Cake Feeder Built From Old Grain Drill Box
Mark Burrell, who operates a salvage yard specializing in grain drill parts (Vol. 34, No. 6), sent FARM SHOW photos of a low-cost, pickup-mounted cattle cake feeder built by his friend Davis Webb and son Brock. Webb uses it to unload cake as he drives along his feed bunks.
“Webb got the idea while driving by my salvage yard and looking at the thousands of grain drills on hand. He decided to make a cake feeder from an old grain drill box,” says Burrell.
He says Webb wanted a cake feeder that wouldn’t stick above the pickup’s cab so he could park the feeder in his low-ceiling garage. “Most cake feeders are mounted on a flatbed pickup, which puts their overall height about even with the top of the cab. But if the same feeder is mounted on a pickup bed it sticks up several feet above the cab, which makes it too high to fit into most garages.
“Webb found a Deere 8300 grain drill box in my salvage yard that he thought would be just the right height to set on the pickup’s bed rails and still be even with the top of the cab. By mounting the feeder on the rails he gets full use of the 8-ft. bed to haul things underneath the feeder.”
Webb didn’t need any gears, shafts, feed cups, axles, and so forth so he and Burrell found a drill that Burrell had already stripped down. “It was just a bare shell when he started the project,” says Burrell.
Webb cut the drill box off to fit the width of the pickup bed, then reattached the end plate and sheet metal. He then installed an old 6-in. dia. auger just above the drill’s sloped floor, welding two short lengths of 6-in. dia. pipe inside the box ends to support the auger. An angled metal plate mounted above the auger keeps feed cubes away from the spinning auger.
Webb then installed the only new parts bought for the project - a car starter and a belt to drive the auger. He cut the cast nose piece off the starter and then installed an old pulley on the starter and another one on the auger.
“The belt is twisted so it turns the auger in the correct direction. Webb says this also gives the belt more traction because it has more "wrap" on the pulleys than a straight belt. He uses a switch in the cab to start and stop the flow of cake,” says Burrell.
Webb’s son Brock, a junior high school student, contributed several design ideas for the project. He remounted the drill’s original clear sight glass to face the cab so the driver can see how much feed is left in the box. He used his math skills and the grain tables from the drill’s operator manual to determine the box will hold exactly 303 lbs. of feed.
Webb paid $62 for the car starter and belt, his only cost. “He saved thousands of dollars on a new cake feeder that wouldn’t have fit his pickup bed anyway, while recycling old materials,” says Burrell.
“Being an old Deere man I begged him not to paint the feeder, or at least to paint it Deere green, but he had to paint it black to match his pickup. In the end, his wife Christy chose the black color, since she’s the one who’s going to drive the pickup to the co-op to fill it up, and it'll be stored in her garage.”
Burrell says he still has a lot of used and new parts for old grain drills on hand. “We don’t know anything about GPS, monitors, or auto steer, so don’t call about that kind of stuff. Also, I still sell the popular rivet splice HD belt tools and lace for round baler belts that can be used to make repairs in the field,” he notes.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Mark Burrell, 24120 Hwy. 60, Fairview, Okla. 73737 (ph 580-227-4494; bsmburrell@gmail.com).
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Cake Feeder Built From Old Grain Drill Box DRILLS Mark Burrell who operates a salvage yard that specializes in grain drill parts Vol 34 No 6 recently sent FARM SHOW photos of a low-cost pickup-mounted cattle cake feeder built by his friend Davis Webb and son Brock Webb uses it to unload cake as he drives along his feed bunks “Webb got the idea while driving by my salvage yard and looking at the thousands of grain drills we’ve got on hand He decided to make a cake feeder from an old grain drill box ” says Burrell He says Webb wanted a cake feeder that wouldn’t stick above the pickup’s cab so he could park the feeder in his low-ceiling garage “Most cake feeders are mounted on a flatbed pickup which puts their overall height about even with the top of the cab But if the same feeder is mounted on a pickup bed it sticks up several feet above the cab which makes it too high to fit into most garages “Webb found a Deere 8300 grain drill box in my salvage yard that he thought would be just the right height to set on the pickup’s bed rails and still be even with the top of the cab By mounting the feeder on the rails he gets full use of the 8-ft bed to haul things underneath the feeder ” Webb didn’t need any gears shafts feed cups axles and so forth so he and Burrell found a drill that Burrell had already stripped down “It was just a bare shell when he started the project ” says Burrell Webb cut the drill box off to fit the width of the pickup bed then reattached the end plate and sheet metal He then installed an old 6-in dia auger just above the drill’s sloped floor welding 2 short lengths of 6-in dia pipe inside the box ends to support the auger An angled metal plate mounted above the auger keeps feed cubes away from the spinning auger Webb then installed the only new parts that he bought for the project - a car starter and a belt to drive the auger He cut the cast nose piece off the starter and then installed an old pulley on the starter and another one on the auger “The belt is twisted so that it turns the auger in the correct direction Webb says this also gives the belt more traction because it has more ‘wrap’ on the pulleys than a straight belt He uses a switch in the cab to start and stop the flow of cake ” says Burrell Webb’s son Brock a junior high school student contributed several design ideas for the project He remounted the drill’s original clear sight glass to face the cab so the driver can see how much feed is left in the box He also used his math skills and the grain tables from the drill’s operator manual to determine the box will hold exactly 303 lbs of feed Webb paid $62 for the car starter and belt which was his only cost “He saved thousands of dollars on a new cake feeder that wouldn’t have fit his pickup bed anyway while recycling old materials ” says Burrell “Being an old Deere man I begged him not to paint the feeder or at least to paint it Deere green but he had to paint it black to match his pickup In the end his wife Christy chose the black color since she’s the one who’s going to drive the pickup to the co-op to fill it up and it will be stored in her garage ” Burrell says he still has a lot of used and new parts for old grain drills on hand “We don’t know anything about GPS monitors or auto steer so don’t call about that kind of stuff Also I still sell the popular rivet splice HD belt tools and lace for round baler belts that can be used to make repairs in the field ” he notes Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Mark Burrell 24120 Hwy 60 Fairview Okla 73737 ph 580 227 4494; bsmburrell@gmail com
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