PRACTICAL TEST: High in capacity, easy to fathom and easy to use, the centre-swathing, four-rotor Liner 4000 rake is the biggest in the Claas family
Any four-rotor rake is an impressive piece of kit once set out for work. This one, with its forward arms arching like an arachnid’s legs, is more impressive than most — and not least for its ability to swath 14.8m of crop in one pass.
Claas says that the team in charge of the Liner 4000’s design had to come up with a rake able to cover a lot of ground, yet fold with minimal fuss into a conventional-sized package for the road. The end result confirms a good job done, and the user doesn’t have to take off any tine arms before hitting the tarmac.
The main spine frame is in two parts: the forward section carries two chubby 620/40 R 22.5 tyres, pto shafts and the front arms; the rear section has the two back arms plus lights.
The secret to the Liner 4000’s compact fold-up is in those forward arms. Each is in three sections, making the Liner 4000 look like a spider poised to scuttle when in work. We weren’t convinced that such slim constructions, stretched so far out from the rake’s spine frame, could put up with the forces generated by rotors the size of the London Eye — but we were wrong.
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