TUNING: We're thinking ahead to warmer times and the smell of fresh mown grass. Now is your chance to draw on some workshop inspiration for silage- and hay-making kit.
We’re thinking ahead to warmer times and the smell of fresh mown grass. Now is your chance to draw on some workshop inspiration for silage- and hay-making kit.
Dry air, the sun is shining in the sky and the weather forecast says no rain in sight — it can’t get any better than this for getting hay ready to go in the barn. To ensure that every single step — from mowing, tedding and raking to storage — runs smoothly, many farmers have tweaked their kit for optimal performance. Obviously, the best ideas often bring a mid-field machine bang into champions league shape.
AIR AT THE KNIFE BANK
In order to make blade changes easier on this Claas Quadrant, the baler’s contracting owner decided to route and fit a hose from the air tank to the knife bank. From here, the user can connect a 2.0m long hose with an air gun to quickly remove any crop residue and trash from the blade holders. And if the blade changing work is done on a tarmac surface, the air can be used to blow any debris out of the way.
STRAIGHTEN RAKE ARMS
A moment of distraction … and the next thing you know the rake arms are smacking off a telegraph pole, and (hopefully) that’s soon followed by the buzz of the slip clutch. This reader has made a straightening tool for the job out of a nine-hole linkage bar, two short chains and a trolley jack. To straighten the bent arm, mark the highest point on the tube and then place it on the plate of the jack. Next, loop the chains around the arm and linkage bar and then carefully straighten the arm, slightly overstretching it so it flexes back straight.
ONE OR TWO BALES
This reader constructed a bale spike that carries two round bales. The main frame consists of a rectangular box measuring 150 x 80 x 6mm. The tine holders swivel up when not in use and are secured with pins.
RAKE READY
Sometimes it’s the little things that make everyday life easier. Here is a simple holder for a rake. A wire eyelet on the radiator grille serves as a holder for the wooden rake handle so the tool is always at hand, for example, to rake in field corners.
PRESSURE SEQUENCE VALVE DEACTIVATED
This reader disconnected the pressure sequence valve for lifting and lowering the rotors of his Claas twin-rotor rake. The factory-installed system operates the left and right rotors together from the same spool. The two raising/lowering cylinders are now supplied with oil directly from separate spools so it is possible to lift/lower the rotors independently to rake corners or avoid snatching a row on a slanted headland.
THIRSTY WORK
Not a machine you are likely to find here, this family has a crane in the farm’s hay barn. Operating it can be thirsty work on a hot day, so the family upgraded the operator platform with a cup holder that is actually designed for bicycles. The holder is held in place by two magnetic feet to live on the machine.
GUIDED PICK-UP
This reader added a gauge wheel to the pick-up of his Welger AP52 square baler so it followed the ground more accurately. The arm for the wheel pivots at the rear, while a multi-hole plate gives some different height settings.
ELECTRIC CONTROL
This reader developed an electric control system for his Claas Liner 2700. For single-rotor lift-out, he installed electro-hydraulic shut-off valves in front of the lifting cylinders. He uses another electro-hydraulic shut-off valve for altering the working width. In addition, he can unlock the transport lock pneumatically (photo bottom right). To do this he fitted a pneumatic cylinder that pulls the Bowden cable.
BALL HOLDER
Some top links need Cat. II balls; others need Cat. III. In order to always have the right sizes to hand, a longer pin means the two are kept on the machine.
STEERING AID
This reader can manoeuvre his single-rotor rake more easily thanks to the additional castors on the three-point headstock. He welded the wheels to a tube that he inserted in a holder and secures with a split pin.
FRONT-MOUNTED ROLLER
Here we see new life breathed into a 2.0m crumbler roller. Mounted on an A-frame, the front-mounted roller helps improve crop flow into the baler and produce more uniform bales. But the biggest plus comes when straddling monster swaths.
TELESCOPIC CURTAIN
This single-rotor Deutz-Fahr rake is used to row up small plots, but the challenge always arose when it came to forming big rows. Thanks to a sturdy extension, consisting of two 1.20m long square tubes that were welded together, this is now possible. For transport, the curtain is removed and carried lengthways.
HYDRAULIC DEFlECTOR
Thanks to a retrofitted hydraulic ram, the swath curtain can now be folded up out of the way without any physical effort. The inventor found it too cumbersome to fold the heavy component manually (particularly when extended), especially when travelling between fields.
FOLDING RAM
The drawbar on this square baler now moves more easily into its transport position — courtesy of a re-purposed hydraulic cylinder.
HYDRAULIC BOUNDARY SPREADING
To increase operator comfort and protect the window seals on tractors that don’t have a through hole, this reader replaced the manual lock on his hay tedder with a single-acting hydraulic cylinder.
BLOCK CUTTER DONOR
Rather than scrap this old silage block cutter, the owner decided to turn it into a bale fork. Firstly, he removed any unnecessary components. He then welded crossbars and Euro mounting plates to the new fork.
FOLDING AID FOR SLOPES
With the rotors on this tedder not always reliably lowering into work when tedding sloping fields, the owner fitted a frame complete with a pressure spring that supports the single-acting rams on the folding frame.
PARTS HOLDER ON THE TURNER
This reader constructed a rack for spare wheels and tines on his tedder. For this job, he welded a bracket behind the central frame to insert six tines and two studs for the wheels.
SEPARATE LIGHTS
This reader not only added a warning panel with a light, but also a home-made transport frame with castors. The mower is secured with three spring bolts.
MOISTURE SENSOR FOR ROUND BALES
This owner uses a retrofit moisture meter from Agreto on his Deutz-Fahr RB3.56 round baler to check whether the forage is dry enough. The kit is available as a plug-in version, where the sensor plate is installed in the bale chamber and then connected to a power source.
