Hp for mole drainer

[Whistler]

How much hp for a single and twin leg mole drainers

Tia

 

[tr250]

Depends really but hp isn’t really the issue it’s weight and grip. A 90 hp crawler will pull one but with a wheeled tractor 130-150 with good tyres and plenty of weight should pull a single leg but we tend to pull ours with 200hp. From looking over the hedge at neighbors the smaller challengers will pull 2 and quad tracks pull 3

 

[Farmer_Joe]

We used a 100hp but followed it with Jcb pushing the mole in and the whole thing forward, just depends how stoney your ground it

 

[Banana Bar]

We’ve mole drained 1000s of acres at 24” deep with 93 horsepower and zero wheelslip.
We’ve also not been able to mole drain with 600 hp.
Weight is essential, 93 hp was a 1950 D-7 on a single leg, 600 hp was a Quadtrac on a twin leg. Currently have a Challenger 775e for mole draining, it will pull a twin leg if conditions are very good otherwise we hook a single leg on.

BB

 

[John]

Depends really but hp isn’t really the issue it’s weight and grip. A 90 hp crawler will pull one but with a wheeled tractor 130-150 with good tyres and plenty of weight should pull a single leg but we tend to pull ours with 200hp. From looking over the hedge at neighbors the smaller challengers will pull 2 and quad tracks pull 3

As said it’s more about traction than hp. We used to use an old d8 which I think is 230hp but now use a 8370rt. Nothing will stop the d8 with the twin leg and the jd will scrab a bit sometimes but no one will drive the d8

 

[John]

We’ve mole drained 1000s of acres at 24” deep with 93 horsepower and zero wheelslip.
We’ve also not been able to mole drain with 600 hp.
Weight is essential, 93 hp was a 1950 D-7 on a single leg, 600 hp was a Quadtrac on a twin leg. Currently have a Challenger 775e for mole draining, it will pull a twin leg if conditions are very good otherwise we hook a single leg on.

BB

we had a765c that was rubbish on the twin leg

 

[Banana Bar]

we had a765c that was rubbish on the twin leg

Our old 765d was rarely any good on the twin leg, mind, it was always f****** broken down! 775e better but weight is required for traction, horsepower largely irrelevant .

 

[tr250]

As said it’s more about traction than hp. We used to use an old d8 which I think is 230hp but now use a 8370rt. Nothing will stop the d8 with the twin leg and the jd will scrab a bit sometimes but no one will drive the d8

Am I right in saying a D8 is over 20 tons

 

[clbarclay]

As above, if the tractor is heavy enough to pull a mole plough, then it will be more than powerful enough to.
It is a slow speed operation. The tractor will have ample power to pull faster, but it can impair how long the mole drain lasts, and the mole plough too for that matter. the optimum speed is around 3 mph

Besides single or twin leg, other factors include the soil type and subsoil layers as well as moisture, mole depth and diameter. There is an nominal minimum ratio between depth and diamter of around 6 to 1 (varies a bit with the soil), so a larger diameter mole needs to be put in much deeper and will take a lot more pulling as a result. The depth you mole at of course needs to fit with any existing drainage or underground features (rocks, water pipes, electric cables etc.). Too shallow over drains with porous fill and it can end up miss the fill. Too deep and you will damage whatever it hits.

 

[yellow belly]

i used a ford 8210 full water and double front weights
new holland 8340 with full water and full weight pack
8360 and 8670 on a single leg need weight for grip

on a twin leg
case 335 with full wheel weights and front pack
now use t7 hd 315 with 2.5 tonne on the rear linkage and 1 tonne on the front linkage on 800 38 tyres

if you have too much horse power it is tempting to travel too quickly and make a poor mole

with a twin leg we mole in the spring after drilling before emergance on notill land ,this is 25% easier and gives the mole chance to harden as the land dries out
it is often too dry for moleing in the autumn and takes a lot of extra power and fuel

we also now gps the moles so when we remole we can straddle the last moleing and by using controlled trafic notill for drilling and combining we have eliminated the need for subsoiling
i now mole more often to ensure there is always effective moles at all times this allows us a weeks earlier drying in the spring

 

[tr250]

i used a ford 8210 full water and double front weights
new holland 8340 with full water and full weight pack
8360 and 8670 on a single leg need weight for grip

on a twin leg
case 335 with full wheel weights and front pack
now use t7 hd 315 with 2.5 tonne on the rear linkage and 1 tonne on the front linkage on 800 38 tyres

if you have too much horse power it is tempting to travel too quickly and make a poor mole

with a twin leg we mole in the spring after drilling before emergance on notill land ,this is 25% easier and gives the mole chance to harden as the land dries out
it is often too dry for moleing in the autumn and takes a lot of extra power and fuel

we also now gps the moles so when we remole we can straddle the last moleing and by using controlled trafic notill for drilling and combining we have eliminated the need for subsoiling
i now mole more often to ensure there is always effective moles at all times this allows us a weeks earlier drying in the spring

Does your moling make the fields rough in a direct drilling scenario very few of our fields can be moled the same way as the tramlines and it seems to leave it heaved up

 

[Magnificent Earwig]

Does your moling make the fields rough in a direct drilling scenario very few of our fields can be moled the same way as the tramlines and it seems to leave it heaved up

We’ve installed a wheel on the rear of our Maidwell which seems to help with the issue of heaving, only used it on some permanent pastures this spring but were happy with the results, maybe conditions were ideal at the time also helped.

 

[tr250]

We’ve installed a wheel on the rear of our Maidwell which seems to help with the issue of heaving, only used it on some permanent pastures this spring but were happy with the results, maybe conditions were ideal at the time also helped.

Do you have any pics of what you’ve done I might try the same with ours

 

[Magnificent Earwig]

Do you have any pics of what you’ve done I might try the same with ours

It was actually one that Ron Hankins supplied, I’ll take some pictures tomorrow, if I get the chance.

 

[Fruitbat]

50hp per inch comes to mind, could be wrong though.