Do-it-yourself simplified potato digger for a walk-behind tractor

When pulling out potatoes with a walk-behind tractor, it is optimal to use a potato digger with a rumble. She puts all the tubers on top, so when collecting them you don’t need to dig into the soil with your hands. You can make a very simple digger with a rumble yourself.

Materials:

pipes of different diameters;
channel;
splined bushing for power take-off shaft;
disk or sheet steel 4 mm;
spherical self-aligning bearings for a 30 mm shaft;
tension roller or pulley;
housing with bearings and shaft;
rod 12 mm;
shaft 30 mm;
wheels – 2 pcs.

The process of making a potato digger

To ensure the operation of the mechanism, it is necessary to make an eccentric. To do this, the end of the shaft from the housing with bearings must be bored to the diameter of the existing pulley with a center offset. A hole is also drilled in the end and a thread is cut. A groove is made on the back side of the shaft to connect to the adapter sleeve, which will allow connection to the splines of the power take-off shaft of the walk-behind tractor.

Then the modified shaft is installed back into the housing with bearings.

An adapter is pressed onto the flat end of the shaft and mates with the splined bushing. To prevent rotation, the connections are equipped with pins.

The coupling is welded from the pipes to connect to the take-off shaft. You can simply cut off this part from the unnecessary hanging. The coupling is installed on the walk-behind tractor, and a splined sleeve with an eccentric is connected to it.

Based on the measurements obtained, the remaining part of the body is assembled. To do this, it is convenient to use 2 pieces of channel. The housing of the eccentric mechanism is screwed to them. The channels are then welded to the coupling crossbars and gussets. Bearings are screwed to the sides of the channels at the bottom and top for the vertical shaft.

Next, you need to install a pulley on the eccentric and connect it with a rod to the base of the vertical shaft. A knife is welded to the sole for pulling out tubers.

Next, a fan made of 12 mm rod is welded onto the paw. On the sides of the channels there are adjustable stands to which the wheels are attached.

A potato digger of a simplified design is ready for use. It works in the same way as a more bulky and complex screen, but it is done faster and requires less material. When making it, it is advisable to move the wheels as far back as possible to make it easier to control the walk-behind tractor, since due to the short wheelbase it tries to move to the side out of the row.