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Rock Picker Gets Big And Small Rocks
Lester Pritchard only picked rocks in his son’s field for 20 min. before he started looking for a better way. When he didn’t find it, he started working on his own design.
“I bought a rock bucket and put a reel on it to flip rocks into the bucket,” says Pritchard, who now sells the rock picker. “It too
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Rock Picker Gets Big And Small Rocks ROCK PICKERS Lester Pritchard only picked rocks in his son’s field for 20 min before he started looking for a better way When he didn’t find it he started working on his own design
“I bought a rock bucket and put a reel on it to flip rocks into the bucket ” says Pritchard who now sells the rock picker “It took me 3 1/2 years of trial and error but I got it I found out it’s not just a matter of putting a reel on a bucket ”
The problem was getting the taper right on the teeth When he started the teeth had a 45-degree taper which worked about 50 percent of the time Eventually the taper got down to 28 degrees and Pritchard also shifted the pivot point of the reel back about 5 in
Once his son’s neighbors saw how well the skid steer-mounted rock picker worked they wanted their own “I figured I was too old to start manufacturing rock pickers ” says Pritchard now 80 “However another son suggested I get it patented and I found someone to make them for us ”
The L P Reel Rock Picker weighs 1 220 lbs It is made from 1/2-in steel wall tubing sidewalls and teeth The reel is a 1 3/4-in steel shaft mounted on greaseable bearings and driven by a hydraulic orbit motor and #80 roller chain A pressure relief system protects the motor
“We have a grill that can be installed to handle rocks down to 2 in in diameter ” says Pritchard “However you can end up picking up more dirt instead of it falling through the larger grate ”
Pritchard may not do the building but he does a lot of sales making deliveries personally in central and northern Minnesota He also does field demonstrations showing up with a skid steer Reel Rock Picker and even his own rocks When he makes a delivery he brings his Bobcat to demonstrate
Pritchard prices the Reel Rock Picker at $4 495 in areas where he can sell direct and deliver the units himself A distributor handles sales in other areas
“Readers can contact me directly and if they are outside my area I’ll give their name to our distributor ” says Pritchard “If they ask I’ll be glad to send them a copy of a 3 1/2-min DVD on how the Picker works ”
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Detroit Equipment Box 247 Glyndon Minn 56547 ph 701 630-3596
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