Rubber Tired Volunteer Cor Puller

Rubber Tired Volunteer Cor Puller CROPS Weed Control 19-4-36 FARM SHOW readers may be interested in this rubber tired `volunteer corn puller' I built that uses eight 12-in. tires to pull corn and tall-growing weeds out of soybeans. The wheel spindles were rotated by a hydraulic motor powered by the tractor hydraulics. The tires were mounted on a toolbar and arranged side by side. They leaned back at about a 40 degree angle so they would pull up the weeds and throw them backward out of the way. The motor's shaft was bolted onto a steel plate that I bolted onto the wheel of one of the inside tires, causing it to rotate. All the other tires turned off this wheel, with each pair of tires rotating inward to grab tall weeds out of the row and pull them out of the ground. At the time I had 38-in. rows so the tires were on 19-in. centers. I raised the tires just over the top of the highest soybeans. The tires sent the weeds flying about 10 ft. up into the air. It got 90 to 95% of the big weeds out and was a lot of fun to watch. People who were driving by on the high-way would see the weeds flying up and immediately stop to look. It didn't cost much to build and eliminated the need to spray with preemergence herbicides. I made a pass with a cultivator, then went back with my corn puller to get weeds in the row. I adjusted the air pressure in the tires to grip the weeds. The higher the air pressure, the tighter the grip and the more power it took. I used a 140 hp Massey Ferguson 1130 tractor to pull it, but I could have got by with an 80 hp tractor. I went up to 10 mph. I got the wheels and spindles from a manufacturer of modular homes. I built it 20 years ago and used it for about five years before I bought a no-till drill after reliable postemergence herbicides were developed. (Carroll Gunderson 2276 160th St., Marengo, Iowa 52301 ph 319 642-3190)

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