The 4AG Titan 6300 roller drill has many features that make it stand out above others on the market, Jaiden Drought reports.
Farming contractors Wayne and Jacqui Anderson reckon their new Titan 6300 roller drill, with output in excess of five hectares per hour, leaves the old three-metre machine for dead.
Wayne loves the 6.3 metre width, and says his clients are rapt with the seeding job it does.
Having upgraded from their old three-metre roll – seed – roll combination, stability on the hills and the increased working width were two features at the top of the list, when they first started looking to upgrade.
While the large working area of the machine as well as its surefootedness does ensure accurate seeding, the new machine hangs tight on steep sidelings, and does not slide down the hill and come along beside the driver’s door to meet them like the old roller combo.
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The uni-strut bar allows the seeding outlets to be moved if necessary.
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It is not just the steep paddocks that can provide the headache as many will know getting to steep paddocks often requires going up narrow gravel and dirt tracks, which are only usually as wide as the machine, so the narrow transport width comes in very handy.
A large portion of the Anderson’s extra work load is from the sheep and beef guys having a couple of great years, although having said that, they deserve it as they have had plenty of average one’s in the past.
Significant increases and science for animal genetics, as well as grass hybrids, have significantly improved the performance on this type of country and as a result the accuracy of the air seeder and the stability of the roller fits perfectly into this system.
Luckily the dairy doldrums that have affected most of the country hasn’t affected the Anderson’s work load, as most development work has been put on hold.
The success of this machine is largely to do with the excellent build quality but also 4AG’s willingness to listen to their customers and use themselves as the vehicle between the often brilliant ideas of the guys who spend hours going around paddocks and the factory where they have the tools and the design know how to make it happen.
The weight of the machine gives good consolidation for seed to soil contact, with large 550/575mm diameter Cambridge and breaker rings
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The air intake for the hydraulic fan on the 4AG Titan roller drill.
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A feast of features
The first is what they have dubbed the ‘TitanLoc’ which is a clever play on words as this TightenLock is exactly what it sounds like and significantly increases the life expectancy of the most expensive wearing part on the machine – the rings. This is a 90mm hex nut which can be tightened (with the large spanner stored on the machine) to remove any play in the rings which adds strength and protection to the axle shaft and particularly in stony conditions will prove a very handy tool.
Speaking of keeping rings tight this is even more important with the large heavy rings fitted to the Titan series rollers. The ‘DuraForge’ roller ring is ideal for working stony virgin ground, Canterbury type soil or ex forestry blocks which can be all in a day’s work for Kiwi contractors. The GGG50 ductile iron (cast steel) rings have high impact resistance and come with a 5 year manufacturer’s warranty, which will give you a good dose of peace of mind.
These rings are not built strong from fancy light weight material either these things are heavy, the machine weighs 5 ton empty but the team at 4AG along with the factory quickly discovered there is no point having the heaviest roller if that extra weight wasn’t distributed evenly across its full working width. This brings me to my next key feature which is the clever float system which allows all the wings to be mounted (where the strength is) from the chassis of the machine and large hydraulic accumulators to take care of the contour following of the wings, and weight transfer.
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Wayne strikes his best pose to demonstrate the easy loading via the large platform.
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The bottom line
This machine like most European-manufactured gear is built to a very high standard. What I like about these particular roller/drill combination machines is the extensive input by farmers and contractors. These good honest ideas that have made this machine ideal for Australasian conditions. This combined with the build quality, weight and clever features it already came jam packed with is hard to see why you wouldn’t want to have a gander at it.
4AG Titan 6300 roller drill features
- Brakes (optional)
- Mudguards
- Hydraulic parking Jack
- 800-litre hopper (320kg grass seed) with patented self-levelling mounting
- Hydraulic accumulators give even weight distribution and contour following of gangs
- Highly accurate sowing. Different capacity seed rollers to cater for wide variety of seed type and rate
- Hydraulically driven fan for optimum airflow to 16 seed hoses direct from hopper. Smooth hose routing and no Y-junctions to distribute even, accurate seeding across full width.
- Radar ground metering, for accurate, hassle-free speed calibration. No drive wheel to maintain, or become fouled or damaged
- Platform for loading seed into the hopper is a very safe and large area with ladder
- You can have the choice of levelling paddles or chain cover harrow
- The TitanLoc axle security nut system on each gang
- Gang bearings are encased in rubber and don’t require greasing
Hits
- Heavy ductile iron rings
- TitanLoc means the rings are always tight for reduced wear
- Large hopper capacity
- Radar ground speed and metering for greater accuracy
- Much lower seed needed than the large amount to simple spread across the box on normal roller drills
- Large and safe seed loading area
- Even weight distribution which still has all the strength at the main wing pivot
- Rubber encased gang bearings which are completely grease free
- Front levelling paddles or cover chain harrow option increase the versatility of the machine
- Large transport wheels and narrow transport width make it ideal for road transport as well as navigating around tricky off road tracks.
Misses
- The low profile tyres need to be heavily inflated to carry the weight of the machine and as a result does bounce on the road, particularly metal roads.
Photography: Jaiden Drought