Root crop harvester

A two-row crop harvester for carrots, beets, etc. has a wheeled chassis with a forward cab disposed to one side of a pair of lifter frame assemblies. Each lifter frame assembly has a main component with a forwardly gathering element rigidly connected to a rearward mounting element. The rear end of the mounting element is pivotally mounted on a rocking frame, the lower end of which is pivoted about a horizontal axis on the main frame of the harvester. The main component of each lifter frame assembly mounts a relatively movable gathering component. The topping bar units have both their driven and idler ends supported by the main component of the lifter frame assembly. The rear drive pulleys for the gathering belts are chain driven from the drive shafts of the topping units and the latter are individually driven by hydraulic motors and articulated shafts with the motors geared together so that the topping bar units are synchronized.