Home-Built Semi Hopper Bottom Semi Trailer

Home-Built Semi Hopper Bottom Semi Trailer WAGONS/TRAILERS New Wagons 25-2-37 We couldn't find anything we liked on the market so we built our own. It has a lot of unique features," says Bernie Van Kemenade, Grosse Isle, Manitoba, about the hopper bottom semi trailer that he and his farming partner Jim Lindsay built. The men already owned an International semi tractor. They bought a used 28-ft. flat deck trailer and mounted a double compartment hopper on it that they built from scratch. They used 2 by 4-in. steel tubing to build the frame and 1/8-in. thick flat metal for the hopper. One compartment holds about 325 bu. and the other 475 bu. Then they welded in the floors, seed and fertilizer chutes, center divider, and sidewalls. The seed and fertilizer chutes mount side by side. The unloading hoppers under the deck are 25 in. off the ground and 16 in. in from the outside edge of the trailer. The hoppers are covered by a manually-operated roll tarp. They also built their own seed inoculant treater. It's powered by a 12-volt water pump that operates off the semi tractor's electrical system. The nozzle, attached to a length of hose, mounts permanently alongside the trailer frame and can be swiveled for use on either hopper. The inoculant is stored in a 25-gal. commercial tank. Two toggle switches, one for the seed treater and one for a light, mount next to the chutes. "We used the trailer last spring for the first time and it worked great. We use it to handle wheat, barley, oats, canola, and flax crops," says Van Kemenade. "The two old single axle trucks we had been using to fill our 340-bu. Flexi-Coil air seeder were getting old. We already had a semi tractor that we didn't normally use at seeding time. "Our rig has a number of advantages over commercial models. Total capacity is about 800 bu. compared to 600 bu. on most commercial slide-in models. The unloading chutes mount at the side of the trailer instead of in the middle, so we can fill our air seeder without having to use a hydraulic-operated æbelly auger'. Our semi tractor doesn't have hydrualics and we didn't want the hassle of adding hydraulics to operate another auger. "The chutes mount side by side, not 10 ft. apart as on commercial models, so we never have to move the trailer when switching from seed to fertilizer. Sometimes we use both hoppers for seed or for fertilizer. The swiveling bracket makes it easy to move the seed treatment nozzle to the other chute. We simply loosen a bolt and move the bracket over. Another advantage is that the hoppers are built low so the trailer won't tip over as easy. Material from one hopper flows over the top of the right main frame and underneath the left main frame. On commercial slide-in models, all material has to slide from one side to the other which makes the trailer heavier on one side and therefore unbalanced. "We've also found that it works beautifully as a grain trailer. The trailer is 13 ft. high so the unloading auger on our Deere 9600 clears it nicely. "We paid $3,500 (Canadian) for the trailer and about $3,000 for steel so our total cost was only about $10,000. "This year we plan to add a 100-gal. fuel tank and 50-ft. hose at the back of the trailer so we'll be able to add fuel to the tractor as we're filling the air seeder." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Bernie Van Kemenade, Box 40, Grosse Isle, Manitoba, Canada R0C 1G0 (ph 204 322-5520; fax 5220).

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