Lemken Zirkon and Solitair power harrow drill: Play your cards right

At a glance, you will be hard pressed to tell the difference between a 2004 Zirkon 10 and Solitair 9 power harrow combination drill and a current Zirkon 12 and Solitair 9. In terms of their ability to establish a crop, both older and more recent models will do pretty much the same job too. Which will possibly suggest an older combination in good condition will be equally as good a buy as a more recent model that has done more work.

As you would expect, the answer is not quite as simple as a ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Reason one relates to tractor power. In a thin-skinned nutshell, a Zirkon 12 power harrow is designed to cope with more powerful tractors than a Zirkon 10. Trough, bearings, gears and rotor wise there is little to choose between either design but the gearbox on the ‘12’ can take more power. There are other differences as outlined in the picture captions, all of which can make a Zirkon 12