Tractor Packer Wheels

Tractor Packer Wheels TRACTORS Miscellaneous 10-2-6 "I got the idea when I read in FARM SHOW about a Scottish farmer who put packer wheels on the front of his tractor," says Bob Stewart, Zillah, Wash. Instead of the front, he mounted four wheels on the back of his tractor to pack the ground behind the two sets of duals on his Deere 5020 tractor. The idea is to evenly pack ground between tractor tires so that trailing tillage equipment or drills work level ground. "I didn't like the idea of mounting packer wheels up front because they'd be in the way and make it hard to steer. These are out of the way and I can raise them hydraulically," says Stewart. He used crazy wheels and lift arms off an old 275 IH swather to make the wheels. Heavy "down springs" attach to a frame he built under the tractor. Two hydraulic cylinders apply more or less pressure to the down springs to pull the wheels toward the ground applying enough pressure to actually lift the rear of the tractor. In soft ground he raises the wheels to increase traction to the tractor tires. Stewart says the packer wheels save a trip through the field with his roller harrow. "Without the packer wheels, dirt builds up in the center of the roller harrow and it doesn't work deep enough in the tracks on the outside. I'd have to run through the field a second time to get the job done right. Now it works at the same depth all across the rear of the tractor." To accommodate the wheels he had to extend the rear draw-bar 2 ft., a modification that also helps keep implements from hitting the outer duals on corners. He also built a platform and a set of steps above the packer wheels that provide easy access to the tractor and a place to carry spare parts, chains, rocks and so on. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Bob Stewart, Rt. 2, Box 2552, Zillah, Wash. 98953 (ph 509 829-5783).

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