New McHale terra drive axle option
Well-known for its Fusion baler wrapper combination, Irish manufacturer McHale has launched an interesting option at the recent Irish Ploughing Match.
Its Pro-Glide F3100 and R3100, front and rear mounted mower conditioners, in development for four seasons, use a a bought-in cutter-bar assembly but otherwise take their design and manufacturing input from McHale. Both machines cut 3.1m wide and use a full width, gearbox driven conditioner with steel swinging tines.
Out front the F3100 has up to 500mm of 'in-work' movement and a newly designed suspension system using a cam lock to maintain the required ground pressure through the travel range. A double pivot pin at the centre of the machine offers 17 degrees of lateral movement.
In operation the suspension is also configured to adjust the cutter-bar angle as it moves over the ground, by tilting it up as it travels over a bump and down as it moves through a hollow, so maintaining uniform cutting height across the paddock.
At the rear the R3100 rear mo-co has a suspension system positioned above the central pivot point over the cutter-bed. This gives a wide range of movement and uses the Pro-Glide system springs to allow the mower to move back and up in an arc should any obstacles be encountered. This is further supplemented by a separate mechanical break-back unit for larger obstacles it might encounter.
In work, ground pressure is controlled hydraulically and displayed on a headstock mounted indicator gauge. For transport the rear unit folds vertically over centre to around 110 degrees to minimise transport width.
Graeme Leigh, general manager for importer Power Farming, says that due to limited production till 2016 the company will evaluate the machine before considering a release for the 2016-17 season.
