The motorized tractor is an agricultural machine suitable for various horticultural and gardening tasks, as it facilitates operations such as tillage and mowing the grass and hand tools such as shovel and hoe in large plots.
This equipment is powered by a gasoline or diesel engine, which delivers a maximum power of approximately 15 hp to a single crankshaft, and is maneuvered by the operator via a handlebar with vertically and laterally adjustable handlebars. The machine moves on two drive wheels, usually equipped with a differential.
The “two-wheel tractor” can easily be used by hobbyists and professionals and it is the right machine to carry out many activities planned throughout the year, from preparing the seedbed, to tending the vegetation in the orchard or garden, to mowing the spaces between rows or uncultivated areas. The versatility and multifunctionality of the drawbar are due to the possibility of combining it with different types equipment.
Indeed, a motorized tractor may include various accessories, carried or towed by the vehicle and actuated by the power take-off. The PTO is the part that transmits the movement of the engine to the accessory. It is sometimes gearbox independent, available with more forward, more reverse and more reverse. The most common equipment used on the “two-wheel tractor” are the tiller, the plow, the furrower, the rotary harrow for tillage, the cutter bar, the lawn mower, the forage harvester for cutting the sting of grass.
In some cases, other agricultural machinery (seeders, sprayers and, if the machine is equipped with a sit-down rear axle, small towed trailers) or non-agricultural implements, such as snow plow blade or turbine snow plow, sweepers , bombs Yes electricity generators .
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Tiller and milling machine: winning couple
Among the tools for the tiller, the most used is undoubtedly the cultivator, which is usually supplied as standard when purchasing agricultural machinery. The cultivator is actually a rotor with blades, each of which carries four hardened steel hoes. The rotary motion of the knives allows the clods to be broken up optimally so that the soil loosens up and the roots of the cultivated vegetables can easily penetrate.
When it is necessary to prepare the ground for planting, to mechanically remove weeds or to weed the space between the rows of horticultural crops, it is advisable to use a cutter with quick coupling, which can be installed on the drawbar without the use of tools.
Milling cutters are capable of milling for different widths (between 30 and 80 centimeters) and depths. Depending on the working width, the equipment requires between 5 and 12 horsepower. The milling depth is regulated by a special lever, which is located on the outside of the hood and acts on the central blade, ensuring that the tools work best in clay, medium-textured or sandy soils.
There are heavy-duty cutters with oil-bath gear transmission on the market , which are kept clean thanks to special protections. Another component that is commonly found in bar cutters is the surrounding hood. , which can be fixed or adjustable and makes it possible to contain the worked soil. Often without routine maintenance, the available models can also be equipped with a few optional accessories, such as the support wheel to facilitate the transport of the tiller and the rear milling furrower.
As an alternative to the tiller equipped with the cultivator, the rotary tiller can be used for tillage. You can find in the Orto Da Coltivare a comparison between the rotary cultivator and the rototiller.
The plow, an agricultural classic
Plowing helps to prepare the soil for subsequent operations and also to bury the residues of previous crops or weeds by letting them decompose. It is possible to combine a small plow with the tiller, but it must have good power and be equipped with weights and widened wheels to ensure good results.
The plow for the “two-wheeled tractor” can be of three types:
- single shaft plow This type of plow works with a single share and a share (mounted in front of the share) to cut the earth, as well as a shaping board to turn the slice of earth laterally and create the furrow. The tool is designed to turn the ground only to the right or left of the direction of travel. It has a working width of about 20 centimeters. Plowing depth, workpiece height and working angle can be adjusted using screws or levers.
- 180 degree turn . This plow uses two directionals, which are installed on the same drawbar in an opposite position of 180 degrees and operate one at a time. Like the single-shaft plow, the rotary eye plow for walk-behind tractors plows about 20 centimeters with each step.
- Rotary plough. Capable of plowing and milling in a single pass, the rotary plow is suitable for increasing soil permeability, destroying weeds, digging furrows and working all areas inaccessible to conventional plows. With an oil-bath gear transmission and adjustable working depth, the plow plows larger widths than other plows (approx. 25 centimeters ) and requires at least 8 horses .
The Motovanga
Another very useful application for the orchard is the motorized shovel or motorized shovel: a machine that allows to mechanize the same work carried out with the classic shovel and to obtain land worked in a different way from that of the farmer, particularly useful for organic farming. .
Perfect furrows with the furrower
An additional piece of equipment that can be combined with the tiller for opening furrows or ravines and for compacting after tillage is the coulter. offered in the versions Adjustable That is adjustable backhoe .
The adjustable model has a V-shaped body to break up the soil and two adjustable opening molds to create the furrow in the plowed soil, while the back-milled model is so called because it works simultaneously with the cultivator, helping to create furrows. Ideal for planting and irrigation.
The depth of penetration and the working angle of the furrower, which requires the installation of a ballast on the cultivator, can be adjusted by means of tie rods and screws. The width of the grooves which can go up to 40 or 60 centimeters depending on the model, depending on the degree of opening of the moldings.
Walk-behind tractor and cutter bar for mowing the grass
When combined with a header , the tiller is also suitable for cutting grass. There are motorized cultivators on the market equipped with cutting height adjustment devices and capable of mowing all types of grass clippings thanks to the mounting of different cutting equipment each characterized by working widths (usually between 80 and 210cm ).
Depending on the characteristics of the grass to be mowed, operators can choose central cutter bars , double blade with double push-pull movement, with traditional blade clamp That is semi-fine tooth . The bars equipped with two blades that move in opposite directions stand out for the reduction of vibrations transmitted to the handlebars and for the high quality of cut.
The knife presses are made of elastic material and allow the knife to always adhere optimally to the teeth, while the teeth are made of heat-treated special steel and have high wear resistance and a long service life. Another essential component of the cutter bars is the safety clutch, which intervenes when foreign bodies interfere with the operation of the blades and prevents damage to the cutting equipment.
lawn cultivator
To avoid the purchase of a special mower, it is also possible to attach a mower to the tiller , which keeps the green areas of orchards and gardens in excellent condition. Pull-type mowers can be equipped with a single blade (with a cutting width of approx. 50 centimeters) or with two pivoting knives (with a cutting width of 100 centimeters) and be equipped with the basket to collect the grass. It is obvious that the double blade models require more power (equal to at least 10-11 horsepower), while those without a basket laterally discharge the cut material leaving it in place.
Market mowers are durable with steel construction, reliable with oil bath gear transmission and in complete safety thanks to the automatic blade brake .
Other important components of the attachments are the adjustable front wheels for horizontal adjustment of the cutting deck, the lever for quickly adjusting the distance of the blades from the ground and thus the cutting height, the blade discs for minimizing damage caused by shocks or rebounds.
The grass is shaken by lawnmowers
For the management of uncultivated spaces, the destruction of plant residues and weeds in the inter-rows, the mulching of tall grass, the motor-tractor comes into play associated with a harvester which can be equipped with a single rotor with moving blades or a single blade .
Typically powered by diesel engines and fitted with swiveling front wheels, the single motor chipper uses an oil bath gear drive and roller with Y blades (or cutting blades) to cut widths of 60-110 centimeters and even shred prunings, which are then deposited on the ground. Also in this case, the cutting height is adjustable by means of a crank.
With an oil-bath gear drive and swiveling front wheels, the single-blade chopper enables cutting widths of approx. 80 centimeters , drop the crushed material on the ground, follow the contour of the ground as well as possible, and adjust the cutting height. All this requires a power of about 10 horses .