Tracks keep tractors on the move in soggy season
Tracks keep tractors on the move in soggy season
By Mike Williams
A RUBBER track conversion kit has kept two of Leicestershire contractor Steve Heards tractors working through one of the wettest seasons on record.
Now he is offering similar kits to others who have a tight work schedule to maintain in difficult ground conditions.
When Steve Heard read about the kits in an American farm machinery show report he was so impressed that he packed his bags and flew to the States to find out more about the idea.
The complete track units are similar to those used on the big Case IH Quadtrac tractors, with rubber tracks made by Goodyear. The tracks are supported on rubber-surfaced idler wheels, and the front idler on each side is linked to a hydraulic ram to maintain correct track tension, with a gas cylinder acting as a shock absorber.
Although the rubber tracks were available off-the-shelf, the company making the other components was not interested in an export deal, Mr Heard discovered. The alternative was the do-it-yourself approach, using tracks from Goodyear, but buying-in or making the rest of the kit for assembly at his Barn Farm, Illston-on-the-Hill, Billesdon.
Now, after more than two years, the final development work is completed, he says, and two of the tractors from his contracting business have been working with the kits. They performed so well that Mr Heard is now making the track units to sell under the Agritrac name.
The big advantage of the tracks, he claims, is improved traction under difficult soil conditions for jobs such as ploughing. They also spread the weight of the tractor over a larger surface area to bring the ground pressure below 5 psi under his John Deere 7810 tractor.
He also has tracks on his John Deere 8410, which he demonstrated with an eight-furrow Kverneland plough in wet conditions on heavy land.
"The wet season has been a good opportunity to test the tracks," Mr Heard says. "They have certainly brought in additional contract work because I was able to handle jobs such as combination-drilling when it was too wet for a conventional tractor."
Another advantage claimed for the Agritracs is flexibility, fitting any make of tractor and also replacing the drive wheels of a combine harvester. Fitting them is a two-man job and takes about 45 minutes, but converting the tractor back to four-wheel drive is said to be a 30-minute job.
Agritracs are available with track widths from 16 to 36in wide. The kits weigh about 3.5t a pair, and the price is £18,000 for the 30in track width. *