Custom transportable folding frame for 6 heads at wide configurations

Issues regularly faced by operators and owners with original equipment:

1. Inability to pick 6 rows in one pass if the row spacings are greater than 40”

2. Excessive wheel contact when the picker does not correctly match the planting equipment due to pass overlap.

3. Rearward flex of the outer units during normal operation, the magnitude of which is amplified when extended for skip rows or wider rows than 1m.

4. Inability to accurately follow the ground contour at ‘greater than standard’ widths.

5. Excess loads are applied to the frame carrying arms, pins and adjustment bolts, and ultimately to the frame of the machine due to the extra weight combined with the inadequate design of the attachment configuration.

6. Sagging frames, broken or worn attachment pins and bent rails are often a problem on older machines due to the bouncing and occasional ground contact over time.

7. Downtime removing sections of the frame and the inconvenience of having to cart those parts separate to the machine, when transporting the machine from farm to farm.

Key features of our product

1. 3-piece frame eliminates the standard ‘broken centre’ design which causes most of the fatigue damage. This is much stronger than the factory design.

2. Forward folding wings for ease of switching from a narrow configuration out to a wide configuration.

3. Legal road travel width of 5.5m can be achieved by folding the outer sections forward and around in front of the picking units, without having to haul heavy components on a separate vehicle.

4. Increased strength and vastly decreased rearward flex under heavy picking conditions.

5. Superior ground following capability due to the natural contour following ability of a hinged design.

6. Reduced strain on the machine chassis and frame compared to extended original frames.

Notes on our frames

1. We use John Deere parts where possible in the picking units for our ground following functionality as well as readily available hydraulic valves and fittings elsewhere to minimize potential downtime and cost of repairs.

2. The kit is completely removable and transferrable to a replacement machine (all historically available 7760 models through to the current cp770).

3. Kits can be tailored to your needs; only purchase the parts you need, to suit a standard machine or a previously widened machine.

4. We incorporate metric and imperial row indexing holes on our frame for easy setup.

5. Draw bolt and tension cable system does not obstruct vision when picking.

6. Our frame moves the picking units forward 75mm which allows for fitment of a broader range of tyre options.