Experiences of pulling 6 m vaddy

[Mr Charisma]

We upgraded our old 400 P rapid to a much more up to date 6m system disc machine this year ,,,,,, we had several dealers arrive on our doorstep wanting to know if they could quote for the tractor that was obviously going to be needed to pull it as it was thought we were vastly underpowered . ( god knows how some of them even knew we had changed the drill , obviously news travels )
Anyway it seemed we were over 100 hosses short and would need to find another 4 ton to gain enough traction and looking around the area it would seem they were right .
So a few weeks ago we hooked up our old Puma 210 onto the drill , took the front weight off , let the tyres down , put 3 bags of seed in and off we went . She flew , traveling at 14 kph on the flat and being dragged back to 11 / 12 kph going up the banky ground . I was even laughed at when I drew into a notoriously steep bank but still managed quite admirably ,,,,,, yes we have had a dry year and I might be eating some humble pie in a damper year .
But yesterday we started drilling beans ,,,, have to say I was a bit apprehensive as I want them in the ground 3 or 4 inches and knew that this would be a real test , I had no reason to worry ,,,,, 11 kph all day long

So begs the question and I'm sure there are some good reasons , why would you charge around with a 13 odd ton 300 + hp tractor when a 7 ton 200 hoss tractor will do ?????
The drill by the way used to have a well weighted up 380 hoss tractor up front

 

[jorgenbg]

Your Puma sounds like a beast. My MF7718 struggles on some hills with a 3m Vaddy box drill...

 

[Brisel]

I struggled to pull a 6m Rapid with a 220 hp JD 7930. Fine on the flat and downhill, managing 13 kph but any kind of uphill pull and I felt I needed to get out an help push! It depends on how soft your ground is, how deep you want to sow, how much seed you load into the hopper and how much you want to do with the system discs and levelling bar. Rolling before the drill helps reduce the rolling resistance.

I'll bet if you put your Puma on a dyno it would be putting out more than 210hp even with the boost switched off. How much wheel slip did you have?

 

[Foxcover]

The bigger question is why do so many people powerharrow before a Rapid and work the soil to powder?
Within 10 minutes from me I can count 5 farms where they drill with a 6m rapid behind a Challenger with 3 240hp tractors and 6m powerharrows in front.
These same farms drilled with 6-8m air drills behind 120hp tractors in the 90’s with 3 120hp tractors and 4m powerharrows in front and still got drilled up in time with a lot less compaction and capital tied up.

 

[Tompkins]

We've been running our 6m rapid behind our MF 6499 this year and it's coped easily. We have had anywhere between 270 and 370hp on it in the past but we've proved it can be done with less to too!
Admittedly it's been the perfect year conditions wise, not sure in a wetter year on some of our steeper stuff whether it would pull it at all!

 

[Brisel]

The bigger question is why do so many people powerharrow before a Rapid and work the soil to powder?
Within 10 minutes from me I can count 5 farms where they drill with a 6m rapid behind a Challenger with 3 240hp tractors and 6m powerharrows in front.
These same farms drilled with 6-8m air drills behind 120hp tractors in the 90’s with 3 120hp tractors and 4m powerharrows in front and still got drilled up in time with a lot less compaction and capital tied up.

That's called "progress"

 

[Mr Charisma]

Your Puma sounds like a beast. My MF7718 struggles on some hills with a 3m Vaddy box drill...

Not really , we are on some ground which the cultipress leaves a nice firm seedbed ,,,,, when I say seedbed the rapid just finishes it of nicely , we find the 2 machines compliment each other ,,,, no doubt if your on puffy ground I can see that would sup the power

 

[An Gof]

170 Hp here on a 3m Rapid, piece of p*** on the level but on some of our banks i have to plan which way i approach them and make sure theres only a tonne in the drill and not 1.5 or 2 tonne.
16kph on level is easy, sometimes down to 8kph on the steepest banks and have to take weight of the 4 drill front press wheels to get traction on the tractor rear end to make it up the hill.

 

[Norfolk Olly]

360hp on a 6m here. Generally one pass in front with a sumo or Keeble then drill, some bits will be pressed if too light. Drop the discs and board in as it's a 'cultivator' drill so in effect 2 passes. 15-16 kph at 14-1600 rpm, 710 tyres at 8 psi tractor weighing in at just over 11ton. 300hp would be fine but would struggle for the rest of the jobs through the year.

 

[Massey mad]

Run a 4m rapid on 125hp in all conditions with upto 1t of seed in, speed varies from 9-14k but have run it on 165hp and it uses less fuel per ac so is it false economy running lower hp but at a much higher engine load?

 

[JonL]

The bigger question is why do so many people powerharrow before a Rapid and work the soil to powder?
Within 10 minutes from me I can count 5 farms where they drill with a 6m rapid behind a Challenger with 3 240hp tractors and 6m powerharrows in front.
These same farms drilled with 6-8m air drills behind 120hp tractors in the 90’s with 3 120hp tractors and 4m powerharrows in front and still got drilled up in time with a lot less compaction and capital tied up.

Were those farms the same size in the 90s?

 

[Chae1]

Maybe it's because youve lost so much weight! ?

 

[Bob lincs]

Why is everyone hung up on how fast they can pull their drill , the faster you go the less accurate the seed placement is . Surely it’s more important to put the seed in the right place rather than get extra acres in per day. IMO attention to detail will win every time .

 

[jorgenbg]

Why is everyone hung up on how fast they can pull their drill , the faster you go the less accurate the seed placement is . Surely it’s more important to put the seed in the right place rather than get extra acres in per day. IMO attention to detail will win every time .

Consensus on this forum is that a rapid should go at least 12 kph.

 

[Bob lincs]

Consensus on this forum is that a rapid should go at least 12 kph.

Why though ?

 

[Drillman]

Why though ?

Otherwise it would be called a vaderstad tortoise......

 

[Refco]

170 Hp here on a 3m Rapid, piece of p*** on the level but on some of our banks i have to plan which way i approach them and make sure theres only a tonne in the drill and not 1.5 or 2 tonne.
16kph on level is easy, sometimes down to 8kph on the steepest banks and have to take weight of the 4 drill front press wheels to get traction on the tractor rear end to make it up the hill.

Similar here. Have 160 hp on the front of a 3m rapid box drill, which is more than adequate 95% of the time. Do have some hills where I need to transfer the weight of the press wheels to the three point hitch otherwise the tractor wheels dog holes!

How deep you put the discs / paddles makes a huge difference to the draught.

 

[snipe]

These type of drill need speed to get the cultivation system to work. The more speed the more the soil is worked to create a better tilth. As for seed placement I’ve used a vaderstad and horsch pronto at speeds up to 20k just to test them and you can’t tell any difference compared to 10k. The clue is in there name rapid and pronto.

 

[Will 1594]

The bigger question is why do so many people powerharrow before a Rapid and work the soil to powder?
Within 10 minutes from me I can count 5 farms where they drill with a 6m rapid behind a Challenger with 3 240hp tractors and 6m powerharrows in front.
These same farms drilled with 6-8m air drills behind 120hp tractors in the 90’s with 3 120hp tractors and 4m powerharrows in front and still got drilled up in time with a lot less compaction and capital tied up.

That's sunk island for you

 

[casemx 270]

Try pulling you're 6 metre drill in less than ideal conditions like we had last autumn and your opinion would soon change we pull ours with 340 hp and sometimes I wonder whether that's enough this year I ve drilled 550 ha of wheat in the best conditions i have ever seen and pulled the fastest I have ever purely because conditions are spot on next year will be different. Today I drilled the last of our wheat, one field the conditions in places weren't the best so I needed to work the system discs harder to improve the seedbed this field is very hilly I needed all the power to maintain a decent forward speed