School Bus Makes Great Hay Hauler

School bus makes great hay hauler HAY & FORAGE HARVESTING Bale Handling (5) 13-6-3 "My converted 60-passenger schoolbus hauls up to 264 small square bales or 8 big round bales. It makes a great, maneuverable over-the-road hay hauler," says Don Brown, Jr., a Davis, Ill., dairy farmer and custom hay grower. Brown, who paid $1,200 for the bus, figures he spent about $3,000 on it altogether including modifications. "I priced long bed trucks set up for hauling hay but discovered I could rebuild a bus for less money," says Brown, who rebuilt the "hay hauler" a year ago. "I had been using my pickup to pull a 16-ft. cage wagon pulled behind my pickup but I wanted more capacity. I didn't want to use a gooseneck trailer or a semi truck because they're too hard to maneuver in farm yards. Besides, a good used school bus is usually in better shape because they're serviced at regular intervals." Brown moved the wiring for the bus's brake and turn signals from the ceiling to under the floor. He removed the seats and rubber mat from the floor and cut off the top 3 ft. all the way back from just behind the driver's seat. He used an industrial loader to lift off the top of the bus. He used some of the cut-off metal to build an insulated wall behind the cab and installed a 2-ft. sq. window in the wall. He bolted a passenger seat to the floor, using a swiveling pedestal seat from a fishing boat. He chains a 26-ft. long hay conveyor to one side of the bus, which is painted green and white. Brown also converted a rusted-out 1969 16-ft. passenger van into a hay hauler. "It weighs less than the bus so I can use it in the spring on roads where the bus can 't run yet." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Don Brown, Jr., 8962 N. Davis Rd., Davis, Ill. 61019 (ph 815 865-5471).

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