US 8,700,269 B2Granted

Steerable agricultural implement with multi-point hitch

AssigneeGreat Plains Manufacturing, Inc.

InventorVerne Hubalek

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Abstract

A steerable agricultural implement configured to be coupled to a tractor by a multi-point hitch system that restrains side-to-side articulation between the tractor and the implement. The agricultural implement includes a steering controller that receives a positional attribute from a steering system of the tractor and controls a degree of pivot of a wheel assembly of the agricultural implement based on the positional attribute of the tractor steering system. The wheel assembly is configured with a steering actuator that is operable to pivot a portion of the wheel assembly without transmitting force beyond the wheel assembly, abutment stops to define maximum degrees of pivot of the portion of the wheel assembly and relieve the steering actuator without transmitting force beyond the wheel assembly, and a quick release free-wheel mechanism to enable a disconnected or “free wheel” operation of the wheel assembly independent of the steering actuator.

Claims16

Dependent claims

A steerable agricultural implement having a configuration that adapts the implement to be coupled to a tractor by a multi-point hitch system that restrains side-to-side articulation between said tractor and said implement, said implement comprising:

a frame;
a plurality of steerable wheels pivotably coupled to said frame and operable to support at least a portion of the weight of said implement;
and
an implement steering system for steering said wheels in response to the steering system of said tractor, said implement steering system comprising—
a plurality of self-contained wheel mounting assemblies for pivotably coupling said wheels to said frame, wherein each of said wheel mounting assemblies comprises a fixed portion attached to and stationary relative to said frame and a movable portion attached to and movable with at least one of said wheels during pivoting of the wheel relative to said frame,
each of said wheel mounting assemblies further comprising a steering actuator coupled between said fixed portion and said movable portion of the wheel mounting assembly and configured to pivot said movable portion and the wheel relative to said fixed portion,
a tractor steering detector configured for attachment to said tractor and operable to detect a positional attribute of the tractor steering system, and
a controller for controlling said steering actuators based on said positional attribute of the tractor steering system.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.