The CLAAS QUADRANT is Germany’s top-selling square baler. For the 2022 product year, the QUADRANT 5000 and QUADRANT 4200 series have been given a comprehensive technical upgrade along with the additional designation EVOLUTION.
New pick-up with two cam tracks
The highlight of the QUADRANT EVOLUTION is the new HD pick-up with two cam tracks. This unique design guarantees maximum torsional resistance and exceptional robustness. Furthermore, wear costs have been reduced by increasing the use of highly resilient components borrowed from the CLAAS JAGUAR pick-up and by reworking and strengthening bearings, intake panels and other parts. This has the added bonus of smoother running with reduced noise levels.
The mechanically driven pick-up with five rows of tines and 18 double tines per row has also been tweaked to increase throughput and further improve raking quality. The extra row of tines allows the pick-up to rotate more slowly, while the speed of the POWER FEEDING SYSTEM (PFS) roller has been increased. The feed roller has also been given extra paddles which can be removed when harvesting long-stalked crops. The spring-mounted PFS feed roller compensates for uneven swaths. The overall objective of the innovations is to enhance raking performance and throughput while ensuring gentle, loss-free crop pick-up. To handle the higher throughput volumes, the release torque on the friction clutch has been increased to 1,600 Nm and the diameter of the pick-up main drive shaft has been enlarged. Semiautomatic chain tensioning ensures reliable pick-up drive and automatic lubrication and a 6.3 l oil reservoir is available as standard.
Optimised bale chamber with additional HD components
The bale chamber has also undergone performance-enhancing modifications. The top section incorporating the header plate and side panels has been redesigned and strengthened to produce an even better bale shape and slightly higher bale density. Furthermore, factory-fitted side knives and deflectors are available to reduce material build-up in the ram guide area when baling straw, maize or sugarcane – further increasing operational safety and reducing the cleaning effort.
The automatic baling pressure control (APC) responds even more rapidly – and even more sensitively – to twine tension or load in the intake area.
The use of additional Hardox HD components (some standard and others optional) – such as HD bearings for the ram guide with up to four times the service life – has further reduced wear in the bale chamber, knotter area and intake. Thanks to these extremely robust and durable components combined with the massive pick-up with cam track on both sides and the simplified maintenance, the TCO (total cost of ownership) of the QUADRANT EVOLUTION has been greatly reduced once again. In an internal test involving 40,000 bales per machine under extreme conditions in some cases, the new design combined with the more wear-resistant components was found to reduce wear by up to 40 percent.
