After struggling for a number of years with wooden- slatted hay wagons and stapled cardboard sides, I purchased my first gravity field in 1991. It was principally a bit of junk, however to not me. It held 125 bushels and didn’t tow straight, however, on the time, I felt prefer it was good worth for my 300 {dollars} as a result of I didn’t need to shovel grain by hand anymore.
Gravity Field Design Dynamics
Common-sized gravity wagons vary between 250 and 350 bushels, and a 300-bushel wagon absolutely loaded with a heavy crop like wheat or soybeans weighs in extra of 9 tons. That’s a whole lot of weight to drag out of a discipline, particularly if you need to climb any inclines. I’ve managed to build up six extra of those medium-sized wagons over time, and I’ve realized some painful classes.
For one factor, due to the inclined backside design, these items carry a lot of their weight up excessive, and this elevated middle of gravity makes them fairly top-heavy and susceptible to roll over. I bear in mind pulling nine-plus tons of moist corn up an icy highway out of a river backside discipline in late November 1995. We had two tractors hitched one in entrance of the opposite to get sufficient traction to make the hill, and we had been transferring proper alongside and nearly to the highest when the gravity field started to sway and rock wildly. In a matter of seconds, it was mendacity on its aspect with its load of corn everywhere in the floor.
The lesson to be realized from that is to be sure you have a heavy-enough tractor with sufficient traction to drag a completely loaded grain wagon via tough and difficult terrain. The identical holds true for descending a steep slope, as a result of a heavy wagon filled with grain can push a tractor down a hill and right into a doubtlessly disastrous state of affairs.
Ideas for Utilizing Gravity Containers
One other little phrase to the sensible about utilizing a gravity field is to at all times make sure that the unloading door is absolutely closed earlier than pulling the unloading lever on the mix. There’s nothing extra irritating than watching grain pour everywhere in the floor from up within the mix cab. The wagon chassis, additionally referred to as the working gear, underneath the gravity wagon have to be in good situation to securely bear all the load being carried.
Good tires, well-lubricated wheel bearings, and a wagon hitch and turning equipment with tight tie-rod ends are all important to maintain a heavy grain wagon safely on the highway.
The very last thing you need is an out-of-control wagon heading for an oncoming automobile. The final consideration when shopping for a used gravity field is the situation of the field itself—older used wagons are sure to be considerably rusty, however needs to be freed from holes. Out within the Corn Belt, gravity wagons have been just about changed by massive thousand-bushel grain carts that mixes unload proper into whereas on the go; because of this, there are many these smaller items on the market.
Costs vary from 5 hundred to 2 thousand {dollars} and are typically a lot increased because the harvest season approaches. A number of good gravity- stream grain wagons can actually lend serving to hand even in a small grain operation.
