Irish trailers hitting the sweet spot
While many contractors still use trucks for haulage duties, the last decade, with the advent of larger tractors, has seen a great deal of interest in the use of high volume, high-spec tipping trailers.
Farmers looking to get their fix of such behemoths had something to drool over on the 4Ag site at National Fieldays.
Built in Portugal, the Herculano trailer displayed there comes from a company specialising in all forms of trailers from 10 to 50cu.m. This unit was shown in an interesting dual-purpose configuration.
As a dump trailer it can hold about 19cu.m level-filled or 24cu.m heaped. Add a substantial harvest crate and capacity climbs to 50cu.m.
The body is tapered for easy unloading, made from Hardox 450 ROC steel 6mm thick. This model has plenty of strength but a lower tare weight – about 11.5 tonnes – and its substantial chassis has a tridem (triple) axle layout.
The unit at Fieldays was one of several operated by Grant Barber, a grass farmer and contractor at Himatangi, Manawatu. He tows it usually with tractors about 230hp. The set-up has a K80 ball coupling, active steering and air brakes all combining for a safe operation.
The tridem axle bogie uses front and rear steering to achieve tighter turns and is shod with 600-26.5 wheel and tyre equipment for load carrying and a large footprint to reduce damage in the paddock.
Several features add to the convenience of use: an integral PTO-driven hydraulic system, onboard weighing, auto greasing, hydraulically actuated rear door and rollover tarpaulin.
It also has axle stabilisation during the tipping process.
