Archive Article: 1997/10/18
The bigger you go, the harder you fall – unless you have an automatic steering axle. David Millar reports on a new sprayer.
STABILITY is often the biggest drawback with trailed sprayers used on anything other than level fields. Cleanacres has tackled the problem in several ways with its new ASA range.
Not only does it look different thanks to a spray tank which nestles inside the chassis, closer to the ground, rather than on top of a frame, but it will make the tightest of turns without the instability of most trailed machines.
A steering axle, which can be left in automatic configuration controlled via a potentiometer device on the drawbar or controlled from the tractor cab, makes it possible to turn safely on hills and cuts a typical turning circle from around 18m to 6-8m.
Mark Curthoys, of Cleanacres, says mounting the sprayer tank so low in the frame has given the ASA range the lowest profile of any sprayer of its size but the company still claims good underbody clearance – about 76cm (30in) with a trailed sprayer on 46in wheels.
Boom widths up to 36m are available for the new machine. Tank sizes vary from 2,500 to 4,000 litres in the new range, and coil suspension with dampers is a £1,500 option.
Mr Curthoys expects buyers of Cleanacres machines to be looking for bespoke sprayers – build time is currently about two months. The ASA range is available in track widths from 1.52m (60in) upwards, although 2.13m (84in) is about the practical maximum.
New features being incorporated throughout the Cleanacres range include induction hoppers on extending arms to keep operators clear of folded booms, and new five-ported control valves. Mr Curthoys claims these remove a lot of unnecessary pipework from the sprayer and make the machine simpler for the operator to use.
The new range will be priced from about £18,000 for a 2,700 litres, 24m model with the steering axle but without coil suspension, up to £40,000 or more for a fully equipped 4,000 litres model with 36m booms, coil springing, Airtec twin fluid system, and big wheels.
Mr Curthoys estimates about 60-65% of production is now in either trailed or self-propped machines, with demountables taking about 25% and mounted sprayers just 15% of the companys business.
"We have always aimed at the top end of the market anyway," he adds. "It is such a cut throat business at the bottom."