Home-Built Machines Work Pecan Orchard

Home-Built Machines Work Pecan Orchard ATVÆS “I thought I’d pass on to you a few of the inventions we came up with for our pecan orchard ” says David Bynum Lampasas Texas who’s serving in the Navy and has been stationed in Afghanistan He credits his dad Otto and brother Stephen for helping with the ideas Stick Rake Pulled Behind ATV He used the bar and tines from an old horse-drawn rake to build a lightweight “stick rake” for use after shaking the pecan trees but before operating the picker He pulls the rake behind his 4-wheeler The rake is equipped with a series of C-shaped steel tines that are raised and lowered by an electric screw cylinder The cylinder is operated by a 12-volt battery that mounts on the rake’s tongue and is controlled by using a toggle switch on the 4-wheeler’s handlebars The tines roll down and forward until they face forward cradling the sticks until dumping them Horizontal backward-facing metal bars pull out any sticks that get stuck between the tines “A large return spring from an old garage door assists in lifting when dumping the sticks ” says Bynum “The rake’s wheel hubs are from an old plow and the hitch is off a peanut harvester The 4-wheeler is light enough that it doesn’t crush the pecans or make deep ruts in the sand ” he adds Pecan Dump Trailer “We were dumping pecans directly from the picker into the cleaner We needed a trailer to increase the holding capacity and to keep varieties of pecans separated without having to wait for the cleaner bin to empty ” says Bynum “So we built this trailer using the wheels axle and dump basket from a peanut harvester ” He unbolted the dump basket from the top of the harvester and mounted the frame and cylinders on a simple trailer frame He also added a chute on the dumping side of the trailer to funnel pecans into the cleaner bin “The trailer dumps to the side so we don’t have to back up to unload The basket has twice as much capacity as the cleaner bin ” says Bynum Big Tank Roller Weighs 9 000 Lbs Farming pecans in deep sand requires leveling and packing soil before harvest “We needed a large heavy roller to do the job but commercial rollers are expensive So we used part of old cofferdam that we got from a scrap metal dealer to build our own roller saving thousands of dollars ” says Bynum The roller measures 12 ft long by 48 in in dia and is made from 1 1/8-in thick steel A local welding company cut both ends of the cofferdam to make sure the holes at each end were exactly in the center Then Bynum ran a 2 1/2-in dia shaft through the middle and mounted it on two 2 1/2-in 4-hole flange bearings The roller’s frame is made from 4-in sq 5/16-in thick steel tubing Total weight is 9 000 lbs empty “The roller has bungholes to add water but we’ve never needed to add any weight ” says Bynum Tree Limb Dump Trailer “We needed a lightweight dump trailer for hauling tree limbs out of the orchard So we built one out of an old cotton trailer that we bought for $200 ” says Bynum The 2-wheeled dump trailer is built on an old truck frame and rides on the rear axle and wheels off a cotton trailer Extra steel was used to make the tongue A 1 1/2-in dia shaft serves as the pivot point for dumping and a 36 by 5-in hydraulic cylinder provides the lift “We beefed up a cross member on the cotton trailer’s frame where the cylinder attaches and we added a piece of heavy angle iron on front to cradle the bed in the lowered position It’s a great labor saver and kids like to ride in it ” notes Bynum Contact: FARM SHOW Followup David Bynum 2893 CR 1020 Lampasas Texas 76550 ph VOIP 318 449-4745 or VOSIP 308 449-4746; david o bynum@afghan swa army mil

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