Has anyone cut a 6m Claydon Hybrid down to 4 or 4.8m?

[Brisel]

As above. My 8370R tractor finishes the contract hire deal next August & I will be replacing it with something smaller around 250 hp for pulling a 6m no till drill, probably a Horsch Sprinter with Dutch or Metcalf openers. I want to keep the Claydon for emergencies, contracting and fixing a shallow compaction problem on a smaller area.

Jeff Claydon told me the chassis is different on a 4m version so it's not as easy just to buy 4.8 m wings and move the leg/coulter assemblies over. For reasons I won't go into here I don't want to sell the 6m and buy a second hand 4.8m machine even if cash neutral.

 

[Steevo]

Would it not be easier to find a tractor you could hire/borrow when you needed to use the Clayton if it's fairly infrequent?

 

[Clive]

I would sell it or rethink the Horsch to a disc drill ? - I can’t see why you would want x2 tine options ? A Dutch or VOS shod Horsch isn’t miles different to a Claydon

If you have x2 drills one should be disc based imo

 

[Devon James]

Sell the 6 metre and buy my 4 metre!

 

[Case290]

Don’t cut it down just take the couple of tines out each side. then if things change no problems to re fit.

 

[Steevo]

Don’t cut it down just take the couple of tines out each side. then if things change no problems to re fit.

How do you do the headland run against the hedge?

 

[fred.950]

How do you do the headland run against the hedge?

Just take the tines off one side and run it offset

 

[ollie989898]

Hire a bigger tractor for the weeks it is needed. I wouldn't fudge about with the drill.

 

[Steevo]

Just take the tines off one side and run it offset

Then unbolt the outer one.....and put it on the other side for doing the centre of the field?

Neighbours will find it entertaining seeing all headlands of fields drilled first.....followed by filling the centres in!

 

[fred.950]

Hire a bigger tractor for the weeks it is needed. I wouldn't fudge about with the drill.

I don’t think hiring a tractor would be as easy or as cheap as you think just for the odd bit of drilling. The drill probably doesn’t owe him much by now so I would be in favour of a little cosmetic surgery!

 

[Steevo]

I don’t think hiring a tractor would be as easy or as cheap as you think just for the odd bit of drilling. The drill probably doesn’t owe him much by now so I would be in favour of a little cosmetic surgery!

Sure you'll find a man and tractor for £20/hr won't you?!

 

[tw15]

Cant see it to be too much trouble as long as depth wheels are still on the wings you are only taking of a few coulters off .What is wrong with just taking off coulters and leave the frame alone a couple of close rows might look messy but they still grow .
Tyne and a disc drill and then you have most conditions covered . Does it really matter about tramlines put them in with the sprayer . ?

 

[Case290]

have to leave a bit if it’s against a fence line

 

[tw15]

Not many of Brisels fields crop right up to fence line most have multiple wild bird strips . You could get around the problem by making a system to hydraulically drop a extra leg down for right against the hedge and use a tram liner shut off to let seed down when needed .

 

[Brisel]

Don’t cut it down just take the couple of tines out each side. then if things change no problems to re fit.

That’s the best idea so far thanks. I’ll still have a very heavy mounted drill - I have 1500 kg on the front of the long wheelbase 8R as it is.

The frame overhang isn’t an issue - as above, I have margins around most fields and even where not the cross compliance buffer strip means I won’t be dragging through a hedge. Telegraph poles in field will be trickier but most have beetle banks running along them anyway. It’s just the odd pole occasionally.

 

[ollie989898]

I don’t think hiring a tractor would be as easy or as cheap as you think just for the odd bit of drilling. The drill probably doesn’t owe him much by now so I would be in favour of a little cosmetic surgery!

I know people who have done it. Can book week to week or months at a time. I used to drive a hire tractor which was used largely to pull either a Discordon or a munter of a subsoiler.

 

[fred.950]

I know people who have done it. Can book week to week or months at a time. I used to drive a hire tractor which was used largely to pull either a Discordon or a munter of a subsoiler.

Oh sorry I misunderstood. I thought the drill was being kept just for emergencies.

 

[Brisel]

Oh sorry I misunderstood. I thought the drill was being kept just for emergencies.

Maybe not just emergencies. Some of my heavier land needs the tine at a few inches deep for another few years yet, not all of it.

Seasonal hire of this size of tractor isn't impossible, just pricey.