Pickup-Mounted

2004 - Volume #28, Issue #5, Page #16

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Pickup-Mounted "Furrow Digger

"I use it to dig irrigation furrows in my pasture," says Mike Lindsay, Powell, Wyoming, about his pickup-mounted "furrow digger."
  The digger consists of a shovel with a metal bracket on the shank that bolts to his pickup bumper. A length of chain from the pickup frame down to the shovel provides additional support. The shank consists of a length of 1 1/2-in. sq. heavy wall tubing that goes through a short length of pipe that's welded to the bracket. A bolt goes through the pipe and sq. tubing to keep the shank from spinning.
  Lindsay has a small livestock operation and furrow irrigates all his pasture land. The 6-in. deep furrows are in rows about 2 ft. apart.
  "I came up with the idea after the furrows filled up with sediment and had to be cleaned out. Normally this job would be done with a tractor with a rear-mounted toolbar with three or four shovels on it. However, I had hurt my back so I needed something more comfortable to drive," says Lindsay. "I use it on my Nissan 1/2-ton 4-WD pickup which is equipped with a metal step bumper on back. The bracket that supports the shank attaches to the bumper with two bolts in existing holes. I bought the shovel new but had all the other materials on hand.
  "I use a jack to raise the bumper to put down pressure on the shovel so it'll dig. When I get to the pasture, I pull the bolt out of the pipe on the bracket and let the shovel drop. Then I jack up the rear bumper, put the bolt back in, and remove the jack. We have hard, rocky soil so the shovel needs a little down pressure so it will dig in. You could do the same thing without a jack by attaching a length of pipe to the rear bumper or ball hitch and then adding a diagonal brace to put downward pressure on the shovel."
  Lindsay starts out by driving next to the fence and dropping the driver's side wheels in the first furrow. "Every time I make a new pass I put the same wheels in the furrow that I just cleaned out," he notes.
  Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Mike Lindsay, 724 Lane 11 1/2, Powell, Wyoming 82435 (ph 307 754-9694).

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Pickup-Mounted "Furrow Digger PICKUPS Miscellaneous 28-5-16 "I use it to dig irrigation furrows in my pasture," says Mike Lindsay, Powell, Wyoming, about his pickup-mounted "furrow digger." The digger consists of a shovel with a metal bracket on the shank that bolts to his pickup bumper. A length of chain from the pickup frame down to the shovel provides additional support. The shank consists of a length of 1 1/2-in. sq. heavy wall tubing that goes through a short length of pipe that's welded to the bracket. A bolt goes through the pipe and sq. tubing to keep the shank from spinning. Lindsay has a small livestock operation and furrow irrigates all his pasture land. The 6-in. deep furrows are in rows about 2 ft. apart. "I came up with the idea after the furrows filled up with sediment and had to be cleaned out. Normally this job would be done with a tractor with a rear-mounted toolbar with three or four shovels on it. However, I had hurt my back so I needed something more comfortable to drive," says Lindsay. "I use it on my Nissan 1/2-ton 4-WD pickup which is equipped with a metal step bumper on back. The bracket that supports the shank attaches to the bumper with two bolts in existing holes. I bought the shovel new but had all the other materials on hand. "I use a jack to raise the bumper to put down pressure on the shovel so it'll dig. When I get to the pasture, I pull the bolt out of the pipe on the bracket and let the shovel drop. Then I jack up the rear bumper, put the bolt back in, and remove the jack. We have hard, rocky soil so the shovel needs a little down pressure so it will dig in. You could do the same thing without a jack by attaching a length of pipe to the rear bumper or ball hitch and then adding a diagonal brace to put downward pressure on the shovel." Lindsay starts out by driving next to the fence and dropping the driver's side wheels in the first furrow. "Every time I make a new pass I put the same wheels in the furrow that I just cleaned out," he notes. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Mike Lindsay, 724 Lane 11 1/2, Powell, Wyoming 82435 (ph 307 754-9694).

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