Auger Wagon Mounts On Combine Axle

Auger Wagon Mounts On Combine Axle GRAIN HANDLING Augers (4) 18-5-6 A Minnesota farmer builds low-cost auger wagons by mounting used gravity boxes on the axles and wheels off old pull-type combines, then adding augers and a hitch. Mark Foldesi, of Greenbush, made several of the auger wagons last fall when wet weather kept farmers in his area from getting into fields with trucks or 4-wheel gravity boxes. He usually equips each 200 to 400 bu. grain box with two augers, one along the bottom and one out the side. Each auger is powered by an orbit motor. "They're a cheap way to haul grain. The combine axles are very strong, and the big flotation tires make it easy to get around in soft fields," says Foldesi. "I can usually build them for about $1,000 if the farmer supplies his own box or about $2,000 if I use a new box. New commercial auger wagons sell for at least $7,000 although they generally have more capacity. I buy combines from farmers at scrap iron prices. I prefer using Deere 96 or International 914 pull-type combines because they have good undercarriages and frames. I buy used gravity boxes and augers at auctions. "I recently used an old fertilizer tender box and the axles and 18.4 by. 26 wheels off a Deere 96 combine to build my own 350-bu. auger wagon. It has a crank-operated opening at the bottom for dumping grain into a pit and an auger along the bottom that unloads out the back. I used 8-in. steel I-beams to make the hitch. I paid $150 for the combine and spent a total of about $1,000 to build it. "I look for boxes that dump out the bottom instead of the side. When side-unloading boxes are mounted on 4-wheel trailers they dump between the trailer's front and rear wheels, but when they're mounted on a single combine axle the wheel gets in the way. The box has to be moved forward which puts too much weight on the hitch." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Mark Foldesi, Foldesi Welding & Repair, Rt. 1, Box 369, Greenbush, Minn. 56726 (ph 218 782-2619).

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