FARGO, N.D. – Large grain carts in the 1,000 to 1,300 bushel range are becoming increasingly popular as farmers seek to reduce the number of trips they need to make from the field.
But these large carts come with problems and one company thinks it has found a solution: a walking tandem design with offset dual wheels.
As these carts have become taller and wider, it has created a positioning problem beneath the combine auger.
To further complicate matters, more producers are buying 35 and 40 foot combine platforms if their terrain allows, making it more difficult to position the big grain cart for the maximum efficiency they thought they were buying.
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The situation creates challenges for the engineers who design grain carts. Installing duals, or giant, wide single flotation tires helps handle the extra weight in the field, but it also increases the cart’s footprint and makes it more difficult to position next to the combine.
The challenge is to devise a high capacity cart that’s narrow and low. This isn’t too difficult in the 700 bu. range but becomes a nightmare once the carts hit about 900 bu.
The engineers at J&M Manufacturing in Ohio decided that a total re-think of their Grain Storm cart design was the only way to meet the triple requirements of high capacity, narrow width and low height.
A walking tandem design with offset dual wheels allowed them to make their new Grain Storm a full three and a half feet narrower than previous carts of the same capacity.
An independent walking beam on each side of the cart swivels on its own centre pivot point. Each beam straddles a super heavy duty axle point in the centre, so it can oscillate back and forth rather than bounce straight up and down.
The front tire on each beam is located on the inner side of the beam, close to the grain tank. The rear tire on each beam is in the outer position.
There is an approximate four foot space between the spindles of these two tires, allowing each pair of tires to gradually roll through drainage cuts and over bumps. Hubs run on spindles that are 4.5 inches in diameter.
Positive results
J&M said the overall affect of all this suspension apparatus is the ability to pull 70,000 pounds smoothly and rapidly across a field without pounding the equipment and operator.
The new cart is available in three sizes: 1,025, 1,125 and 1,310 bu.
Height from the ground to the top of the tank is 12 feet. Overall tank width is 11 feet, 9 inches.
Track width of the inboard front tires is five feet centre to centre. Track width of the outboard rear tires is 10 feet centre to centre.
Unload rate with the 22 inch auger is 600 bu. per minute. Cost of the 1,025 bu. cart is $56,000 US.
