Wet weather this year in Manitoba required dual wheels on the haybine, but an attachment couldn’t be found at local dealerships, so farmer ingenuity came to the rescue
Craig and Charlene Kaartinen didn’t have a lot of luck earlier this year getting ready to hay on soggy soil, so they made their own solution.
It’s been wet this year where they farm near Eriksdale, Man., which threatened to make haying a challenge, particularly in low-lying land near sloughs and a lake.
Craig decided dual wheels on their Case 16-foot haybine would make the job easier, but calls to local dealerships looking for the necessary attachment were unsuccessful.
“In the end, Craig designed his own way to add an extra tire to each side by utilizing half-inch high-strength, fine-threaded rod, locking nuts, a slightly smaller rim and then tire/rim,” Charlene wrote in an email.
“He opted for the fine-threaded rod to give more strength to hold the nut secure, since he knew the rod would be moving around with each revolution of the tire rims. A fine-threaded rod doesn’t undo too easily.”
She said Craig threaded rods through four holes in the first rim, using two locking nuts on one end of each rod, and then threaded through an empty smaller rim from an older 1100 International mower.
The utility tire he installed had a bigger profile than the haybine tire. Charlene said this allowed Craig to reduce the tire pressure in the utility tire to 10 pounds, making both tires the same height.
Using spare items from the farm, except for buying the rods and locking nuts, kept the total cost to less than $100.
“Craig says he wouldn’t have got anywhere this year if he didn’t have the duals,” Charlene wrote.
“He advises that he would never operate without duals again and wishes that he had thought to manufacture them years ago when we began farming in 1986.”
