Pöttinger is now offering the Flowtast glide bar as an option to replace the standard bogie systems on its 7.7m to 8.4m twin rotor Top 842C rake.

The wide plastic slides are designed to improve ground following over wet or peaty soils by increasing the surface contact area of each rotor.

First seen at Agritechnica last November, Pöttinger developed the Flowtast concept to improve its rake's load-bearing capacity and to reduce forage contamination by gliding over wet or peaty soils.

Pöttinger says that when a wheeled chassis reaches its limits and starts to sink in, its tines will inevitably scrape the ground and pull clay into the swath, causing contamination.

Having tested various materials, the Austrian manufacturer went with a hard wearing plastic (PE1000) over other material types for the construction of the Flowtast glide bar. Each glide bar consists of five replaceable 15mm thick plates.

The wide plastic slides are designed to improve ground following over wet or peaty soils by increasing the surface contact area of each rotor.

The Flowtast system is mounted close to the tines, tracking the ground across the full raking length of the tine arc. A hydraulic cylinder alleviates the weight of each rotor unit, resulting in a low ground pressure of around 200kg, the firm say.

The Multitast jockey wheel system can be fitted as an option for additional ground tracking performance when coupled with the Flowtast blide bar.