German machinery giant Claas has updated both its round and square balers for the 2014 season. The Quadrant 2200 Advantage now gets the firm’s 2.35m XXL pick-up, its full-width pick-up auger and its pivoting guide wheels.

This gives a clean pick-up from wider straw and grass swaths, says the company, especially at high working speeds. The RotoFeed rotor from the Quadrant 3200 is now also fitted, plus the heavy-duty PFS continuous-feed system. Also borrowed from the 3200 is the turbo fan knotter cleaning system.

The arrival of a new RotoCut version of the Quadrant 3300 means six Quadrant 3300 variants are available, all of them producing a 120x90cm bale. These include RotoFeed and RotoCut versions with single axle, tandem axle and steered tandem axle.

The Quadrant 3200 and 3300 are now also fitted with a 2.35 m pick-up, PFS auger and double-roller crop press. Both balers incorporate a new spiral rotor with 52 dual tines, too, which is said to transport the crop more efficiently and quickly to the pre-chamber. At the same time, the active feed from the rotor has made it possible to raise crop intake on the rotor side of the pick-up.

A novel feature on both the 3200 RC/FC and the 3300 RC is a knife drawer that can be extended on both sides to give easy access to the blades for maintenance and blade changes. The blades are arranged in four groups and can be selected with a lever and then hydraulically pivoted out.

Other features include a hydraulically-lowered drop-floor in the cutting chamber, which springs into action automatically if the unit is overloaded.

Claas’ Variant 385–360 range of round balers have gained several new features for the 2014 season, too.

The 360, 365, 380 and 385 models will now be available with the new 2.35m XXL pick-up, giving it, says Claas, the widest pick-up on the market for round balers. The pick-up also gets automatic chain tensioning and the oil reservoir has been boosted from 3 litres to 6.3 litres. At the same time, the quantity of oil can now be adjusted according to need.

Central lubrication is also optionally available on Variant 385–360 models, with all lubrication points centrally supplied with oil via two central lubrication blocks.

Hydraulic performance of the balers has been boosted, so the bale discharge is now completed within six seconds and opening and closing of the tailgate is now 30% quicker than on the old models.

Variant balers can now be fitted with the Quadrant moisture sensor. This is integrated into the left-hand side of the tailgate, with the crop moisture content displayed on the Communicator 2 terminal.