The south German manufacturer isn’t venturing into the drinks business, but, when it comes to energy, Fliegl certainly seems to have plenty of pep. Its latest forage machine addition is the Cutaro self-propelled mower.
KEEPING IT BRIEF
- Fliegl announced it was taking on the Cutaro last year.
- The working width of the 355hp self-propelled is now 10.50m. It weighs 8.50t.
- The mower beds and conditioners are driven hydraulically.
They may not have invented it, but Fliegl is putting its engineering and manufacturing know-how into the Cutaro self-propelled mower.
Developed back in 2022 by ARB-Tec from Switzerland, the initial design concept had a transport width of 3.50m and used Claas mower beds. We actually took a look at the SR1100 in the Harvest Special in 2023.
ARB-Tec was looking for an investor to market and manufacture its creation. This is where Andreas Fliegl, son of Josef Fliegl, came into the picture last year. Andreas heads the German firm’s growing grassland division, which, in addition to the former Claas forage wagons and silage trailer lines, also includes the ex-Kaweco small wheeled loaders. These are made at Fliegl’s Kirchdorf factory near the Austrian border.
One of the first jobs was to trim back the transport width to the 3.00m needed for several European markets. To achieve this, the chassis was modified so the mowers on the wings now fold more inward. The central front mower has been swapped from an eight-disc to a seven-disc bed. The two side mowers are still nine-disc beds, with the two outer and two inners discs on each side feeding the crop towards the middle.
Claas to Comer
Wanting to remain independent, it is now sourcing the cutterbars from component supplier Comer. Fliegl says it has adapted the beds for the Cutaro. At the moment, the blades are still bolted on, but quick-change knives are set to follow. The shafts for the conditioner are welded and balanced in-house along with the trailed suspension for the mowers.
Unlike the Krone Big M, the Cutaro doesn’t have a swath merging system. Fliegl says it already has some ideas for this, but wants to gain experience with the current Cutaro configuration. Thanks to the mower drums and a hydraulically adjustable deflector plate, 1.0m of each of the outer mowing units can be directed towards the centre — even without an auger.
Fliegl is living life close to the edge with just 5cm of overlap between the mowers to achieve an overall working width of 10.50m. A working width of 10.00m is probably more realistic, even when the Cutaro is travelling in an almost straight line. Lateral adjustment of the outer mowers is standard.
Familiar cab
It has stuck with Claas for the X11 cab which has welcome air suspension. And because of the redesigned arms for the narrower transport width, the operator can now climb into the cab more easily when the mowers are folded. The armrest retains a lot of its Claas DNA, but Fliegl makes its own joystick and control terminal.
Compared to the Big M, the Cutaro relies on a fully hydrostatic drive system. Not only are the front-axle wheel motors driven hydraulically with Rexroth pumps, so too are the mower beds and conditioners. This configuration gives the operator a lot of speed setting options. In addition, it can also automatically alter the bed speed in relation to your forward speed.
Not only can you adjust the speed of the conditioners, but you can also change their direction. In very dry conditions, reversing the conditioner unit is gentler on the crop, helping reduce leaf loss compared to more intensive conditioning. We can hopefully try this out in a practical test in the future, as we hadn’t much of a crop to cut this time due to the drought.
The Cutaro also differs from the Big M in terms of weight, tipping the scales at just 8.5t; that’s also a lot less than a comparable tractor and triple combination.
When in crop mowing mode, it has an 85:15 weight split with the majority of the weight resting on the front VF 710/65 R26.5 tyres. Despite its Swiss origins, there is no four- wheel-drive option, but Fliegl hasn’t ruled this out for the future.
Other details
- The mowers are pulled and have centre pivot mounting for ground following.
- The mowers can be swapped for flail-type mulchers.
- Reversible fan is standard.
- The ground pressure and cutting height are hydraulically adjusted.
- With rear-wheel steering, the Cutaro is able to turn into the next bout in a single manoeuvre.
- Reichert supplies the optional auto-steer system.
- Does this mean that Fliegl will be offering tractor-mounted mowers in its product line in the future? There is no definitive answer to that question just yet.
Tobias Bensing
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