PRACTICAL TEST: While Pöttinger’s moving headboard design is neat, it’s something that nearly every other manufacturer now offers. Times, to be blunt, have moved on. So, today, it’s the driveline with the power belt that sets the Jumbo 7400 apart, and we’ve been seeing just how much of a difference this configuration can make.
The Jumbo has always been a solid performer in the Pöttinger wagon line-up, though it was more a case of evolution rather than revolution as the range adjusted to more horsepower and output over the seasons. That all changed in 2021, however, when the firm unveiled a new generation of flagship grass-collecting boxes in the form of the six-model 7000 series. We say six, but for the UK and Ireland it is really three — the 7400, 7470 and 7540, which dump the forage straight out the back. If these happen to have dosing rotors in the rear, then they are called 7380DB, 7450DB and 7520DB. Previously, Pöttinger popped an L or D on the end of the model number to denote if it was fitted without or with dosing rotors.
There is another key change, with the model name highlighting the DIN rather than the compressed load capacity. DIN uses width, height and length of the machine to determine actual volume, rather than relying on some vague math with a sprinkling of witchcraft to come up with a compressed load figure. In other words, if you ever come to comparing forage wagon capacities when making a buying decision, it’s the DIN rating that’s the one you want to use.
The final logic in the model naming was calling it the Jumbo 7000 range, which has since been joined by the Jumbo 8000, the latter having more knives — 48 versus 65 for those operators demanding an even shorter chop length of 25mm compared with 34mm.
Back to the beginning
The Austrian maker tasked its engineers with coming up with a new flagship forage wagon design that would give a significant boost in output, rather than more of the same. The headline features of this new wagon range are the belt-based driveline for the rotor, the new pick-up assembly with more travel, a steel floor, different type of knife design and, of course, that moving front headboard as well as better automatic functions.
Our test machine is a 7400, which as standard has a capacity of 40m³; with the additional yellow greedy board added to the top, this is
boosted to 42m³ , and, as a result, the overall height creeps from 3.89m on R26.5 tyres to 3.99m on the 800/45 R26.5s fitted here. This hydro-pneumatic running gear in place of standard parabolic leaf springs. This set-up was debuted on the 20-series Jumbo Combiline for the 2020 season (see profi 6/2020), so it’s not new per se … although it’s still impressive to see how the wagon handles on bends when fully loaded.
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