Wottizzitt??????????
Hi, Folks.
Sorry to disagree with you, Squizzy, but that little jigger is a blade plough (plow), used for cutting off the roots of trees and scrub in newly-cleared land. It is commonly pulled at depths of between 1 and 2 feet beneath the surface. It does also aerate the soil and break up sub-soil layers and there is a seed-box on the plough to distribute seed on the same pass but its main job is cutting off the roots to prevent re-growth.
The plough weighs 70 tons and cuts 12 metres wide. And yes, that is a Cat
D11 pulling it, but what a D11. It has been re-powered with a V12 Cat diesel that produces 1100 hp and is the most powerful direct drive crawler in the world. It has beefed-up transmission and rear end bearings and massive oil coolers on the cab roof to help dissipate the heat. Pretty much all ploughing is done in second gear which also reduces the loads on the drive train.
One man who had seen the D11 strutting its stuff with the new power plant in place reckoned it behaved like a 'bobcat on steroids'. And there are rumours floating about that the man who built it has plans for even bigger engines in future converted D11's - - - like 2,000 hp.
I have also heard that the rig you see in those photos had about halved the cost of root-ploughing from about $2.00 per acre to around $1.00 per acre in 2004 prices. Bet there'll be some farmers loving that.
You all have a wonderful day. Best wishes. Deas Plant.