Suspension for silo unloaders

In a silo unloader of the type which includes a cutter-conveyor pickup arm, an impeller to receive silage from the pickup arm and discharge it from the silo, a drive ring generally concentric with the impeller, one side of said drive ring overlying the pickup arm, a plurality of effectively horizontal support arms which have inner end portions secured above the impeller and outer end portions overlying the drive ring and secured thereto, a supporting framework in the top of the silo, suspension cables trained over sheaves at the top of the supporting framework and secured to the extremities of the support arms, and means for extending and retracting the suspension cables to move the silo unloader vertically, the improvement comprising:

• said support arms have downwardly and outwardly extending offset portions outside the drive ring which have their free ends in a plane above the bottom of the cutter-conveyor, and the free ends of said offset portions are constructed and arranged for securement of the suspension cables, whereby the silo unloader may be raised to a position in which the effectively horizontal support arms are effectively at or above the horizontal plane of the sheaves and the pickup arm is substantially higher than the top of the silo wall.