Friday, 28 May 2021 12:55

Clever hitch system boosts safety

Written by  Staff Reporters
The Siwi combi hitch is fully automatic, allowing a tractor to reverse and hook up an implement without the driver needing to leave the cab. The Siwi combi hitch is fully automatic, allowing a tractor to reverse and hook up an implement without the driver needing to leave the cab.

Rasmus Helms, owner of the Danish company Siwi, designed and manufactured his first combi-hitch in 2012, in response to the increasing numbers of crushing and PTO-derived fatalities occurring when connecting implements to tractors.

Since then, the company has gone on to deliver systems throughout Europe, Canada, the USA and Japan.

The Siwi combi hitch is a fully automatic quick connector that allows a tractor to reverse and hook up an implement without the driver needing to leave the cab. The system includes tractor and implement/trailer modules to automatically connect hydraulic couplers, pneumatic brakes, PTO drivelines and different electrical systems.

Accommodating up to eight hydraulic couplers and two power plugs for trailer lights, the tractor module fits on a standard three-point linkage. A multi-electrical module is also available for ISOBUS, cameras and different control boxes.

"Hooking up a tractor-implement combination can be time consuming, tiring and poses a potential risk to the operator," says the manufacturer. "Our innovative technology is replacing the job that took minutes to seconds, but more importantly, keeping the operator safely in the tractor seat."

Another further benefit is the simplification of being able to do several jobs with one tractor and one operator. As an example, it can be used to quickly unhitch a lime spreader, using the towing tractor with a front loader to load the machine, hitch back up and continue spreading. The combi hitch can also be customised for fitment to self-propelled foragers.

The system has also been used successfully by those with disabilities or mobility issues who wanted to return to jobs following acute trauma, negating the need for them to climb in and out of a tractor to connect implements.

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