As explained in my previous post, picking ear corn is a 2 men job, one picking and the other hauling and unloading the gravity boxes. For a smooth and efficient operation, hauling and unloading is well organized. The NI Unisystem picker and the hauling tractors are equipped with quick attach see pic #1- a must. At the crib, everything is powered by orbit motor. The hauler gets the wagon in place to unload, connect 2 hydraulic hoses to the tractor and engage the hydraulic outlet. This runs an orbit motor at the end of the elevator. The elevator chain is pulled instead of being pushed. That way no more broken chain links. Before with the pto, not unusual to repair the chain every day. The elevator is moved along the crib by being loaded in a wagon with a very low bed see pic #3- .An orbit motor fix on the yoke of an old car differential is used to move forward or backward the wagon. The hydraulic selector installed on the side of the elevator see pic #2- transfer the oil flow to run this motor when needed. So unloading a 275 bu. box takes about 15 minutes and it is an effortless job.
The gravity box under the elevator is there to catch the loose grain. Near the end of the elevator, we have made diagonal slots in the floor. When the loose grain or some trash run over the slots, they are dumped in the box under. The goal is to reduce the grain spilling near the crib and to help the drying of the ears. Usually loose grain, hairs and pieces of husks happen at the end of unloading and create bundles in the crib where the air does not pass through, a recipe for spoiled corn.
Wow - that's quite a crib and quite the outfit to fill it with! I never thought about having the shelled corn screen toward the top of the elevator - sure a lot easier to drop all of that into a wagon like you do rather than scooping it out of a tub or off the grond like the rest of us do!
I really enjoyed the pics! Your innovations sure solved a lot of our common problems. Nice thinking on the 3 row pass (previous post)--saves gas and time in the long run. It made me think I have chased Pop and our picker around the field too many times. I know what you mean about the broken chain links. We fought a worn-out JD elevator for years until I bought a couple of Kewaunee elevators for scrap price. The Kewaunees had larger size link chain than the JD--what a difference in durability. That's a great crib. I would like to know more details. What is the floor? Do you put a roof or tarp on top? What did you use to make the crib sides? Nice work, and welcome to the forum!
WOW---what a crib!! Great ideas for the elevator. I like the cart for moving the elevator. Do you shell out the crib, grind the corn for feed, or both? Thanks for the pictures!!
To answer the questions of Bleeding Orange, the foundation is a cement base 1 foot high by 6 inches wider than the crib. The footings are 1' x 1', between the footings we fill up with dirt for about 6'' to 8''high leaving 4'' to 6'' thick floor. It's like pouring a base for a grain silo. Also we put rebars. The base should have a back to the front slope of maybe 3'' for 4½' wide crib to drain the rain water. At the same time that the cement is poured we sink in the half of an angle iron bar or a flat bar of a length of 1' with holes already drilled to fix the side frames to come. These anchor points are spaced at 30''. We prefers to use 2x6 rough cut hemlock spruce beams for the wood side frames. Before building the side frames, the side beams can be used to build the mould for the base. As you see in pic # , we nail a crosspeice at 7' for a 16' high crib and another over bridging and one at the top. Don't forget if you're over 6' feet tall, you're calling for head bruises every time you have to walk inside the crib if the crosspieces are at 6' or under. For the crosspieces and the bridging, boards of 1'x6' can be used, but for my crib I have used steel flat bar of 5/16x1½ bolted to the side beams instead. After some years, the spots where the boards are nailed to the side beams are prone to rot. The best way to prepare the side frames is to built a kind of template with scrap wood on the platform of a hay wagon with all the measurements already in place. Inside a shed during a rainy day with the radio on, you can build many frames. With a dry summer like this year, the project can be a more than a year affair! After the side frames are raised and temporarily braced, it's just a matter of nailing the wire mesh to the sides. The galvanized wire mesh has openings of to 2''x2'' gauge # 14. We nail with 2' long wire fence staples at every 4''. Don't be afraid, they hold. At last, brace enough to keep the structure square. The roof : some are built with one, others don't have. My preference : a nuisance when filling up and like a long bill hat in strong wind.
Now you have a nice crib. You don't need special skilsl nor tools that you don't already have to built that kind of crib. Low maintenance with a useful life of 20 years under our humid climate. The cost of that kind of crib : 50 to 60$ per linear foot.
To KA656. We shell out the crib in spring when planting is done. The corn is sold to a local elevator. Next summer, I will take pics of shelling. We have a Moline sheller on steróds.
If my grandfather had a 4-row picker, he would have taken 4 rows and made somebody chase him with a wagon. His reasoning would have been 'if I wanted to pick 3 rows, I would have bought a 3 row picker!'.
