We’ve made many changes to the Multiplanter over the years.

2020.  A lot of our customers are unaware that Manutec have had a zero maintenance, fully contained Agri-Hub press wheel on the market for about 5 years.  The days of having vines chop out the seals and bearings needing to be replaced are gone.  All the seals and bearing are contained within the unit and when they eventually wear out, recover the tyre and replace the press wheel.  Manutec report that they have had very few problems in the last 5 years.

In 2020 we redesigned our frames.  Over the years tractors have been getting more and more powerful, air carts much heavier, and more farmers switching to controlled traffic and hitting contour banks at all sorts of weird angles.  Centre frames with four wheels need to twist and flex, and when wheels repeatedly come off the ground it transfers an enormous amount of stress back into the frame.  Talk to us about retrofitting strongbacks and vibration dampening chains to your existing Multiplanter centre frame.

AT LAST!  In 2019 we went into partnership with Precision Seeding Solutions to fit their precision seeding boxes to our new and existing Multiplanter tines.  Every Multiplanter, new and old, can now have precision seed depth AND placement which is proving popular for sorghum.  Talk to us about retrofitting precision seeding boxes to your existing Multiplanter.

Also in 2019, Steve and Brad Mifsud from Clermont came to us with an end tow chock.  Their 36m (120ft) Multiplanter was prone to wandering in end tow position, and they came up with an ingenious chock to make it more stable.  They have kindly let us make it for new and existing Multiplanter owners.

Around 2017 we redesigned the tine to prevent it from heeling out.  Farmers reported that when a lot of pressure was put on the tine, it would push it forward and the speartip would no longer penetrate the ground.  This resulted in the bottom of the speartip and shank being worn, and the seed tube blocking up with mud.  We changed the angle of the stopper so that it CAN’T push the tip out of the ground.  As a result the tines no longer hang so far forward when they are out of the ground.

In 2016 we replaced 2 ½” shafts in wheel forks with 3” as standard – another customer led initiative.   The additional layback/castor on the 2 ½” shafts implemented in 2009 was working well so we thought it was overkill back then.  We’ve since decided to go with 3” shafts to make them the same as the Stickrake.  

In 2015 we redesigned our pointy nosed speartips so that different sized tungsten tiles could be fitted.  We can coat them with hardfacing or you can buy them blank and create your own tungsten and/or hardfacing design.

In 2010 we took the Multiplanter to the USA.  In order to do that we needed to reduce the overall width of the frames from 2.54m (100”) to 2.34m (92”) so that they would fit into shipping containers.  Soon after we found that tines with diffusers could jump and smash the diffusers on the beam behind it, so we shortened the tine shanks/legs to allow for that range of movement.

Around 2009 we increased the layback/castor of the wheel forks to prevent them getting stuck in ruts and bending the 2 ½” shaft.  10” castor had been standard for years, so we trialled 18” on the front and 10” on the back.  Finally in 2016 we settled on 16” castor front AND rear so that the farmer only had to have one size wheel fork.

In 2008 we started fitting tractor wheels as standard instead of truck wheels.  A big shout out to Tom Mifsud from Clermont who asked us to fit 24” tractor wheels to his Multiplanter.  We thought it was such a good idea that they have been standard ever since.  The size matches as many Simplicity air cart models as we could seeing a lot of our customers purchase Simplicity air carts.  At the same time Tom’s idea of fitting a water cleaning tank to the frame was also a goodie, so we added that to new machines as well.

In 2006 Geoff and James Coggan came to us and wanted to retrofit GPS autosteer to their Multiplanter.  They tried steering just the middle pair of rear wheels first, then the next pair and finally they found that steering across all of the rear wheels was needed for the fastest response time.  We have been supplying the kits to retrofit or from new ever since.

In the 1990’s we switched from bolt on tine holders to wedge on.  Our customers either love them because they don’t break and are easy to move and get off, or hate them because they can walk along the frame if they aren’t fitted correctly.  Talk to us about how to fit them correctly so they don’t go wandering.