Double-Duty Combine Fitted With Mower Head

Double-Duty Combine Fitted With Mower Head COMBINES Conversions James and Jordan Balmer’s family combine does double duty as a mower tractor When their custom haying business needed a mower upgrade they put their combine to work rather than buy a bigger tractor Switching from mowing hay to harvesting crops takes about 8 hours but it’s time well spent says James Balmer “It works better than a tractor because the wheelbase is just right plus you can see what you’re doing better than with a tractor ” he says “We’ve had other custom harvesters check it out Some of our customers were impressed and others wondered what we were doing ” The new disc mower was a front-mount 30-ft Pottinger that they chose for size and speed All they needed was a pto drive and 3-pt hitch instead of the usual header mounting arms “We took a gearbox off a pull-type Deere chopper and mounted it on the right hand side of the combine ” explains James “We ran a belt from the pulley that ran the rotor on the header to a pulley on the gearbox and a shaft from the gearbox to the mower ” In order to mount the mower the Balmers had to remove the front portion of the feederhouse or throat section that moves up and down with the header A top link arm was mounted to this lift point Two lower link arms were mounted to the combine axle Once the mower was in place the combine required a little fine-tuning says James “We tuned the motor up for a few more horsepower We also put a smaller pulley on the gearbox to reduce the pto speed to the mower ” With few purchased parts other than the mower the Balmers’ modification paid off well They estimate saving $120 000 on the new tractor that they otherwise would have purchased The dual-purpose combine hasn’t slowed them down either “The speed is pretty good ” says James “We’ve mowed at 13 to 15 mph a couple of times ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup James Balmer 11283 County Rd V Glen Haven Wis 53810 ph 608 482-2712; balmer900@hotmail com

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