Types of Special Equipment Attachments

Farming, logging, construction and municipal works are carried out today with the use of special equipment. Modern machines are characterized by high productivity, functionality, reliability and stability. Attachments for machinery greatly expand the functionality of specialized machines. Among them, you can highlight forks, grabs, buckets, water drills, snow plows, sweepers, road mills, gravel driveway drag and more.

Attachments for special equipment are specialized mechanisms that are installed on tractors, tractors and special machines. The use of additional equipment can improve the efficiency of the entire production. Thanks to these devices, one unit of equipment can replace the entire fleet of vehicles. Farms, construction companies, utilities services can easily re-equip machinery for various tasks without buying new tractors thanks to the attachments.

The removable attachments for mini skid steer loaders are designed to expand the functionality and performance of special equipment. It is divided into 2 groups: simple mechanical and hydraulic attachments with additional drive. The first are attached to the boom with the help of latches, which are opened and closed manually by the operator. For quick change of hydraulic equipment, special quick couplers are used.

Mini loader manufacturers offer their own solutions for attachment of removable tools, which differ in connection dimensions. So, one manufacturer’s excavator and loader cutters may not fit another brand’s machine. This is done in order to “bind” the customer to its brand. How to put the attachment on the mini loaders of other brands? For this purpose intermediate frames, crowns and adapters for front loaders are used, which will give an opportunity to combine new attachments with old loaders and vice versa.

Types of attachments

Today there is a wide range of tractor attachments. It facilitates physical labor of workers, reduces time and material costs for farming. There are the following types of attachments:

• Sprayers for tractor. Designed for distribution of plant protection agents on agricultural land. Spraying of various means is a necessary measure for obtaining a quality and rich harvest. Field and garden models can be found on sale.
• Tractor mowers. Used for mowing and chopping weeds, grass, tree branches and post-harvest residue. There are also under-crown mowers, which are used for processing between the rows of trees and bushes. They minimize the use of pesticides, which significantly saves treatment costs.
• Driveway drag. They are responsible for the following functions: leveling and loosening the top layer of soil of the cultivated area, getting rid of weeds, seed and fertilizer application, pretreatment of land before planting.
• Cutters. Designed for tillage of the soil prior to sowing or planting at a given depth with simultaneous leveling and compaction.
• Fertilizer spreaders. Used for fertilizing plants and adding missing microelements to the soil. A distinction is made between field and garden models of attachments. For work in the garden special attachments are used, with the help of which the fertilizer is distributed to the root zone of trees and bushes.
• Equipment for livestock farming. Presented in the following range: feed mix activator, manure aisle cleaner, feed mixers, disk mowers. Each unit is responsible for a specific process in livestock: food preparation, manure removal, fodder preparation.

Equipment for municipal services, etc. Sand spreaders, shredders, brushes, etc.

How to choose the right additional attachments?

When selecting special equipment for the machinery, you should pay attention to the working parameters of the unit, compatibility with the tractor, in particular, it is necessary to consider whether the tool corresponds to the engine power, whether the weight of the equipment does not exceed the permissible norm. If the weight of the equipment will exceed the weight of the machinery, you will need to install additional hydraulic sections.

Basically, when choosing attachments, pay attention to:

1. Compatibility with the equipment;
2. Carrying capacity of the unit;
3. Speed of movement of the machine;
4. Frequency of rotation of the removable attachment and the tractor PTO.
5. In addition, you should pay attention to the manufacturer.

Pros and cons of homemade attachments

Of course, many owners of mini-tractors are quite skilled and technically literate people, which allows them in some cases to make attachments for their machines themselves, but not always this way of providing yourself with such units will benefit you.

First, here are the arguments that make the production of homemade attachments worthwhile:

• Often the cost of production is cheaper than buying a ready-made attachment;
• You will not be limited by the factory parameters of the unit and the peculiarities of its basic settings;
• If the need arises, you will be able to change the mount on your equipment and attach it to another mini-tractor;
• You will always be able to repair a broken part in the unit yourself.

Now what about the negative aspects of using homemade equipment:

• In the course of its operation it is possible to damage the mounts and other parts of the minitractor;
• Purchased attachments can sometimes be replaced under warranty, but self-made – no;
• Usually the efficiency of purchased equipment is much higher than that of homemade;
• Often homemade equipment breaks down more often than purchased equipment.

Tips for choosing the right attachment

The choice of attachments directly depends on the power of the tractor used. Tractors of class 0,6; 1,4; 2 belong to universal machines. They are widely used for seedbed preparation as well as for planting and harvesting crops. When buying a particular type of attachment, consider the following parameters:

Sprayers are selected according to the minimum tank capacity:

1. 0,6 – 300-400 л;
2. 1,4 – 600-800 л;
3. 2,0 – 1000 л.

Mowers – by working width:

1. 0.6 – for Technos Profi mowers, working width up to 1.3 (model MU 130), for Vector mowers, working width up to 1.8 m (KC 180, KC 200);
2. 1,4 – for Technos Profi mowers, working width up to 2,2 (model MU 170, MU 200, MU 220), for Vector mowers, working width up to 2,8 m (KC 250, KC 300)
3. 2,0 – for Tekhnos Profi mowers, working width up to 2,5 m (model MU 250).

The harrows – according to the working width:

1. 0.6 – 160-180 cm;
2. 1,4 – 230-270 cm;
3. 2,0 – 310 cm.

Cutters – by working width:

1. 0.6 – up to 1.6 m;
2. 1,4 – 1,6-2,5 м;
3. 2,0 – more than 2,5 m.

Fertilizer spreader – by capacity:

1. 0,6 – up to 500 l;
2. 1,4 – 500-1200 liters (RE 800, RE 1000, RE 1200 models);
3. 2,0 – more than 1200 l.

Technology for livestock farming.

Feeding mixture activator and reversible manure aisle cleaner are used with 0,6; 0,9; 1,4 class tractors. The disc mower is selected according to the working width.

Disadvantages of buying equipment abroad

• absence of warranty;
• it is not possible to lease the equipment;
• wasting a lot of time for repairs;
• lack of components and spare parts;
• inconvenient after-sales service;
• additional costs for transportation to the country of the buyer.