Visitors to the FTMTA Grass & Muck will have seen John Kennedy’s two new machines. Those on the silage plots saw his Stealth silage push-type trailer in action with Claas and also in the silage pit.
Visitors to his stand were interested in his new slurry tanker that incorporates lots of interesting features.
John, who runs an agricultural contracting business outside Nenagh, Tipperary, set about designing a slurry tanker for use in his own fleet and for his farming brothers.
He aimed to tick all of the boxes based on his experienced wish list.
The slurry tanker that evolved is novel in design, which John claims will satisfy the needs of slurry tanker users who work across a range of conditions.
John aims to put this into production for the coming year.
The Stealth tanker is based on a 3,000-gallon capacity tank that has a recessed tank mounted onto a special chassis.
The distinguishing feature of the machine is the fact that it is fitted with a shortened, hydraulic drawbar to allow the large tanker wheels to run in a separate track from those of the tractor.
This means less field damage and lower levels of field compaction.
“We have used the tanker since March of this year and have noticed how little surface damage that it does on the field surface when it’s not running in the same track as the tractor wheels,” said John.
The offset tanker has proved to be stable on sloping fields and holds track to good effect, according to John.
He concedes that companies such as Peecon and Veenhuis have offered off-set drawbars in the past, but he takes his original design concept from a two-row Armer Salmon sugarbeet harvester that has been on the farm for years.
“The offset drawbar is based on the same principle as the Armer Salmon one and now it just needs to incorporate a locking device to keep the machine secure in-line on the road,” John added.
John has designed the hydraulic drawbar to be shorter than equivalent tanker drawbars.
This allows the machine to be more compact and manoeuvrable in farmyards.
It means that adding a trailing shoe attachment to the tanker does not mean a longer load on the overall combination, which is then about the same length as a regular tanker.
The fact that the tanker axle can be moved hydraulically allows the loading on the tractor to be varied to give greater traction on the field.
This is achieved by increasing the length of the distance between the tractor’s rear wheels and the single wheels of the tanker by up to 1.2m (4ft).
The axle can be moved hydraulically by this distance along the chassis of the machine.
“Shortening the drawbar on the road leads to a more stable tanker,” said John.
“With a shorter drawbar, there is no need for a drawbar suspension and the tanker is very stable on the road,” he added.
A feature of the Stealth tanker is a hydraulic drive to the tanker’s vacuum pump.
The Hertell vacuum pump is side-mounted on the tanker with the hydraulic plumbing contained within the structure of the hydraulic drawbar for neatness and safety.
The overall design of the tanker is based on a tank unit that is bolted to a flexible-type chassis.
This approach allows the chassis to be manufactured separately from the tank, leading to an easier manufacturing process, according to John.
The chassis is built to take the specific tanker and the bolts retain the tank in a recessed structure. The tank was an original 3,000-gallon capacity unit that has been reduced to 2,700 gallons to account for the larger than normal recessed structure that allows for the axle movement.
The chassis is fitted with a 10-stud, 12t-rated stepped axle to allow for a lower centre of gravity for the machine. The tanker includes air brakes as standard, which John believes provides the most practical and safest braking solution.
Adding these features to the slurry tanker will inevitably add to the cost. John is quoting a list price of €26,000 plus VAT for the tanker, with the hydraulic axle and drawbar making up close to €8,000 of this additional cost.
He is confident that the additional features will give safer operation and less soil damage.
John (086-2463813 or www.stealth.ie) was a recent winner in the JFC/Irish Farmers Journal Innovation Awards for his Stealth silage trailer. The trailer has been part of his fleet for the past season and offers scope to bring up to 30% more silage than a standard trailer, while unloading times are just as quick.
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