Farmers who need a dozer blade at the front of their centre-articulated tractor have historically been at odds with tractor manufacturers.
Over the years, there have been issues with the fine print, warranty, liability and a few lawsuits.
Tractor builders say that a centre-articulated tractor is a pulling machine rather than a pushing ma-chine. Pushing is the job of a single frame tractor.
Farmers, on the other hand, argue that they have a large investment in a machine that has both the weight and the power to perform a lot of work. But they can’t make the most of their investment unless they can push silage, bush and snow.
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“In the 60 years of our family’s business, we’ve put more than 55,000 blades on tractors,” says Paul Degelman of Degelman Industries.
“Tractor engineers never like it when someone puts a blade on one of their tractors, but the reality is that your big tractor becomes a pretty nice tool with a blade on the front. The blade lets you get more work out of your investment.”
Degelman said the debate seems to be subsiding as newer generations of tractors are designed to accept a blade. Some manufacturers send Degelman samples of each new tractor model so engineers can work out the best mounting system.
“But it’s still somewhat of an issue. The dealers want to sell big 4×4 tractors so guys can push silage, but they don’t want the responsibility if something goes wrong.
“If something breaks, is it the tractor’s fault or is it the blade? Or is it just a bad combination of things. So far, we’ve been pretty successful putting blades on those big articulated 4×4 tractors. It’s more than 50 percent of our business and there have been very few problems.”
Dairy producers and feedlot operators have traditionally used regular dozer blades for filling silage feed bunkers. The dozer blade is adequate, but not perfect.
Big heavy tractors are required to provide sufficient packing, but they sink in the silage. Sinking in silage means losing effective blade height in the bunker.
The other problem is the amount of ground clearance that is sacrificed because of the front sub-frame. A dragging sub-frame limits a tractor’s efficiency in other farm operations.
