Nevada tanker 12,800-litre tanker review

By: Jaiden Drought

Date: 17.11.2015

Jaiden Drought revisits the Nevada tanker and discovers a whole range of improvements that are sure to please many.

This month I am going multi-lingual with my heading and if you read on a little you will be like –"I see what you did there". Roughly translated, ‘viva’ in English is ‘to give cheer’. The eagle-eyed reader will notice we have tested a Nevada tanker before, but this time I’m testing a slightly larger version, the 12,800-litre (as opposed to the 12,500-litre).

I am pleased to report that all of the things I previously found niggly have been updated, which is now making it hard for me to give you any negative points about the machine (but I’m very hard to please, so don’t panic).

Features

As previously mentioned I have tested one of these machines before so I will focus on the main/updated features rather than repeating the previous test.

Auto-filling arm

As technology evolves, so does the efficiency of the machines (although the downside is that tractor drivers get lazier). A tanker with a filling arm is almost a given as this significantly increases the efficiency of the job. One of the main features of the Nevada tanker is the eight-inch filling arm which will fill the tanker in around three minutes with a PTO speed of only 385rpm. The filling arm now has an all-rubber ground mounted inverted cone for a filling dock which is much more forgiving if you’re not dead straight and quickly creates a tight seal to begin filling.

The main improvement on the whole tanker is also to do with the filling arm support when in the transport position. This was never secured on the earlier models and as a result, given it was full of liquid when the tanker was at capacity, this moved around putting extra pressure on the lift ram and the main pivot seal.

Axles and wheels

People will have their personal preference here with some in the larger single flotation tyre with a recessed tank camp, while others are in the tandem-axle camp. Both have their positives, but arguably the larger tractor type wheels on the recessed tanker may be easier to pull in wet conditions, although I would suggest you probably shouldn’t be doing it if it is that wet but either way, Nevada can cater for both preferences.

The tandem-axles (or tridem for that matter) run a leaf spring design which more than adequately smoothes out any bumps during transport and the rear steering axle option allows much easier gateway access. The leaf spring drawbar suspension is standard on all machines which again makes transport much smoother.

Nevada Tank8

Vacuum pump

The Battioni Pagani Italian-made rotary vane vacuum pump has high air flow capacity and low maintenance requirements. As I said earlier, on the 12,800-litre tanker it filled the tank in less than three minutes thanks to the eight-inch auto-fill but also the reduction gearbox on the pump allows much lower PTO speed. The other pump feature I liked is the exhaust that is connected to a pipe which is routed further back under the draw bar to dispose of the oil residue which keeps the pump and surrounding areas clean.

The verdict

I’m the first to admit that I am hard to please but I genuinely think Nevada has done a great job of listening to customer feedback and has really picked up and mended all the niggles that I had previously. The long list of options on offer are sure to tickle the fancy of even the most demanding farmer or contractor.

Pros

Galvanised high grade steel tank for long life with internal implosion rings and domed ends for safety
Double overflow protection for pump
Hydraulic stand
Left, right and rear ports so you can choose where you fill from
Swivel tow hitch
Adjustable rear plate to adjust spread width and height
New rubber filling cone can be attached to the tanker for transport
Large mudguards keep tank clean and allow easy moving of hoses
Filling arm can be setup on either the right or left hand side of the machine
Wide-angle driveshaft