Silage Blower Converted To Low-Cost Ditcher

2002 - Volume #26, Issue #4, Page #25

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"We built it because we couldn't justify the cost of a commercial ditcher," says Kenny Schnack about the 3-pt. mounted rotary ditcher he made out of an old silage blower.
  The Gretna, Neb., farmer built the unit after reading in FARM SHOW about a Kansas farmer who made a similar machine (Vol. 24, No. 4).
  "It was pretty simple. I started with a Kools silage blower that I bought for $65 at a sale. My total cost ended up being about $500. A new 42-in. ditcher would have cost about $5,500."
  Schnack stripped the blower down to the star wheel, pto shaft and bearings, removing all the sheet metal from around the blower. He replaced the original paddles with heavy duty ones that he made out of 3/8-in. thick, 4-in. wide angle iron. He used 1/4-in. thick steel to build a new 18-in. wide housing, leaving the bottom part open to serve as a sort of a shovel edge to cut and guide soil into the blower. He made a discharge spout out of 1/8-in. thick metal and used 2 by 3-in. tubing to make a 3-pt. quick hitch. A homemade, hydraulic-controlled skid plate on back doubles as a depth gauge.
  "It took about two weeks of shop work but was well worth the time and money," says Schnack, who used the ditcher for the first time this spring. "We have about 600 acres of bottom ground that always seems to need drainage in some place or another. We only use it a day or two a year, which is another reason we couldn't justify a commercial unit.
  "We use either a Deere 8630 or 4520 tractor to pull it and go 4 to 6 in. deep per pass in low gear. The blower is 52 in. in diameter, so in three or four passes we can dig a ditch about 18 in. deep by 36 to 48 in. wide. It leaves a ditch with nice tapered sidewalls that we can plant right through. A lot of factory ditchers are only 24 to 30 in. wide and leave a more sharply angled ditch. We also like that this blower discharges soil out about 150 ft."
  Schnack says he ground the front part of each paddle down to a point to make a shovel-type cutting edge. "We had some problems with mud tending to ball up instead of pushing through to the paddles, so after the photos were taken we cut open more of the blower at the bottom."
  A hydraulic-controlled skid plate on back rides in the bottom of the trough. "The skid plate allows us to more finely control cutting depth," notes Schnack.
  Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Kenny Schnack, 12402 So. 234 St., Gretna, Neb. 68028 (ph 402 332-5885).

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Silage Blower Converted To Low-Cost Ditcher MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT Earth Movers 26-4-25 "We built it because we couldn't justify the cost of a commercial ditcher," says Kenny Schnack about the 3-pt. mounted rotary ditcher he made out of an old silage blower. The Gretna, Neb., farmer built the unit after reading in FARM SHOW about a Kansas farmer who made a similar machine (Vol. 24, No. 4). "It was pretty simple. I started with a Kools silage blower that I bought for $65 at a sale. My total cost ended up being about $500. A new 42-in. ditcher would have cost about $5,500." Schnack stripped the blower down to the star wheel, pto shaft and bearings, removing all the sheet metal from around the blower. He replaced the original paddles with heavy duty ones that he made out of 3/8-in. thick, 4-in. wide angle iron. He used 1/4-in. thick steel to build a new 18-in. wide housing, leaving the bottom part open to serve as a sort of a shovel edge to cut and guide soil into the blower. He made a discharge spout out of 1/8-in. thick metal and used 2 by 3-in. tubing to make a 3-pt. quick hitch. A homemade, hydraulic-controlled skid plate on back doubles as a depth gauge. "It took about two weeks of shop work but was well worth the time and money," says Schnack, who used the ditcher for the first time this spring. "We have about 600 acres of bottom ground that always seems to need drainage in some place or another. We only use it a day or two a year, which is another reason we couldn't justify a commercial unit. "We use either a Deere 8630 or 4520 tractor to pull it and go 4 to 6 in. deep per pass in low gear. The blower is 52 in. in diameter, so in three or four passes we can dig a ditch about 18 in. deep by 36 to 48 in. wide. It leaves a ditch with nice tapered sidewalls that we can plant right through. A lot of factory ditchers are only 24 to 30 in. wide and leave a more sharply angled ditch. We also like that this blower discharges soil out about 150 ft." Schnack says he ground the front part of each paddle down to a point to make a shovel-type cutting edge. "We had some problems with mud tending to ball up instead of pushing through to the paddles, so after the photos were taken we cut open more of the blower at the bottom." A hydraulic-controlled skid plate on back rides in the bottom of the trough. "The skid plate allows us to more finely control cutting depth," notes Schnack. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Kenny Schnack, 12402 So. 234 St., Gretna, Neb. 68028 (ph 402 332-5885).

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