Roll-Off Shuttle For Tandem Axle Trucks

Roll-Off Shuttle For Tandem Axle Trucks TRUCKS Conversions 20-5-23 "You can turn any tandem axle truck into a combination liquid manure spreader and self-propelled forage dump box with a new shuttle system that makes it easy to switch between the manure tank and forage box," says Tom Mueller, Athens, Wis., who mounted the new system on a used Mack tandem axle truck last spring. The shuttle system is manufactured by Stellar Industries of Garner, Iowa. Mueller, who's one of the first farmers to try the new system, can switch between tank and box without getting out of the cab. A hydraulic-powered shuttle arm hooks onto a steel subframe that's bolted on under the tank and dump box. Mueller uses a Van Dale 4,000-gal. liquid manure tank made by J-Star Industries of Fort Atkinson, Wis. Van Dale can custom build the frame to fit any of its tanks. "It lets us use one rig to spread manure and also haul haylage from the field to our bunker silos," says Mueller, who operates a 350-cow dairy operation. "We had been hiring someone to custom spread all of our manure on fields up to 4 miles away. We were using a pair of 1-ton pickups and fifth wheel trailers to haul haylage to our farm from fields up to 8 miles away. It was hard on the pickups and we had a lot of money tied up in equipment. We were at the point where we would've had to buy another pickup and trailer just to keep up with the forage chopper on longer hauls." Instead, he traded in one of the pickups for a 1990 Mack tandem axle truck. He paid $40,000 for the truck, $20,000 for the shuttle system, and $8,300 for the liquid manure tank. He had to modify the truck frame so it would accept the frame on the shuttle system, and add a self-contained hydraulic system at a cost of about $2,000. He also paid $3,500 each for a pair of new 22-ft. long garbage hauler truck boxes. One box is 7 1/ 2 ft. high and the other one 5 ft. high. "We use a pull-type chopper pulling a high-dump wagon. We set these two dump boxes on the ground at the end of the field," says Mueller. "We fill one box while the other one is being unloaded. The big box holds 12 to 14 tons while the small one holds 7 to 9 tons. It takes less than a minute to switch boxes." J-Star makes manure tanks that range in size from 1,500 to 5,500 gal. and sell for $8,000 to $15,000. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Tom Mueller, 1614 County Rd. M., Athens, Wis. 54411 (ph 715 257-9239); Stellar Industries, Inc., 280 W. Third St., Garner, Iowa 50438 (ph 515 923-3741); or Van Dale Waste Handlers, Division of J-Star Industries, Inc., 801 Janesville Ave., Fort Atkinson, Wis. 53538 (ph 414 563-5521).

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