Amazone Hydro twin disc

[Beef farmer]

Any user experiences please. 2012 era. Reliable? Pleased with it? Pitfalls?

 

[rusty]

I bought one second hand about 3 years old . I have had it 4 seasons now. Had to buy a gps dome to link to the Amatron 3 to do the section control. Beware if your tractor does not have a speed out plug it cannot use the speed generated from the gps dome. Has been a good spreader. Only problem was rats eating some of the wiring during winter storage. Fortunately local dealer very good at setting it up for me and repairing the cable. I was looking at buying new when this came up for £5500 so first owner had had a big hit on depreciation. New was around 13 to 14k when I was looking.

 

[jackrussell101]

Any user experiences please. 2012 era. Reliable? Pleased with it? Pitfalls?

We've got one from 2012 and has been an excellent machine. Get it setup every year and checked out by SCS and has been bullet proof and spread pattern has been perfect. I would say make sure there is not too much rust on the discs and agitator chain in between them...

 

[Beef farmer]

I bought one second hand about 3 years old . I have had it 4 seasons now. Had to buy a gps dome to link to the Amatron 3 to do the section control. Beware if your tractor does not have a speed out plug it cannot use the speed generated from the gps dome. Has been a good spreader. Only problem was rats eating some of the wiring during winter storage. Fortunately local dealer very good at setting it up for me and repairing the cable. I was looking at buying new when this came up for £5500 so first owner had had a big hit on depreciation. New was around 13 to 14k when I was looking.

Would a newish fendt have that plug?

 

[super4]

Would a newish fendt have that plug?
[/QUOTE

I would be surprised if it didn't. You can run the spreader at a fixed speed of needed. It's a pain but possible.

 

[Beef farmer]

I would be surprised if it didn't. You can run the spreader at a fixed speed of needed. It's a pain but possible.

Were running a big standard machine at present and just calibrate to 16kph. It works well but sometimes a bit quick when in a 3 acre paddock

 

[Feldspar]

We have had a few electrical gremlins with ours. Had a few actuators go. Replaced the main computer once at c. £900 including fitting. Think it has gone again now. Local dealer coming out to try a new computer. Thought it was water from being washed but we now wonder whether power spikes possibly when charging the tractor battery might have fried it. No solution yet.

Overall mechanically it has been good. Good quality paint finish.

Spread pattern we have had quite a lot of problems which have been really weird. Using the official Amazon test trays we got terrible patterns, but when SCS came out they couldn't find a problem. Did see striping in the crop once especially. Thought we were doing something wrong but we checked again and again and we were following their method correctly. Never really solved the problem and have now gone to more liquid.

I am not sold on the changing disc speed to alter spread and shut down sections. I don't think with our tractor the disc speed responds anywhere near fast enough. Might be the oil flow on the tractor, although we specced the higher output pump on this tractor. I think I like the sound of the machines that change the drop point rather than changing disc speed.

When it's set up and working, you do get fantastic output with weighcell machines. I really like seeing the amount left in the spreader. I would say the software on the Amazone isn't the easiest to use, but it's OK when you get to know your way around the screen.

I really like the hydro part of it. Almost no maintenance required. Power beyond fittings can be a bit of faff, but I still much prefer over PTO.

Overall I have average feelings about this machine. We have kept our old PTO Amazone machine with no computer. Keep pulling it out the shed when the other one hasn't worked.

 

[rusty]

Would a newish fendt have that plug?

I would think so. My 12 plate 6430 didn't but my 07 plate 6630 did. Used a Teejet centreline 220 for the speed output when using it with the 6430.
Not the sort of machine to put a novice on. Takes a bit of remembering the set up etc. When swapping between tractors it's important to Remember to reset the speed input signal. The speed signal will be a series of pulses and could be different for different tractors. You can set it up on the Amatron 3 for your different tractors. I tend to use one tractor in spring with wide tyres and then swap to the other on narrow tyres later in the year. If I forgot to change the tractor settings back in the spring I ended up putting fertiliser on at double rate due to the differences in speed signal between my tractors.

 

[Beef farmer]

I would think so. My 12 plate 6430 didn't but my 07 plate 6630 did. Used a Teejet centreline 220 for the speed output when using it with the 6430.
Not the sort of machine to put a novice on. Takes a bit of remembering the set up etc. When swapping between tractors it's important to Remember to reset the speed input signal. The speed signal will be a series of pulses and could be different for different tractors. You can set it up on the Amatron 3 for your different tractors. I tend to use one tractor in spring with wide tyres and then swap to the other on narrow tyres later in the year. If I forgot to change the tractor settings back in the spring I ended up putting fertiliser on at double rate due to the differences in speed signal between my tractors.

Weve only 1 tractor.

 

[Fish]

Would a newish fendt have that plug?

Even oldish fendts have that plug.