James Dowling, Irish operations and service manager based at Keenan’s HQ, Borris, Co Carlow, with a Keenan ECO 54, one of the firm’s most popular wagons with a payload of four tonnes and a capacity to feed around 70 to 80 cows.
Regardless of vintage, Keenan feeder wagon design principles have changed very little. The tractor’s pto drives the wagon input chain sprocket. This drives a 100HS chain connected to the feed-out auger which transfers the drive via a 140HS chain to the large sprocket driving the mixing paddles. Auger speed will be around 30rpm while paddle rotor speed will be approximately 10rpm.
While Keenan feeder wagons are very simple machines, they need to be looked after properly. James Dowling recommends oiling the chains once a week with a light oil such as a synthetic 10-grade or Hyd-32 (light hydraulic oil) and definitely not waste oil or grease. There are holes in the guards on later machines to allow access to the chains for oiling without having to remove the pto and open them. An oiler is available as an option.
There are tensioners and guide block on both chains which will require periodic adjustment to keep chains from sagging. Where a tension spring has gone weak over time then it needs to be replaced. If chains sag too much, there is the risk they will jump either off the sprocket completely, potentially damaging the chain, and maybe more besides. Guide blocks are made from a tough plastic and rarely wear to the point of replacement.
The main drive chain is tensioned with a larger adjuster to the left of the main pto input shaft.
The pto drive input on the Keenan mixer-feeder has grease points on the front and back bearings. The rear grease point is serviced by a grease nipple & pipe to the right. These should be greased at least every two weeks.
Grease nipples on bearings at the front of the feed-out auger drive and paddle drive require greasing every two weeks. Early versions of the auger drive bearing had no grease nipple so required the bearing cap to be removed and filled with grease which would generally do the whole season.
Access to the machine’s main bearings and grease points is easy with the front doors opened. Pictured is the paddle shaft front bearing. There are paddle and feed-out auger bearings on the rear of the machine which similarly require greasing every two weeks.
There are a number of hitching eye options, from standard pick-up hitch hook eye to Dromone swivel hook eye. These give very little problems, according to James Dowling, but are designed to wear instead of wearing the tractor hook. In cases where a feeder does a lot of work and is rarely removed from the tractor, periodically check the condition of the hook and eye.
The condition of the hydraulic pipes and couplings is important, particularly the brake pipe and coupling which may not have been plugged in or used for a while. Oil is an environmental and safety hazard to both man and animal so a leaking hydraulic pipe or one that is frayed or nearly rubbed through needs to be replaced.
The guillotine door also has sealing rubbers top and bottom which are pretty much a lifetime item. If either top or bottom seal fails, then feed material will escape before the door is opened.
Later control boxes sees all the cables, from weigh cells, power, etc, plugged into the bottom of the control box. The box and connections are all weather proof but James Dowling recommends unplugging the cables, one at a time, and spraying both the plug and socket ends with a good electrical cleaner every couple of months. Do NOT spray with WD40, he advises; this will cause all sorts of problems.
In the belly of the feeder, wagons may have two or three paddles per section. This chopper version has split rubbers on the paddles. Paddle rubbers last at least six years while knives, which are bolted onto the belly floor, last two years. Check the blade bolts periodically to ensure they are tight.
Throughout this period the Keenan feeder wagon series has remained the Carlow firm’s core product. The Keenan Omni-spreader, a dung spreader, and Keenan beet washer chopper were successful but not as much as its feeder-mixer wagon ranges.
The firm even built a number of prototype trailed silage harvesters in its early days which, it is reputed, John Deere were anxious for Keenan’s to build for them. Again, Keenan’s focused on its core product range of mixer-feeder wagons.
James Dowling, Irish operations and service manager based at Keenan’s HQ, Borris, Co Carlow, estimates that there are in the region of 50,000 to 60,000 Keenan mixer-feeder wagons still operating on farms around the world.
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So, with that in mind, James provides some maintenance advice for those that are operating out there. The basic mechanical principles of the Keenan feeder design have not changed in its 30-year period. It is a paddle-based mixer with feed-out auger. The mixing paddles and feed-out auger are isolated from each other by a guillotine door, which is only opened when ready to feed out the mix. Perhaps the biggest change has been in relation the dietary advice offered by the firm, the Keenan Mech-fibre System, which is sold as part of package with the feeder. Keenan’s has developed its dietary know-how over decades and this knowledge is sent directly to the feeder through a mobile phone link. PACE is Keenan’s ration or diet mixing instruction displayed on the machine’s weigh box and incorporates feeder control. The tractor’s pto automatically switches off to prevent over-mixing. Mech-fibre and PACE are now standard across the Keenan feeder series.
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Throughout this period the Keenan feeder wagon series has remained the Carlow firm’s core product. The Keenan Omni-spreader, a dung spreader, and Keenan beet washer chopper were successful but not as much as its feeder-mixer wagon ranges.
The firm even built a number of prototype trailed silage harvesters in its early days which, it is reputed, John Deere were anxious for Keenan’s to build for them. Again, Keenan’s focused on its core product range of mixer-feeder wagons.
James Dowling, Irish operations and service manager based at Keenan’s HQ, Borris, Co Carlow, estimates that there are in the region of 50,000 to 60,000 Keenan mixer-feeder wagons still operating on farms around the world.
So, with that in mind, James provides some maintenance advice for those that are operating out there. The basic mechanical principles of the Keenan feeder design have not changed in its 30-year period. It is a paddle-based mixer with feed-out auger. The mixing paddles and feed-out auger are isolated from each other by a guillotine door, which is only opened when ready to feed out the mix. Perhaps the biggest change has been in relation the dietary advice offered by the firm, the Keenan Mech-fibre System, which is sold as part of package with the feeder. Keenan’s has developed its dietary know-how over decades and this knowledge is sent directly to the feeder through a mobile phone link. PACE is Keenan’s ration or diet mixing instruction displayed on the machine’s weigh box and incorporates feeder control. The tractor’s pto automatically switches off to prevent over-mixing. Mech-fibre and PACE are now standard across the Keenan feeder series.
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