New life for an old combine

Nov 1, 1999 12:00 PM, Machinery

Farming 1,000 acres of corn and soybeans and working full-time in construction pushed this Hennepin, IL, farmer to alleviate some harvesttime pressure.

He created a custom, self-propelled grain cart by using the forward chassis assembly (cab, engine, drivetrain and transmission) of his '73 Deere 7700 combine and a 600-bu. Killbros auger wagon.

"There's less strain because I sit up high and can look right into my grain truck to watch the grain flow. My wife who's only 5-ft. tall can also help," James J. Henning says. "And I don't have to sit there with my foot on the clutch because I used the hydrostatic transmission from my combine."

Henning had been thinking about making this cart for a few years but had to wait until his combine wore out at 6,000 hrs. He used Killbros' wagon because it had a removable rear axle with only eight bolts. "I could take the wagon apart and put it back together in two hours. I built the entire machine in only four weeks," he adds. "I call it the Corn Monster."