John Deere powers auger

An enormous new tube conveyor for shifting grain, designed and built by Queensland industrial engineers Oztec, easily gets all the power it needs from a John Deere 6068T1 industrial engine.

The Oztec range of grain augers and tube conveyors come in a variety of lengths, diameters and engine sizes to suit any farming operation.

“With a belt conveyor like this you can only run it up to an angle of 25 degrees or the grain starts falling backwards on the belt,” Oztec managing director John Sheehan said

“It is 40 m long to get the height needed to fill silos that are 15 m high.

“We could have built it as a shorter self-propelled grain auger, but over that height an auger puts a lot of pressure on the grain.

“The belt is a lot softer on lupins and chickpeas, so it handles the grain more gently.

“That’s the main reason this farmer went with the belt conveyor this long.”

John Deere’s 6068T1 is a six-cylinder 144 hp engine and runs at 1800 rpm.

The 6068T1 features a dynamically balanced crankshaft, forged-steel connecting rods for increased durability, a self-adjusting Poly-vee fan drive that can be matched to specific application requirements, and replaceable wet-type cylinder liners that provide excellent heat dissipation.

It also provides an optional gear auxiliary drive which produces up to 50 hp for gear-driven accessories, while standard front-and-side mounting points provide easy installation and application flexibility.

“The engine is working well,” Mr Sheehan said.

“We have put a Kensho K27 engine controller with it, which is a computer that provides the engine with greater protection and management.

“It is very easy to operate and has a lot of features which we don’t need to use, but it has very extensive software in it and it goes well with the John Deere product.”