Trenchers for Agricultural drainage

The AFT65 and AFT100 tractor mounted trenchers are ideal tools for the installation of perforated land drainage pipes. Both trenchers can be fitted with either manually operated or fully automatic laser grading controls and bring drainage installation within the reach of every farmer with a standard tractor. Options include pipe chutes and pipe reel carriers to lay the drainage pipe at the same time as digging the trench.

For trenching the tractor needs to be able to move very slowly forwards, at speeds from 50 metres per hour, while the engine runs at optimum working speed to give 540 or 1000 rpm on the PTO shaft. This normally means that the tractor must have a creep speed gear box with a reduction of at least 10:1.

For ordinary tractors which do not have such a special creep speed gear box, both the AFT65 and the AFT100 can be fitted with a special Creep Speed Drive, built into the trencher and which drives the rear wheels of the tractor.

Working in neutral gear, the PTO shaft of the tractor drives the digging chain, while the tractor's hydraulics supply power to a motor connected to cage wheels which grip the chevron profiles of the rear tyres of the tractor. The speed of this hydraulic motor and thus of the tractor itself, is infinitely variable to give working speeds from 0 to 300 metres per hour, depending on the hydraulic flow available from the tractor and the digging conditions. The cage wheels can hydraulically be withdrawn from the rear tyres so that the tractor can drive normally between digging sites.