Stretched header drawbar makes easier hitching (Volume 3 - 1994 Spring Edition)

[Practical Farm Ideas]

Stretched header drawbar makes easier hitching

If you move the combine regularly on the road you’ll be using the header trailer regularly, and that means doing some skilled reversing, even with a camera on the back.

Older combines might still rely on other forms of guidance, and for many backing the combine is a job for a second pair of eyes, and even with their help there's a problem of communication as the combine driver can't see his guider who has to be close to the rear of the machine.

The tube means straw can't lodge on the drawbar extension​

This extended drawbar makes trailer attachment much easier. Murray Contractors of Penrith anticipated that straw would lodge on a flat bar, and so used a tube. The drawbar needs to be extended with some caution. Too long and too low and it can get in the way of reversing. But moving it back around 3ft or so makes it much easier to line up with the trailer, making it possible to do the job single-handed.

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[Tonym]

My answer to this problem was a winch mounted on the trailer drawbar. Reverse to about 6 feet then get off and use the winch to pull it into line and up to the combine. Much easier than climbing up and down several tines to see how close you were. As combines got bigger we used a separate tractor for the job. Still got the winch which does occasional service on the Ifor Williams trailer.

 

[Practical Farm Ideas]

Sounds like it could be another article @farmideas