Giant Tillage Shank Works 4-1/2 Ft Deep

Giant tillage shank works 4-1/2 ft deep TILLAGE EUIPMENT Subsoilers (55) 12-6-26 When Congress passed a law in 1978 requiring strip mining companies to restore all mined row-crop land to its original yield potential, big mining operations began looking for equipment that could help with the job. Before opening a strip mine, companies generally remove a 4-ft. layer of topsoil with earth movers and stockpile it to be returned later. Replacing just 100 acres of soil 4-ft. deep requires up to 15,000 115-ton loads. The companies had to find a way to rip deep through the resulting compacted "concrete" soils. Three mining companies approached Bil Dietrich, founder of DMI, Inc., Goodfield, Ill., to build a giant-size version of Dietrich's successful "Tiger" tillage tools that use small up-front shanks to "prefracture" soil ahead of bigger parabolic shanks that reach deeper. The giant "Tiger II" plow DMI built has our regular Tiger shanks up front that pre-fracture down to a depth of 20 in. ahead of a 4-in. thick, 3,200-lb. parabolic shank that digs down to 4 ft., 6 in., lifting and fracturing soil with its side-mounted wings. The big plow, which was introduced at farm shows this fall, requires 60,000 to 100,000 pounds of drawbar pull, depending on the severity of compaction. A typical 50,000-lb., 4-WD tractor provides just 27,000 pounds of pull so a 500 hp. or larger crawler tractor is required. Key to success of the big DMI tool are the wings on the point that lift and fracture soil. Without the wings, says Dietrich, the shank would only "push" the soil to one side or the other. For more information, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, DMI, Inc., Box 65, Goodfield, Ill. 61742 (ph 309 965-2233).

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