Add-On "Pickup" Keeps Rocks Out Of Forage Harvester

Add-On "Pickup" Keeps Rocks Out Of Forage Harvester ROCK PICKERS Rock Pickers 27-1-25 Roy Klindt, Crane Valley, Sask., had a problem with his 1997 New Holland 790 forage harvester. "The teeth on the original 6-ft. pickup pulled so many rocks into the machine that the knives quickly became dull, which resulted in a poor chop," says Klindt. To solve the problem, he removed the original pickup and replaced it with a used Sund 10-ft. pickup that he cut down to match the forage harvester. He removed the original pickup drive system and bolted the Sund pickup on. Then he mounted a hydraulic motor on the forage harvester's frame. The motor drives a shaft that chain-drives the pickup's draper table. He bought the Sund pickup at a combine salvage yard for $150. He was able to mount it with just one bolt at either end. "It worked even better than I had hoped," says Klindt. "In the past, when we put new knives in or sharpened the existing ones, it took less than a half hour before they started showing wear. The knives looked like we had beat on them with a shovel. The Sund pickup works so well because it has a much more open design, which allows most rocks to fall through to the ground. Also, the pickup moves slow so it doesn't throw rocks ahead of itself, and its teeth are curved more sharply so they're able to pick up shorter, lighter crops without scraping the ground. The only limitation is that the slow-moving pickup limits our field speed to about 3 mph." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Roy Klindt, Box 154, Crane Valley, Sask., Canada S0H 1B0 (ph 306 475-2225).

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