Standard and long-life wear parts go head-to-head in field test

Replacing worn-out parts on ground-engaging implements is costly. Equipment manufacturer Bednar recently carried out a trial to find out whether long-life parts made more financial sense.

- Stehan Cloete

Dry soil compacted by years of ploughing and with no sign of any deep tillage at all: these are arguably the toughest ploughing conditions that can be experienced in a field.

In a recent comparative test to determine the financial benefit of long-life parts, tillage equipment company Bednar used a Terraland TN 3000HD7R chisel plough.

The Terraland has automatic hydraulic reset with a rigid frame that allows for a working depth of 650mm to break through any plough pan.

Two features that set the implement apart from its competitors are easy-to-operate working depth adjustment from the cab, and a depth indicator visible from the driver’s seat.

BADLY COMPACTED SOIL

The lands used for testing totalled 250ha and varied from sand to red loam. Compaction was severe, as was obvious when an excavator was used to open the soil profile to a depth of 1,2m.

The first 120mm of the soil comprised a loosened plough layer and the next 80mm consisted of a settled layer. The soil between 200mm and 800mm deep was extremely compacted, due mostly to frequent ploughing. The subsoil below 800mm was not as badly compacted as the 600mm action band above.

With these harsh conditions, an accelerated rate of wear on the ground-engaging parts of the plough was expected.