Moving a head...

Dave H (MI)

Well-known Member
Oh dear...now I make puns even when I don't intend to.

So round two of the big road trip is tomorrow. I am headed north to check out some 863 corn heads. A couple at dealers and a couple at a farm I found by accident. Then, if time, south to look at an 820 grain head.

A quick question before I get to the point...how expensive is the knife on a grain head? I think the 820 is a flex if I recall. Just wondering cause what are the chances it has a good knife?

But the main question...should I buy a 6 row corn head and need to bring it home on my car hauler...7' wide, 18' long at the beaver tail...I am wondering as to the best way to do this and not mash me fenders or the head AND I would really like to keep the combine out of loading and unloading. In fact, I don't want that thing near my trailer until I am better at driving it in close quarters. So my idea is to make a header cart out of an old running gear and winching the whole works onto my trailer whence it can be easily pulled off by a tractor.

Never having done this before and not entirely clear of the dimensions of the heads...is this sheer madness or am I onto the right track? How does one build a header cart?
 
I think a you could make a temporary one like heads are now carried on by using a bolster from a wagon and chaining on a couple of telephone poles to set the head on, then you could winch the wagon on your trailer.
Charles Krammin next door MI
 
Well, I have never really looked closely at one of these heads but was wondering if one of my old running gears with just the two large beams running fore to aft would be good enough or I could put cross pieces on to strengthen...not sure about weight either. Can't just use a flat rack, I am sure it must be too high. Not going to drive down the road with a head on the combine. Too wide, too hilly. I've had my dose of excitement for 2014. :)
 
If I was you I would just take a fifth wheel trailer. Remove the corn snoots or for a grain platform ( make sure its under 8 feet wide) because michigan state police always like writing tickets to farmers. Even if your off i75. Dont know why. But I would just also consider a way that dosent cost you extra money in tickets
 
The dealer used a big forklift to put my 4 row head on my car trailer. They piled 3 high pallets in the trailer so it was above the wheel wells. Ratchet it down and go.

Unloading, at home a person has time to figure it out? ;)

Paul
 
A hay wagon works fine if there is a deep ditch to put 2 wheels into. That is how my grain head gets stored every winter, it keeps 2 pieces of equipment out of the weather in the space of 1.

Unloading, using the combine is the best way to insure you don't bend/break something. No too many good places to put a chain on a header, and they are heavier than you would think.
 
BTDT. I had two guys with loaders...a Cat backhoe and a Bobcat...put the Cyclo 800 on my car hauler last fall. Brought it home and it sat on the side of the driveway for two weeks before I broke down and hired "gotrocks" excavator down the road to take it off. He charged me 4 times what the two fellas that loaded it charged and those fellas helped me build the cribbing to keep it off the fenders. He will never know what that little bit of piracy cost him. I had used him exclusively for 25 years.
 
Subtle way of saying my idea won't work, gear is too high? I was worried about that. Guess I will keep thinking on that.
 
I think I found such a thing. Not a hay wagon, that is a gear with a flat rack on it. This one is a gear with a steel rectangle attached directly to the front and rear axle on one side, then angled up so that is stands about a foot above the axle on the opposite side. The frame looks like it is at a 15-20 degree angle. For what they are asking if I were to dicker them down a bit I could just buy the thing ready made. By the time I contribute a gear plus welder and materials to build the frame then time and material to paint it I doubt I could build it for much under $1000.
 
I think you"re putting the cart before the horse. LOL Head trailers are not generic. They may need to be adjusted to fit the head you buy. You"re not tied into buying an IH head. You may end up with another brand and an adapter. Another option you have is to rent a head this year if you don"t find a satisfactory one to buy now.

I"ve moved 4 and 6 row heads with a flat machine trailer. You can lift with a loader on each side and back a trailer underneath to load...unload in reverse order.
 
You can make your own header cart out of a wagon running gear, but I would recomend getting smaller tires for atleast the "hook-up" side to give some extra clearance getting the header on and off the cart. I'll try to get some pictures of mine on here for you. I got the smaller wheels from shoup if I remember right.
a164609.jpg

a164610.jpg

a164611.jpg
 
I have the hoist/ stand from a Minneapolis Moline Uni that I only use 1-2 times a year, but it gets 4500 lb stuff unloaded for me. Nice to have.

Paul
 
Not sure what that is, but I am getting a picture of something that unloads your trailer? That would be nice to have. My largest loader currently is good for about 7-800 lbs. That used to be fine but it doesn't cut it any longer. Couldn't even lift the tongue on the planter! How times area a changin around here!
 
I am getting that message. I had thought it likely that two parallel beams on wheels low enough to get under the head could be sufficient to strap down to. If it had a tongue then I could winch it backwards onto the trailer and back a tractor up to it at home and drive it off. I am not going to say my ideas always are practical...more often not, more on that later. But I throw them up in the air and they either fly or y'all shoot them down. Generally I am given an option as an alternative and sometimes that works better.

A good example of one that did NOT work. I have a 7 x 18 car hauler. Last year I bought a Cyclo 800 corn planter with end transport that was missing it's axle for end transport. The plan at the time was to have the planter lifted on the trailer. I would then find an axle and mount it on the planter and pull it off the ramps at home. I even measured what I could on the planter. So they lifted the planter onto the trailer. It did not fit. It wanted to rest on my fenders...change that, it wanted to EAT my fenders. So three local good souls, all farmers, worked with me for an hour to build cribbing out of scraps from one's wood pile and we chained it in place and I drove it home. Not one of those three guys would take a penny. Found my axle at a parts yard and brought it home a week later. Needless to say, NO WAY was that axle going to ride across that trailer. It almost would have hit the ground on either side but not high enough to pull the trailer out from under the planter. So bring on the loaders again...not so cheap this time. All's well....I have a very nice planter. Life can get very interesting around here.
 
Dave,JMS is both right and misleading a little.Factory trailers(wagons)are generic and can be adjusted for any make head(corn or Grain),but 95% of home made ones are for one make only.Do you have either head??If not you need to realize you should have both heads from the same MFG.so you don't have to put on-take off the adaptor each time.Lot of heads were and few still are hauled-stored on flat bed wagons,not the best,but it does work.
 
I got it. Had to be something like that. No...don't have the heads yet but I have lines out on all sides of the boat and couple have nibbles.
 
Great pictures, thanks! Really puts it in perspective from the point of view of size. Header is large in comparison to gear. I guess I am going to get these heads first and then work on transport. I know there is a way to get this done. Don't want to drive the thing out to the field on the combine...it's 20 miles. Can't get it thru the gates when I get there I don't think. Tenant used a cart and took the head in separate.
 

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Back
Top