Upgrades to Pöttinger’s Jumbo loader wagons bring extra reliability and power saving to a trusted model
 |
 |
New features on Pöttinger’s redesigned Jumbo loader wagon range, now available Australia-wide, will help cater to shrinking harvest windows, the company says.
The four models in the Jumbo Combiline loader wagon range boast a new loading system, with controlled pickups and cam control tracks at either end.
Designed with capacities of between 33–48 cubic metres, and suitable for tractors of between 160 and 450 horsepower (119 to 336kW), the loaders are designed to suit almost any property.
The number of tine rows has decreased, from eight to seven, but the thickness of the tines has increased, from 5.5mm to 6mm, Pöttinger Australian territory manager Benjamin Mitchell says.
“That has increased the lifespan of the tine by up to 20 per cent,” he says. “The seven row pick-up is controlled from both ends by steel cam tracks. This ensures clean forage with low levels of contamination, and the withdrawal point is close to the rotor, allowing the forage to be transferred smoothly.
“Also, thanks to the reduced speed of the rotor, the forage is precisely fed, not dragged through. This guarantees maximum performance at high driving speeds and in differing conditions,” he says.
With a 2m standard width, the Jumbo also comes with the optional SuperLarge pick-up, with a 2.36m collection width, hydraulic folding jockey wheels and two heavy duty feed augers on each side, to bring the crop back in so it can go through the rotor.
Able to handle even a wet or short crop, the rotor is mounted directly on the chopping system frame so that it is independent of the driveline, in order to protect the gearbox as much as possible, even under heavy load.
The rotor guides the crop through a 34mm short-chop chopping system into the chamber, where Pöttinger has lowered the floor of the scraper by 150mm in a bid to reduce wear and power requirements during loading.
“Thanks to the lowered scraper floor, the forage is lifted upwards as well as being drawn to the back – this results in the crop filling the loading chamber evenly, while reducing power requirements,” Mitchell says.
“It has also improved the compaction of the forage. Now that the distance between the rotor and the scraper floor has been reduced, a compact stable pack of forage is formed at the front end of the loading chamber.”
Within the loader, the Jumbo’s new Autocut automatic sharpening system can sharpen knives as needed within about four minutes – with the machine doing itself at the push of a button.
“Having sharper knives means less power requirements and also means the product gets cut cleaner and it increases your capacity – you don’t have to slow down because you are cutting with blunt knives,” Mitchell says.
“It sharpens every knife individually, which means you get a much more precision grind on each knife. It also reduces the amount of sparks.”