Old Combine Makes Great Grain Buggy

Old Combine Makes Great Grain Buggy COMBINES Conversions 13-2-2 Canadian farmer John Wammes built his own "go anywhere" self-propelled "grain buggy" using parts from a 1972 Ford-642 combine. "I kept looking at that old combine sitting out behind a shed and thinking that I should be able to find a use for it. This self-propelled grain buggy replaced a high-horsepower tractor we would have needed to pull a loaded grain cart and visibility is great for loading and unloading because of the cab and because you're driving right alongside the combine rather than up ahead of it on a tractor," says Wammes, who farms near Clinton in Ontario. He used the engine, drive train, cab, rear axle and fuel tank from the old Ford combine. The 400-bu. grain tank was custom-built at a local welding shop. The chassis and support frame was built out of 4 by 8-in. steel tubing. The 13-in. dia. unload auger was taken from a White combine. Both the auger and the flow gate beneath the tank are operated hydraulically by control valves in the cab. He built a ladder up to the bin from the cab platform. The original combine drive tires were left in place but larger rims with 14 by 26-in. tires (front tires from a junked 4-WD White tractor) were mounted in back. He didn't use the variable speed drive that was on the old Ford combine. Instead he went direct from the engine to the input shaft on the transmission. The rig has a top speed of 18 to 20 mph on the highway. One of the trickiest problems in building the self-propelled cart was driving the unloading auger. "I was going to drive it hydraulically but I couldn't find the right motor to do the job. So I made a gear drive that driven by a double V-belt pulley off the engine. It works great and I can engage it from the cab," says Wammes. "It took two years to build in my spare time and after working out a few bugs, it's worked well with no problems," says Wammes, who's building a second self-propelled grain cart that he hopes to sell. Once again he's using a Ford combine for parts but says any self-propelled combine should work. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, John Wammes, Rt. 1, Clinton, Ontario Canada N0M 1L0 (ph 519 482-9117).

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