Dieci’s Agri Max 70.10 telehandler is a perfect example of the benefits a farmer can gain by thinking big.
Boasting a 7-tonne lift capacity, a 9.65m maximum reach and 12,100kg unladen weight, its raw numbers speak to a machine designed to handle the biggest jobs.
This telehandler is appealing to far more than just the top end of agricultural requirements though, as Dieci Australia is noticing the Agri Max 70.10’s increasing local popularity across a range of sectors.
“The market has changed because of the weight of what farmers are looking to do, whether it be cotton or hay bales or even just general work,” Dieci Australia business development manager Ivan Pearson says.
“The Agri Max 70.10’s specifications overcompensate for that application and do so easily, so it’s a real go-to unit now. “I’m finding a lot of farmers are now asking for quotes on the 70.10 because it will do what they need to and more.
“It then becomes a much more versatile unit because you’ve got the full 7-tonne capacity, so they’re finding applications which they didn’t have before but where the versatility of a 7-tonne telehandler can fulfil that application.”
Style and substance
The machine’s size is the first area in which the Agri Max 70.10 excels, but this is only scratching the surface. Like all Dieci telehandlers, it is manufactured in the same region of Italy as high-end cars such as Ferrari and Maserati.
These same characteristics of power, performance and intelligent design feature heavily across the Dieci range, with the Agri Max 70.10 being no exception. A 125hp (93kW) engine provides the necessary grunt to handle whatever application the telehandler is used for.
Acknowledging that the Agri Max 70.10 will be used for multiple applications, with the need to either run multiple functions simultaneously or quickly switch between functions, Dieci has added carefully considered features to ensure maximum productivity and efficiency.
“It offers a four-in-one proportional joystick, which means the operator doesn’t need to take their hand off the joystick to change into gear or boom in-out or do most of those functions,” Pearson says.
“Along with that, we run hydraulic flow shares so the operator can do multiple tasks at the same time. You can boom up and boom out, they can do any bucket work, and it is a significant feature for a farmer.
“If they can do multiple functions at the same time, it might save them half an hour a day in productivity, so the hydraulic flow share is definitely a key feature.” Another clever design feature is a hydraulic reversing fan, which can be manually turned on and blow away anything from the environment such as cotton that would otherwise catch on the vents, helping to prevent the engine bay from getting blocked up.
The Agri Max 70.10’s reinforced high-resistance steel boom is also equipped with a side shifting carriage that allows the operators to tightly stack and pack loads. The boom is fully operated by the hydraulic control joystick, which also incorporates the telehandler’s forward-reverse selector.
A fork swivelling angle with 134-degree dump rotation has been specifically designed to increase the operating arc, which Dieci says is particularly useful when emptying the bucket with the boom raised.
The Agri Max 70.10 also offers an inching pedal, which allows travel speed to temporarily slow down – or even stop – while still maintaining maximum power to all boom functions. Operator comfort has also been at the forefront of Dieci’s Agri Max 70.10.
It features an integrated electric driver’s window, heater and semi-automatic air conditioning system with six outlet vents, along with an adjustable steering wheel, air suspension seat and storage compartments.
The spacious cabin is also surrounded by large, cured windows which offer a 360-degree view and complete visibility. Simplicity of design To call Dieci’s Agri Max 70.10 a simple machine would be doing a disservice to its capabilities and design.
To say it has been built with simplicity for the owner at front of mind would be an accurate acknowledgement of Dieci’s design principles.
By reducing the number of breakable parts that eventually need replacing, Dieci is not only minimising downtime but also lowering the overall cost of ownership. One example of this is through offering a single compensation cylinder.
Patented by Dieci, this compensation cylinder is located inside the lifting ram to ensure the load on the boom is balanced at all times, while Pearson explains that having this function in just one cylinder rather than multiple offers significant benefits.
“We run a single compensation cylinder which has a piston that runs up and down,” he says. “If you have three cylinders to do that same function, naturally over the life of the machine this means more chance of something going wrong, more chance of breakdown, more chance of putting your hand in your pocket to pay for repairs.
“It just comes down to that cost of ownership being significantly better and our unit is really built for the user and for the ongoing 10 to 15 years of ownership.” Pearson says Dieci’s desire when building the Agri Max 70.10 was to make it as user friendly as possible.
“We don’t supply a simple machine in any means, but we do simplify a lot of the electrics so when you’ve got anyone in the agricultural space working in remote locations, the units have proven to be very reliable,” Pearson says.
“In essence, there’s a lot less that can go wrong on our machines. “There are no heavy electrics with diagnostic tools that need to be plugged in and for ongoing use of the machine it’s a perfect unit.”
Parts access
While Dieci has designed a reliable machine, even the best of machines needs spare parts occasionally, and any farmer knows the importance of getting access to these quickly.
To ensure Dieci customers can always access whatever they need – particularly at crucial times of the year – a heavy focus has been put into parts commonality across its range. “We run market leading 85 per cent parts commonality across our range,” Pearson says.
“This means we don’t need to keep 40 filters on the shelf. Instead, we can just keep one and that services a lot of different models, so parts availability is significantly better. “As a result, downtime is significantly less and especially if someone in the agricultural sector is harvesting, downtime is absolutely critical to their application.
“Having a unit that has that parts commonality means we can get people out of trouble more often than not.” With warehouses and spare parts around the country, Dieci is well equipped to help customers solve any challenges that arise – even if years of experience in design and manufacturing mean this scenario is rare.
