2002 - Volume #26, Issue #5, Page #37
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3-Wheeled Combine Rock Picker
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"We knew what we wanted, so we just built it," recalls Fairley, of Baldwinton, Sask. " The drive wheels came off the combine, as did the cab, while the rear wheel came off an old cement mixer truck."
Working from plans chalked out on the shop floor, Fairley and his son Blair gathered parts and put them together. They used a Schulte-type rock-picking unit, but doubled the length of it.
By extending the table of the picking bed, Fairley was able to reduce the pitch so it wasn't as steep. He mounted the cab right behind the picking bed so he has a clear view of the bed and the field ahead. Rocks are carried out of the picking bed by a side conveyer to a lift conveyer that carries them past the cab to a big rock box. All conveyers were built on site.
"Positioning the cab and the conveyers was the most work," says Fairley. "The conveyer that dumps into the rock box has to swing out of the way for the box to dump."
Hydraulics play a big role in operating the rock picker. A hydraulic pump salvaged from the original combine, powers one conveyer and the picker bed. A separate pump with a steering valve off an old Versatile tractor controls the rear wheel allowing the driver to turn 360 degrees with one turn of the steering wheel.
While Fairley is generally satisfied with his home-built rock picker, he would put a larger caster wheel on the back, if doing the project over. "The one that's on it is 4 ft high and about 16-18 in. wide," he says. "The picker gets so heavy that it sinks in the soft spring soil and leaves ruts from that rear wheel."
Contact: FARM SHOW Follow Up, Jim Fairley, Box 40, Baldwinton, Sask., Canada S0M 0B0 (ph 306 398-4063).
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