I noticed in this lastest RH magazine I&J has come out with a ground driven forecart. Does anyone know how powerful they are? It mentioned a couple pieces of equipment (rake, tedder, etc), but can it operate things like a manure spreader and/or baler? Just wondering.

Thanks,

Greg

Not having seen the ad I probably am being really dumb about this. Does the forecart have a ground driven equivalent to a PTO on it? Why would it be of any benefit when all the equipment that is hitched to the forecart is ground driven itself? The horse(s) provides the energy to pull the forecart. The forward motion of the forecart pulls the equipment. And, the way I see it, the equipment is ground driven. The larger the number of horses, the more the energy, the more efficient and effective the running of the equipment. I had always thought that a horse drawn baler would need a multiple horse hitch... maybe 3+ or more to make it work. If I am wrong about all this, please enlighten... ;o)

In my opinion I do not believe the ground drive forecart could handle the heavier harder to drive equipment.I have watched other ground drive units and there is a limit.Their ad seems to be an honest ad.

I saw it in operation at HPD Mt. Hope and I would agree with JL. I doubt it would handle a baler, but pto rake, tedder, possibly small pto manure spreader.

Could it operate a 5 foot brush hog with two horses? Thanks

there would not be enough weight on the wheels to prevent slippage for heavier towed implements.

wally

Wally hit on the idea that I always thought would be the limiting factor. Weight, a heavy load needing traction to turn the pto would seem like it would slide the forecart's tires. Hmmmmmm, reason number 21 for me not to lose weight, "hey doc, I need the counterbalance on my wheel driven forecart!" Okay, where can a guy buy one! grin

Just my two cents worth, there have been a number of ground driven PTO forecarts marketed over the last decade or so, none seem to have caught on, could it be because they just don't work that well. However the motorized forecart seems to hang in there. Not to say there will not be winner sometime but I have not seen it yet.

Just make one. Use a rearend out of a truck (KW or Pete preferred). Don't know if I did the math right (old age) but a 540rpm output in 29 feet of travel is what I came up with for gearing.

Dale's response reminded me of an old article in some forgotten magazine about a farmer using a team and a rearend out of an Allis Chalmers WD. They used that because of the hand clutch the team didn't need to start the pto from the first step. They could get up to speed and then turn on the pto gradually using the hand clutch.

It just don't make sense to drag enough weight around to give you the traction needed to power something. The neighbor told me his binder only needed half the horses after he put a motor on it. I have read that putting a motor on a horse drawn mower made it work ten times better in real tough going. The ground drive combines didn't work worth a damn in the hills, sluffed it all out going uphill and blew it out going down. Being locked to a certain ratio of ground speed to machine speed isn't always the best. Works like on a rake most of the time but not all even there.

Have seen and read an article with the rear of a Massey Ferguson being used as a pto forecart.This would give the traction needed to run a baler or harder driven pto equipment but it would be necessary to add more horses,mules or oxen.It would seem like it would be more cumbersome to me.I think I would prefer a motor on the baler or a powercart.Maybe even a heavy drive wheel on the baler.