Add-On Dual Carries Chopper In Muddy Fields

2012 - Volume #36, Issue #3, Page #03

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“Chopping corn silage in the fall of 2010 was miserable,” says Alan Burda, a dairy farmer in far northwest Minnesota near Thief River Falls. “The fields were so darn muddy I was knocking more corn down than I was running through the chopper.”
  Burda solved his problem by dualing the left wheel on his Gehl 800 2-row corn silage chopper. He says the 15-in. spacer and the second tire that he added made a huge difference in how the machine tracked through the muddy corn ground.
  “With single wheels the tire on the left side was sinking about 4 to 6 in. in the mud between the rows and the machine was sliding sideways behind the tractor. The cutter head was dragging on the ground and I was knocking corn over rather than cutting it off,” Burda says. “After I put the extra wheel on, it wasn’t sinking hardly at all, it tracked straight, and the head was staying 4 to 6 in. off the ground. I was able to get all the corn chopped after I put on the second wheel.”
  To make his dual system Burda extended the axle on the left chopper wheel a few inches. That moved the tire away from the chopper frame and also made it track beyond the center of his 30-in. corn rows. Then he made a 15-in. steel spacer band that fit into the chopper wheel rim. He mounted a 24-in. wheel from a Versatile swather on the spacer with four large clamps. The clamps and 3/4- in. thread bolts hold the wheel and spacer tight to the rim of the left chopper wheel.
  “The dual wheel is a few inches smaller than the original wheel, so when I drove in the field the tire of the dual actually ran on top of a cut corn row. That gave the machine a lot of extra flotation,” Burda says. “I didn’t dual up the right wheel because there wasn’t enough room between that tire and the standing corn.”
  After adding the dual wheel, Burda was able to pull his chopper and a 7-ton dump box with just his MFWD tractor. Before that, he had used a second tractor in front of the MFWD without much success. “This setup worked really well and I may just keep the extra wheel on in normal conditions to help the machine track straight when the fields are a little greasy,” Burda says.
  Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Alan Burda, 927 Tindolph Ave. S., Thief River Falls, Minn. 56701 (ph 218 686-6642).

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Add-On Dual Carries Chopper In Muddy Fields HAY & FORAGE HARVESTING Miscellaneous “Chopping corn silage in the fall of 2010 was miserable ” says Alan Burda a dairy farmer in far northwest Minnesota near Thief River Falls “The fields were so darn muddy I was knocking more corn down than I was running through the chopper ” Burda solved his problem by dualing the left wheel on his Gehl 800 2-row corn silage chopper He says the 15-in spacer and the second tire that he added made a huge difference in how the machine tracked through the muddy corn ground “With single wheels the tire on the left side was sinking about 4 to 6 in in the mud between the rows and the machine was sliding sideways behind the tractor The cutter head was dragging on the ground and I was knocking corn over rather than cutting it off ” Burda says “After I put the extra wheel on it wasn’t sinking hardly at all it tracked straight and the head was staying 4 to 6 in off the ground I was able to get all the corn chopped after I put on the second wheel ” To make his dual system Burda extended the axle on the left chopper wheel a few inches That moved the tire away from the chopper frame and also made it track beyond the center of his 30-in corn rows Then he made a 15-in steel spacer band that fit into the chopper wheel rim He mounted a 24-in wheel from a Versatile swather on the spacer with four large clamps The clamps and 3/4- in thread bolts hold the wheel and spacer tight to the rim of the left chopper wheel “The dual wheel is a few inches smaller than the original wheel so when I drove in the field the tire of the dual actually ran on top of a cut corn row That gave the machine a lot of extra flotation ” Burda says “I didn’t dual up the right wheel because there wasn’t enough room between that tire and the standing corn ” After adding the dual wheel Burda was able to pull his chopper and a 7-ton dump box with just his MFWD tractor Before that he had used a second tractor in front of the MFWD without much success “This setup worked really well and I may just keep the extra wheel on in normal conditions to help the machine track straight when the fields are a little greasy ” Burda says Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Alan Burda 927 Tindolph Ave S Thief River Falls Minn 56701 ph 218 686-6642

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