At the beginning of 2023, we were looking for a front press for our 4.50m power harrow drill combi. It soon became clear that the used market had slim pickings, and new machines were expensive.
Since we had recently bought a new packer for our main 4.50m Agrisem cultivator, we decided to make our own front press and use the Agrisem’s original roller. The 70cm diameter, 2.25m wide rolls were still good enough for this job because they only had to support little more than their own weight.
Most of the key parts we used were already scattered around the farm. For instance, the 140mm box section was from a scrapped manure scraper. The hydraulic cylinders came from the linkage of a Joskin slurry tanker, and an old A-frame was also given a new lease of life.
The only components we bought were the weld-in bushes for the 40mm pivot pins, the hydraulic hoses and the all-important LED lights. Altogether, we spent less than €300 on materials.
Since we are mostly on sloping ground, we wanted good steering and contour following. There is a pivot in front of each wing so they can move independently. We also spent a bit of time getting the headstock geometry right so the tractor’s lift arms run parallel to the ground and slightly upwards towards the front press. This prevents the weight being taken off the front axle, so the tractor has no problem still steering, even on slopes. In fact, thanks to arranging the pivoting point in front of the individual rollers, the press is even easier to steer, because the rollers steer slightly uphill despite downhill drift.
When folded, the more than 2.0t press is less than 3.0m wide. As we arranged the coupling points above the rolls, the press doesn’t stick out too much from the tractor.
Johannes Zillgen
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