In the second episode of our series of technical films, “How Does It Roll?”, Grzegorz Bućko spoke about the types of dual wheels used in harvesting machinery. Oversea Sales Manager explained in details why dual wheels were introduced to the industry, why are they useful, who needs them and why.
The Association of Equipment Manufacturers divided combine harvesters into classes. Combine ranks are determined by the horsepower where the higher the horsepower the higher the class number.
Years ago, combine harvesters from classes 6 and lower accounted for over 95% of the market. The trends in machinery are changing due to the growth of global food demand. This is why currently combines from classes 7th up to 10th account for more than a half of all combines sold worldwide.
The surge in global food demand requires bigger harvest, that’s why weight of the machinery and their load capacity grows. Machines are more demanding, they need to perform better so the horsepower grows with machine’s weight. At some point single wheels were not sufficient anymore.
Dual wheels offer more stability and higher load-carrying capacity over single wheels. Dual kits also provide increased flotation and less soil compaction compared to single wheels.
Additionally, machines with dual wheels ale generally lighter and cause shallower soil compaction than machines with tracks. Especially in comparison to IF or VF technology tyres. Combines with tracks are also more fuel consuming than with wheels and tyres. Not to mention that machines with tracks cost more and tracks maintenance is quite expensive. Also, if you need to travel between fields by road you are also limited by lower road speeds when using tracks.
Throughout the years we’ve seen various types of dual wheels on harvesting machinery but we can differentiate three main groups. You can see all of them with the examples and differences between them in the video linked below.
P.S. If you have any questions about the film, feel free to ask them in the comments section below the film.
