Heavy Duty Rock Picker Clears A 12 Ft. Swath

Heavy duty rock picker clears a 12 ft swath ROCK PICKERS Rock Pickers 15-1-6 You've never seen anything like the heavy-duty, hydrostatic rock picker built by Al Woznikoski and Maurice Jacobs, Tisdale, Sask., that completely clears a 12-ft. wide swath in one pass, depositing rocks and roots into an 8 by 10-ft. dump bucket on back. Rock picker is equipped with a 5-ft. wide, 7-in. dia. steel rock-gathering rotor in the middle and two 4-ft. wide side rotors that rake rocks toward the center. The center rotor, equipped with 4 rows of staggered fingers spaced 6 in. apart, picks up rocks and drops them onto a 5-ft. wide "rock ladder" behind the rotor that's made out of Deere Caterpillar tracks. It conveys them into the bucket. "We probably overbuilt it, but it does a clean job and picks up whatever's in front of it, including large rocks," says Woznikoski, who does custom work and pulls the rock picker with a 160 hp tractor. "We built it because we were tired of picking rocks and roots by hand. The key to our rock picker is the center rotor. It'll dig out large loose rocks up to 2 ft. in diameter. Other commercial rock pickers jump right over large buried rocks. Another key feature is the automatic trip mechanism in front of the center rotor. When the machine encounters an obstacle it can't handle, only the center section, including the rotor and ladder, lifts up, not the entire machine. It keeps fingers on the center rotor from bending. The hydraulic-dump bucket holds more than two yards of rocks and is twice as large as any commercial model." Woznikosky and Jacobs built the frame from 1/2 and 3/4-in. heavy wall sq. tubing. They built the side rotors from 3/8-in. sidewall steel pipe and the center rotor from 3/4-in. steel. The "rock lad-der" above the rotor is equipped with Deere dozer tracks with slats welded across them spaced 2 ft. apart. Fingers are then welded to the slats, spaced 6 in. apart and made from 1/2-in. angle iron. The patented rock picker is equipped with two 2-stage hydraulic pumps and four hydraulic motors which operate the center rotor, rock ladder, and two side rotors. It cost more than $30,000 to build and is supported by dual truck tires. Implement tires support the side rotors. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Al Woznikoski, Box 602, Tisdale, Sask., Canada SOE ITO (ph 306 873-5306).

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