Auger swing-hopper

Swing hopper drive units

Hydraulic control valve

Auger chain case

Chain Case (Side view)

Chain & Sprockets

Air brake controller

Air outlets

Super-B grain trailers

Drill Drive

Drill drive

Side view of VFD

Front View

Cooling Gun

We removed the two small OEM wheel & tires from one end of the hopper and replaced them with larger tires that are now mounted to a hydraulic motor.

A bottom view of the driven wheels on the auger hopper.

The D-21 was fitted with a keyless remote unit that controlled this valve. The controller permits remote tractor on/off, tractor starting, and swinging the hopper via a key-fob remote. This allows the grain hauler to pull beside the auger and position the hopper beneath the trailer without leaving the tractor seat. The RF remote has a range of about 150 feet.

The 13" auger was designed to be direct driven from a 550 RPM tractor PTO. The D-21 has a 1000 RPM PTO, which proved to be too fast. I built a speed reduction unit to slow the auger rotation while still allowing the drive tractor to run at a speed where it developed sufficient power to elevate the grain.

A side view of the chain case. The case was fabricated from .25" steel. It encloses double strand 120 pitch roller chain and sprockets. The ratio is .75:1. The case is also sealed to provide an oil bath for the chain & sprockets.

120 Pitch double strand drive components, bearings & shaft.

We added an engine driven air-compressor salvaged from a 3176 truck engine to the Cat Challenger 75. This tractor is used to pull a hopper bottom grain trailer used for grain hauling. This picture shows the air pressure gauge and brake controllers used on the grain trailer.

A rear view of the reservoir, tractor protection valve, and air brake outlets. We also added an outlet for an air hose. This is very useful for cleaning dirt from hydraulic remote couplers and many other things like air tools, grease guns, inflating tires, cleaning radiators, fuel caps, and windows; to name a few.

A picture of my set of trailers, shortly after their purchase. The trailers had spent their life on salted roads and the sides were very rusty. We have replaced and painted the rusty panels.

The speed reduction jack-shaft on my drill press. The chain drive accomplishes a 5:1 reduction

Another view of the speed reduction unit.

In 2005, I removed the chain drive reducer and replaced it with a 3/4 HP 6-pole 3-Phase motor. The motor has a 4 inch pulley that is coupled to an 8 inch pulley on the chuck spindle. The VFD varies the motor speed to between 1150 and 60 RPM. Speed is controlled with the small knob and the rotation can also be reversed by pushing a couple buttons on the VFD.

The OEM Start/Stop switch that was originally mounted where the VFD now is, is shown leaning against the chuck

Another view of the VFD

A vortex cooling unit that I use for drilling steel. The gun can produce a stream of air that is 100 degrees cooler than the input air. Use of the gun eliminates the need for cutting fluids and their accompanying mess.