Home-Built Heavy-Duty Rock Digger

Home-Built Heavy-Duty Rock Digger ROCK PICKERS Rock Pickers 29-6-11 Really big rocks embedded in fields are no problem for Bill Bell of Deloraine, Manitoba. He built his own rock digger, and says it works great. He's used this two-wheeled implement since 1988, when he spent only $720 in materials to build it. He would have had to spend $6,500 at the time for a similar-size commercial rock digger. "The center beam is a 6 by 10-in. heavy wall steel tube. The rock shaft is a Massey Ferguson discer frame with 4 by 6-in. tubing to the spindles, which came off a 140 IH combine," Bell explains. "The digging teeth were made from steel off the frame of a McCormick-Deering disk. They're braced with 2 by 4 steel uprights. The points on the teeth are frogs from old plows." The unit has an 18-in. hydraulic cylinder with a pressure relief block, pre-set at 2,200 lbs. to protect the hydraulic lines from the very high pressure that's created when digging out a rock. There's also a shut-off valve to release pressure on break-aways. Bell pulls the unit with his 1977 Allis Chalmers 7040 tractor. This implement has dug out hundreds of rocks, including many that were too heavy for the tractor's front-end loader to carry away. He also rents it out for $80 per day. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Bill Bell, Box 317, Deloraine, Manitoba, Canada R0M 0M0 (ph 204 747-2605; fax 204 747-2960).

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