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85E Cat Challenger Tractor: The Cat 85E Challenger tractor is designed for the maximum comfort and performance for the farmer. This tractor is a 375 HO tractor with an air ride suspension for smooth riding in the various field conditions that the farmer will face. This no power hop tractor has a power shift and all the extra features to keep the farmer happy. The traction of the Cat is not comparable to a four wheel drive tractor. This tractor is designed for farming the fields in a straight line for seeding and any other farming situation it faces. The price of the Cat is $245,000 and it is well worth it!
7300 Maxim Air Drill: The 7300 Morris Maxim Air Drill is an air drill systems that have very few drawbacks. The cultivator itself is 40 ft, with 12" spacings, and a paired row double shoot opener. The openers had the Carbon metallic tips to ensure seed depth accuracy and excellent seed placement. The tank holds 120 bushels in the seed tank and 180 bushels in the fertilizer tank. The interchangeable sprockets made it easy to get accurate seeding rates. The variable fan speeds ensured proper airflow throughout the entire drill. The loading auger made it easy to transfer the product in and out of the drill. The price of the drill is approximately $97,500 and an excellent seeding system.
Performance in the Field
The Cat Tractor in the field conditions: The Cat Challenger has its good points as well as bad points in the tough field conditions. The tractor is designed for going straight in the field and not really designed for farming the headlands on a field. This means that when you are farming the headlands you have to plan ahead for the turns and any other situations that may arise during seeding conditions. Like when turning you have to leave yourself room to turn around in the field or you will leave big ruts in the field because of the tracks. Other situations that seemed to arise during use of the Cat, was that the tractor had problems turning while going up hills. The tractor would lose all power and slow down because of the tack system design.
The Maxim Air Drill in the Field: The Maxim Air Drill in the field was a relatively smooth running machine in the field. During operation we never had any problems with tips breaking because of the carbon metallic tips. The seed shoots where vary rarely plugged and along with the packers. The only problem that did arise was when you had to wing up for transport. Something was twisted somewhere on the cultivator itself. This was a problem that kept coming up through the entire spring.
The cultivator during seeding was put through a number of test situations. For example, some farmers had a lot of rocks in the field and it just cut right through them. Another test for it was in a heavy straw situation. With the 12" spacing the cultivator also cut right through without any problems. In this situation if the cultivator had 10" spacings the straw would have packed in under the cultivator. In turn, causing you to swing out and either to re-seed that spot again or having to stop and harrow the field first.
The Air tank was very promising because of its design. The tank was a 60/40 split. The design of the tank was really liked by the farmers, due to the split walkway on top of the tank. This was an excellent benefit for the farm when he wanted to look in the tanks while on top of the tank. When loading the tanks the auger was a pain to use because either it was too heavy or it just needed to be balanced better for the farmer. Setting the seed and fertilizer rates was a simple chore. It was just a matter of looking at the charts and putting the right sprocket size on the shaft. The only problem with this type of setting was that you could not get exactly the rate you want. But you can get within a couple of pounds by being over or under the desired rate.
When cleaning out the tanks the design could have been better because it was harder to move the auger into a good position to empty it out. Seed shoot would get in the way and spray the seed all over the place and ending up on the ground.
SUMMARY
The 7300 Maxim Air Drill is an excellent direct seeding system. The Air Drill had its problems and its moments in the field situations it faced. Example winging up problems. The Cat Challenger tractor also had its good and bad points during its use in the field. Example turning problems going up a hill. In the end, the Cat Challenger tractor and the 7300 Maxim Air Drill was an excellent direct seeding system.
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