Jim Hermanson and John Kerr, Strathmore, Alta., got tired of turning their combine header back by hand to unplug the throat so they built a ground-driven "reverser" to do the job for them.

"It works perfectly," says Hermanson, who mounted the unit on an International 1482 pull-type combine. "We never have to climb down out of the cab anymore to undo a plug-up." A ground-driven header reverser would also probably work on self-propelled combines, he adds.

A 16-in. tire mounts on the right end of the header and only touches the ground when the header is lowered below normal operating height. When combining, the tire is 8 to 10 in. off the ground.

The reversing tire chain drives a "dog clutch" on a shaft that runs to the feeder house. The clutch is engaged by a hydraulic cylinder and kept open by a large spring.

To unplug, the operator engages the clutch, lowers the header and then backs up.

"The only parts we bought were the bearing blocks," says Hermanson. "The rest of the parts, including the shaft and clutch, were made up from parts we had on hand."

Story and photos reprinted with per-mission from Grainews, Winnipeg, Canada