Home built hiller

   / Home built hiller #1  

Car Doc

Elite Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2009
Messages
3,237
Location
Kansas
Tractor
YM3810D Yanmar
I am still not able to get in my garden since we seem to get moisture on the wknd's (I will take it when I get it) so I thought I would start a thread about the hiller I am starting to build so once I do get in I can post some it works or it doesn't pics and stuff. I will be hilling fresh tilled ground so it will be easy going.

The plan is use some take off fwd car hubs. I have been saving these things for years and though they may be slightly noisy on a car they should make perfect trailer or just general project axles etc. I don't think building this is going to be any big deal at all just a matter of a few cuts and a few welds its the tool bar more than anything at this point I question. I would like to build a couple sweeps sometime to pick my tracks up also so that is lower on my priority on the project at this point...

I plan on taking a couple hubs and a couple old car wheels and drill the wheels to fit the hubs and attach the hubs to a pipe or sq tube and hang that off some sort of 3pt tool bar as yet not set in stone what that will be? So if anyone has one already built or some ideas please feel free to add them to this thread like I say its parts and pieces in an iron pile now so no pics yet of mine. thanks for looking :thumbsup:
 
   / Home built hiller #2  
Here is a photo of my half-finished tool bar for pulling the spike harrow. (Before welding the round bar to the angle iron portion). Not installed yet are four chains from the toolbar back to the spike harrow, and tabs that keep the round bar centered side to side in the QuickHitch. This was cobbled together out of scrap so it is a little rough. The only thing I bought was a round steel bar in place of the water pipe shown in this photo.

Here's a later post showing the lifting mechanism. (Running the cable over that pulley and down to the tractor's drawbar socket gives compound leverage for a higher lift than if the cable were attached to the highest point).

I made the toolbar full-width and strong enough so if I snag a tree it should stall the tractor without damage to the harrow. Also the toolbar lets the harrow float freely over uneven ground - factors you may not need in your application.
 
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   / Home built hiller
  • Thread Starter
#3  
Thanks California I like the angle iron and sq tube that would make adjusting it up/down/repairing pretty easy and the solid round for the lower links would save me buying a factory farm store drawbar to start with. I don't have a bar that long but I have pieces to work with and I have a chunk of 3" x 3/8 angle that's long enough and some heavy sq tube.
 
   / Home built hiller #4  
I'm working on building a 3pt hiller too. I am welding together a 3pt frame with a 2" toolbar using steel I bought at a local recycling yard. I plan to clamp hillers I purchased at AgriSupply on the toolbar. I should be welding it up this weekend and will try to remember to post pics afterward. I look forward to not having to hoe as much this year! I also bought some S-tines and triangular sweeps to attach to the s-tines. I will attach these to the toolbar for cultivating/weeding. I'm thinking about making a middle buster attachment too. We'll see...
 
   / Home built hiller
  • Thread Starter
#5  
I would love to see pics of what you build Ginormous! I have a mb fwtw and have used it for furrowing and potato harvesting and it works great you will find it handy!

I am thinking about hilling as an alternative to seeding in a furrow like I have done using the mb especially with corn. I can still do double rows on top of the hill and flood irrigate as usual if I get the wheels set just far enough apart.

I seem to remember Winston used a plate or something attached on the back of his to smooth his hills down? I will look for it later I thought it was a good idea at the time though.
 
   / Home built hiller #6  
100_5850.jpgHere it is. 100_5752.jpg Split piece of 4" pvc pipe.

Raised beds could definitely have value in irrigating like cardoc does. Also value against flooding if you have that problem. My thinking is they have value with root crops because they make for a deeper bed of loose dirt. Just my thinking. I have planted most any crop in raised beds but really don't think they are necessary with peas, beans, etc, unless irrigating. Just an opinion, I'm sure not the master farmer.
 
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   / Home built hiller #7  
My main goal for the hillers is to mound up two 50' long hills for planting sweet potatoes. That's a big job I won't miss doing by hand! I tried to arrange my garden so that I can use the cultivator to do weeding.

The flattened hills are what farmers call "raised beds" right? What sort of crops do you plant there? I would think carrots would be a great fit.
 
   / Home built hiller
  • Thread Starter
#8  
Thanks Winston glad you chimed in saved me searching for those pics. I like that setup like Ive said before its so simple yet functional I hope I can come close building one! :thumbsup:
 
   / Home built hiller #9  
I keep sayiong i am going to build one. I havent yet, due to the fact i dont have a large garden at my current home and the tractor spends 90% of the year at the farm property anyway.

I was going to use the hillers from Agrisupply but they were pricy as i wanted it cheap, you have a good idea with the hubs. I took some off my saturn a few years back that were on the rear, they would have been perfect, just a bit of ticking when you spun them on the vehicle i did not like so i replaced them, but i gave them to a guy at work for a project he prolly has not doen yet? I still dont have enough scrap iron to build a bar though.

So that being said i dont see a bar in my near future, but i want one!
 
   / Home built hiller #10  
The scrap yard here is kind of fun to wander through looking at all of the sizes and shapes of steel they've got. For 55 cents a lb, It probably cost about $20 for all the steel to make my 3pt frame & 2" x 45" toolbar. The AgriSupply hillers (16" diameter) were $30 each. I found some 2" toolbar clamps to hold the hillers locally for $20 each -- could have made something, but decided to just buy them.
 
 
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