tracks vs tyres

[Brisel]

Stability? Tracked combines are around 50cm narrower than tyres so even with some sidewall flex across slopes you won't be more stable with tracks unless you got a sudden tyre deflation.

 

[Phil P]

Stability? Tracked combines are around 50cm narrower than tyres so even with some sidewall flex across slopes you won't be more stable with tracks unless you got a sudden tyre deflation.

Think he means less bounce and smoother across tramlines and ruts etc.

 

[jonnyjon]

Stability? Tracked combines are around 50cm narrower than tyres so even with some sidewall flex across slopes you won't be more stable with tracks unless you got a sudden tyre deflation.

Wrong, tracked combine is much more stable on side slopes due to no sidewall flex

 

[Fish]

ain't no tracked combines on these side hills

 

[Brisel]

Think he means less bounce and smoother across tramlines and ruts etc.

Yes, that's a fair point. Still a higher centre of gravity on a narrower width.

50 cm of tyre lateral flex? No. I've run Hillside combines here for 15 years with several fields in excess of maximum 22 degrees of chassis tilt (you get a warning in the cab when it hits the stops) and never seen that much flex. Hellish lateral forces on the track gangs though.

 

[jonnyjon]

Yes, that's a fair point. Still a higher centre of gravity on a narrower width.

50 cm of tyre lateral flex? No. I've run Hillside combines here for 15 years with several fields in excess of maximum 22 degrees of chassis tilt (you get a warning in the cab when it hits the stops) and never seen that much flex. Hellish lateral forces on the track gangs though.

My tracked combine does not lean on hillsides unlike all previous wheeled combines I've owned. Unless you require a hillsider, tracks are all no brainer imo

 

[General-Lee]

ain't no tracked combines on these side hills

Our JD Hillmaster occasionally throws a wobbly and goes the wrong or way or sticks, you wouldn’t want that happening there!!

 

[e3120]

Yes, that's a fair point. Still a higher centre of gravity on a narrower width.

50 cm of tyre lateral flex? No. I've run Hillside combines here for 15 years with several fields in excess of maximum 22 degrees of chassis tilt (you get a warning in the cab when it hits the stops) and never seen that much flex. Hellish lateral forces on the track gangs though.

What did working towards the tilt limit do to residue spread performance?

 

[Brisel]

What did working towards the tilt limit do to residue spread performance?

Not good at all. The JD Hillmaster has quick access buttons for left and right bias but in reality this means the downhill side always fires chopped straw into the standing crop unless you really bring the pattern in and the uphill side never throws far enough. In fibrous strawed crops like spring barley or spring oats you bung the knife sections on the crop edge. A rigid chassis machine would be best where you’re fine tuning the pattern for wind shear only. A straw rake pass at an angle can even it out ok.

 

[ollie989898]

The trouble with this analysis is that the belt/track is assumed to be rigid between the axles, but I remember reading an expert saying that this not true. Depending on the number of rollers between the axles, the track bends up noticeably, meaning that pressure varies greatly as the track rolls over the soil surface. Just watch as one drives by, and the undulations of the track are very obvious.
And watch a Challenger as it gets to the end of the row and lifts its plough etc up - it rolls back onto the rear axle and soil pressure rises into the tens of bars.

Years ago I was working alongside a Cat 55 with a 6 furrow Dowdeswell plough, fully mount, every time he lifted at the headland you could see the weight go straight into the rear cross-member and it would press those tracks right in, I don't know what a Cat 55 would weigh but they were not light themselves.