johnsmachines

machines which I have made, am making, or intend to make, and some other stuff. If you find this site interesting, please leave a comment. I read every comment and respond to most. n.b. There is a list of my first 800 posts in my post of 17 June 2021, titled "800 Posts"

Tag: farm

Image | June 2, 2014

More POWER OF HYDRAULICS

Toyota Landcruiser ute with tipping tray, and tandem trailer, also tipping.
Another favorite farm photo. The ute and trailer would transport up to 5 cubic meters of rabbit manure. for fertilising the olives.
The trailer would not lift more than one tonne, so I changed the hydraulic hoist to a multistage 5 tonne unit. I have actually carried and tipped close to 5 tonnes of manure, but only on the farm. That load would definitely not be road legal. I also had to enlarge the hydraulic oil tank by welding on an extension.
Since this photo was taken I have also upgraded the suspension to take 16″ Landcruiser wheels.

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Image | June 2, 2014

Morning Mist at The Farm

A photo from 10-15 years ago, before the olive trees had blocked some distant views. The hills are the You Yangs. The buildings of Melbourne, 50km away, are just to the left of the pine plantation.
With the farm about to be transferred to new owners. I am feeling nostalgic. It has been a huge part of my life for the past 17 years.

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Image | June 1, 2014

USING TRACTOR HYDRAULICS TO DO THE HEAVY LIFTING

After breaking the planks used to as a ramp, we tried lifting the big heavy awkward plastic tank with the backhoe bucket, and the tractor forks. And it worked a treat. The truck was backed underneath, the tank was lowered, strapped on, and the truck was towed up the hill with the 4WD tractor. The tank weighed 1000kg, 4.4m diameter, 2.8m high, and was slippery and awkward. I had tried to get a specialist tank trailer, but was unsuccessful. So this was the next option.

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Image | June 1, 2014

I Love hydraulic POWER

As part of the farm sale, I had to remove 2 water tanks from the bottom of a steep slippery valley. The tanks were 2.8m high and 4,4m diameter, and weighed 1 tonne each. When full they hold 45 thousand litres of water each. i.e. they were big awkward and heavy, and easily damaged.
We pulled the first tank onto the truck tray, with a 4WD tractor. All OK, but the truck could not drive up the slippery track. Even with the tractor pulling the truck, it all came close to slipping off the track to disaster. Then my elderly farmer neighbour Des suggested using a steeper, but rocky track, and that was safely and successfully negotiated. Tank one placed in the top paddock ready for transport to the new owner.
The next tank was dug into the side of the hill, and required a couple of hours digging with a back hoe to free it enough to pull it free with the tractor.
We tried to pull it up the planks as per tank one, but the slope was steeper and the planks started breaking. So we used tractor hydraulics to do the lifting for us. See the next photo…

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Image | April 7, 2014

Backhoe Grab

Another view of the grab.
I made a 2d cardboard model of the grab, with drawing pins at the joints to make sure that it would work, then drew it using CAD, then welded it up.
It works fine, and can pick up surprisingly heavy items.
It is attached to a JCB 3CX backhoe. It would benefit from a coat of paint….

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Image | February 25, 2014

Backhoe grabber

OK. so this is a photo of a gadget which I made few years ago. It is a mechanical grabber which bolts onto a backhoe arm and bucket. Seen here picking up a 5 meter I beam which must weigh 200-300 kgs.
The grabber is very useful for picking up heavy, big, prickly, dirty, rubbish and other farm stuff. Good for grabbing fence posts and pulling them out of the ground.
I wish I could say that I invented the idea, but alas….

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