I know there’s only one other setup like this and that one’s in Canada ” Check out the video of the machine working at www farmshow com   Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Bryant Noot P O Box 148 Marion N Dak ph 701 490-2611; bryant noot@gmail com

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