Farmer Puts Scales On Gravity Flow Wagon

Farmer Puts Scales on Gravity Flow Wagon WAGONS/TRAILERS Miscellaneous 9-2-28 Thanks to his new "made it myself" weigh wagon, Walt Herrmann, Brimfield, Ill., checks yields right in the field. Herrmann converted a gravity flow wagon to a weigh wagon by mounting torsion-type "weigh bars" under each corner of the box. Connected to a monitor, the weigh wagon measures loads to within ¢%. Herrmann used a 240 bu. M & W Gear Little Red Wagon. "This wagon is ideal because it's fitted with a rocking bolster. That keeps the box from bouncing around and maintains alignment on the weigh bars," says Herrmann, noting that he's in the process of converting a second wagon that's built without a rocking bolster. He had one built at a local blacksmith shop and plans to add it to the wagon for the extra stability. Herrmann uses the wagon to check yields on test plots of corn. He harvests a plot and dumps it into the wagon. If the wagon already has grain in it, he simply subtracts each successive reading from the last. A 12-V monitor gives a clear digital readout. "We used to have to drive as far as 4 miles away to a fertilizer plant. Now we just dump at the edge of the field," says Herrmann, who has lots of test plots because he raises seed corn. He says the idea would not be practical to convert all of his wagons to weigh bars because of the cost. "It cost about $1,900 for the four bars and monitor." The torsion bars themselves are about 12. in. long. They're installed by jacking up the box and mounting brackets in all four corners to hold the bars. Once installed, they'll raise the height of the box about 4 in. For more information about weighbars, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Weigh-Tronix, Inc., 1000 N. Armstrong Drive, Fairmont, Minn. 56031.

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