It's back and already turning heads. The Crop Cruiser, an eye-catching self-propelled sprayer from the
GoldAcres stable, recently was rolled out at the Ballarat company’s inaugural Factory Expo in Victoria.
In warm autumn sunshine, a healthy portion of the 800 farmers who trekked to the three-day event had an ideal opportunity to put it though its paces.
The company's engineering manager, Roger Richards, said feed-back on the new 168kW (225hp) 6.7L Cummins engine drew appreciative comments, also for the machine's revised internal cab layout, plus new wiring arrangements.
The background behind the upgrade centres on production ceasing last year in the light of factory re-structuring.
"We just got so busy building the tow-behinds that we didn't have time to also build the Crop Cruisers," Mr Richards said. "As well, we just ran out of space."
Today, Crop Cruisers are back on the company's sales inventory, benefiting from the attributes of the new Tier 3 emission-compliant engine which offers a significant performance increase over the previous 132kW (177hp) unit.
"All the while our customers are looking to travel faster with bigger tank capacities," Mr Richards said.
Sturdier chain-driven drop legs are needed because of the bigger engine and are said to be "pretty much indestructible" in the quest to absorb shock and side loading forces.
GoldAcres says attention to detail sees the new-generation Crop Cruisers able to offer a "far more superior" ride.
"That’s partly because of the airbag suspension but also because of the position of the cab in relation to where the wheels are," Mr Richards said.
"Forward-mounted cabs only accentuates the bumps. Our cab is behind the front wheels which smooths the ride."
Much is being made of the new 12-function joy stick controller.
"Just some of the functions include hydraulic raising and lowering of the booms, also tilt but the important thing is we have cruise control on this machine," Mr Richards said.
"This means it be operated just like a normal modern car."
With pretty much 360-degree all-round vision from the driver’s seat, users also get a good view of the front wheels, important in row crop situations.
Wheel track widths ranging between 2m and 4m can be specified and there is a choice of the company’s TriTech booms from 24m to 36m with break-away tips.
Crop Cruisers utilise a system of rear wheel drive and two wheel steer, employing a five-speed automatic Allison transmission.
Tank sizes range from 3000L to 6000L, a Raven 4070 controller is fitted and ground clearance is a useful 1.32m on 14.9R-46 tyres. Direct chemical injection comes courtesy of a 1,000L shuttle also is available.
* More machinery stories in this week's Rural Press weekly agricultural newspapers, out Thursday.
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