How to choose a sweeper
How to choose a sweeper

News about Weed Control Item Code: News 36

UOM : Piece

Which Kersten sweeper will fit my tractor? 
It's as easy as 1. 2. 3.


There are  a few things we need to consider when choosing the correct sweeper for your tractor.

Use the Catalogue or the website to help you.




1. What Horsepower is the tractor?


We have grouped our sweepers by brush diameter.  The larger the horsepower of the tractor, the larger diameter brush it has the power to operate. Below is a table of which sweeper diameters relate to which horsepower bracket.  
It is not an exact science, and there is some overlap.  Things like the physical size of the tractor and the hydraulic flow will also be factors to consider when deciding which brush is most appropriate.


Ride on Mowers 37cm Diameter (Front)
15-40 HP 45cm (Front) - 40cm (Rear)
30-50 HP 50cm (Front) - 52cm (Rear)
50-80 HP 60L cm (Front) - 52cm (Rear)
70-130 HP 60 cm (Front) - 60cm (Rear)
130 HP +70 cm (Front)


2. Front or back?

Once we have narrowed down what diameter of brush we want, we must then decide how it will fit.

There are two key questions here;


How will I lift and lower the sweeper?

Sweepers must be lifted and lowered by some kind of linkage.  This linkage can be fitted to the front or the rear of the tractor, it might use an A frame, or 3 point linkage, it could be the lift arms on an out-front mower, it could be the loader...  Whatever it is you will need to choose the correct bracket to fit between the sweeper and the tractor.  Some brushes are only designed to go on the rear, or the front of a machine (as indicated in the table above).


How will the sweeper be powered?

A sweeper needs power in the form of hydraulics or mechanical PTO.  You must consider whether this can be supplied easily at the same place as the linkage.  Often tractors will need to be fitted with additional hydraulic fittings to power the sweeper and accessories.  Do you have enough connections?  Is there enough oil flow?

Sometimes a front PTO might need to be connected to an existing mid PTO, or run off an engine.  Each tractor will have a slightly different standard configuration, so it is important to check what is on the tractor and what solutions are available to get the correct solution.

After deciding which how you will power the brush, you can choose a hydraulic drive or PTO drive brush to suit the tractor on the front or the rear of the tractor.


3. What width sweeper?

We offer sweepers from 75cm all the way up to 3.0 meters.  It is important that the width is matched to the brush.  This is a simple case of making sure that the sweeper is just slightly wider than the tractor.  It is important to note that tractors can be different widths depending on what tires are fitted, so putting a tape measure across the front is helpful.

Some power units, such as out-front mowers don't have a very large lift capacity, if you are looking to add a collector box, this will add quite a bit of weigh to the brush, so a narrower model might need to be chosen in some circumstances.




Let's take an example;


In the picture is a TYM T293.


1. What is the horsepower?
We know this is 29HP, so according to the table and the book, we might either fit a 45cm Diameter brush on the front, or a 40cm Diameter brush on the rear.


2. Front or Back?

The TYM T293 has a rear linkage as standard, with a rear PTO, so this might be a simple option.  

But the tractor can also have a linkage fitted to the front with a Cat 0 A-frame connection.  The tractor also has a mid mounted PTO as standard.  We can get a kit to extend this to the front, giving us a front Mechanical PTO to drive the sweeper.  This all adds expense, but in many cases it would be worth it.  So now we have two options.  


Let's assume we chose the front mounted option;

We can now narrow the diameter down to only the 45cm series brush, with Mechanical drive as we know it is being mounted on the front and powered by a mechanical PTO.  

We know the linkage uses a CAT 0 A-frame connection, so we must choose an "ABR 45 KD" bracket in order to fit the sweeper to the linkage.


3. What width sweeper?

A front linkage like this has plenty of lift capacity, so even if we go with a collector box we can lift a full width brush.

Therefore we want the width of the sweeper to be just wider than the tractor.  Which in this case is 143cm.  

The closest size above this is a 150cm sweeper.


So now we know that we need a 150cm brush, 45cm diameter, with mechanical PTO Drive fitted to a front CAT 0 A-Frame linkage.

There is only one model that fits the description.


You will need this sweeper - KM 15045 M-ABR 45

and this bracket - ABR 45 KD


If in any doubt, please call us and we will be happy to help you identify the correct sweeper for your tractor.