deere makes the bigger stronger · tractors, and the company unveiled the new lineup during a...

AGRICULTURAL EQUIPMENT

Deere Makes The Bigger sTrongerMore horsepower for large 9R/9RT wheeled and tracked tractors, topping out at 620 hp

By Chad ElmorE

John Deere has increased the horsepower limit of its 9R/9RT Series of wheeled and track

tractors, and the company unveiled the new lineup during a dealer event in Milwaukee, Wis.

“This is the largest expansion of our top-line, four-wheel drive and track tractor series in company history,” said Jerry Griffith, division marketing man-ager, John Deere Waterloo Works, Waterloo, Iowa. “From 370 to 620

hp, the 9R/9RT Series provides the most powerful, versatile and durable four-wheel-drive and high-horsepower track tractors designed to handle the widest range of farming operations and extreme-duty applications.”

The new tractors were given more horsepower and hydraulic capacity across all models in both articulated and track tractor platforms. The com-pany said machines are designed for row-crop applications and large-acre, small-grain operations with tough field conditions and hillside terrain. Scraper models are also available for heavy earthmoving applications.

John Deere has launched a range of high-horsepower tractors including the 9570R tractor that incorporates a 15 L Cummins QSX15 diesel engine rated 570 hp.

62 DIESEL PROGRESS NORTH AMERICAN EDITION November 2014

continued on page 64

John Deere introduced its dealers to the new lineup of high-horsepower tractors and other machines during its “Committed to Lead” product launch in Milwaukee, Wis.

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The series is now made up of 10 wheeled models and six tracked models: the 9370R, 9420R, 9470R/ 9470RT, 9520/9520RT, 9570R/ 9570RT, 9620R, and these Scraper Special tractors: 9470R/9470RT, 9520R/9520RT, 9570R/9570RT and the 9620R. The last three digits of the model number indicate horsepower. A new model is designated at incre-ments of 50 hp.

Engines with the wheeled tractors start out with a 370 hp rating in the 9370R, which uses a John Deere PowerTech PSS 9.0L diesel engine. The 9420R, 9470R and 9520R trac-tors use the John Deere PowerTech 13.5L diesel engine.

The two models with the most horsepower, the 9570R and 9620R, use a 15 L Cummins QSX15 engine. Painted green to match the rest of the tractor, the engine is built at Cummins’ Jamestown Engine Plant in Jamestown, N.Y., and incorporates a single Cummins VGT turbocharger.

In the twin-track tractors the 9470RT

and 9520RT use the John Deere PowerTech PSS 13.5L while the larg-est tracked tractor, the 9570RT, also gets the 15 L Cummins QSX15 diesel.

Each engine is Tier 4 final compli-ant. Just like the two John Deere PowerTech engines in the 9 Series tractors, the QSX15 uses exhaust

gas recirculation (EGR) and an ex-haust aftertreatment combination of a diesel particulate filter (DPF) and selective catalytic reduction (SCR) to meet the near-zero NOx and PM emissions standards.

“With the addition of the 15L to the 9.0L and 13.5L engine lineup, this

Painted green but unmistak-ably a Cummins QSX15 die-sel engine, the 15L is used in the two wheeled Deere tractor models with the most horsepower, the 9570R and 9620R as well as the twin-track 9570RT tractor.

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brings an ideal range of displacement options to the 9R/9RT family with rated power reaching a new height of 620 hp, the largest tractor we’ve ever built,” Griffith said.

Griffith said the company elected to not introduce a 620 hp version of the two-track model at this time “due to a priority of resources.”

“We focused a lot of energy on the

wheeled models this go-around and chose to not to put R&D money into increasing the horsepower in the twin track model,” Griffith said.


Operators can dial in the tractor’s new HydraCushion suspension system from the cab with regards to firmness and maximum tractive effort. Designed to prevent power hop, the HydraCushion suspension system, shown here looking under the engine toward the rear of the tractor, uses two hydraulic cylinders to separate the axles from frame while three nitrogen-filled accumulators smooth out the shocks.

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John Deere Power Systems cur-rently does not have a 15 L diesel engine in its range, so to get more horsepower out of an engine that was suitable for the load conditions found in a tractor application it was neces-sary to go shopping for an engine. It’s not the first time John Deere has spec’d a Cummins engine in its trac-tors — the company used a Cummins NTC-855 diesel engine rated 370 hp in its 8960 4x4 tractors that were sold from 1989 to 1993 — but this time the companies have worked together in

order to streamline aftersales support.“One of the big differences between

the launch of these models compared to back then is that in the ’90s we relied on Cummins certified service providers to give service to our deal-ers and our customers,” Griffith said. “Some of our dealers could become a Cummins certified engine service provider, but it wasn’t something we did a good job of integrating into our dealer-provided solutions.

“With this program, we worked very hard with Cummins to provide



New Self-Propelled Forage Harvesters

John Deere has completely redesigned its self-propelled forage har-vesters. The 8600 forage harvester has a wide crop-flow channel and uses the John Deere PowerTech 13.5L diesel engine rated 617 hp.

with standard crop-flow channels are the 8100 with a John Deere PowerTech 9.0L diesel engine rated 375 hp; the 8200 with a John Deere PowerTech 9.0L diesel engine rated 425 hp; the 8400 with a John Deere PowerTech 13.5L diesel engine rated 533 hp, the 8500 with a 577 hp John Deere PowerTech 13.5L diesel engine. The 8600 forage harvester has a wide crop-flow channel and uses the 13.5L diesel rated 617 hp.

In August John Deere also announced that a successor to 7980, the largest forage harvester in the 7000 Series, would be introduced in 2016. No further details about the new machine were provided. The current 7980 is powered by a 19 L Cummins QSK19 diesel engine rated 800 hp.

The most obvious change to the driveline on the 8000 Series is the relocated engine and the cooling package, which helped optimize the cooling efficiency and balance the weight distribution.

“As the forage harvester evolved the harvest heads

a seamless power plant for our dealers and our customers. Our dealers can stock all of the service parts for the engines and they will be trained and certified to work on these engines so the customer doesn’t have to go anywhere else to get the service and warranty work. All of the services we provide on our other engines will be offered through our John Deere dealers.”

The Deere e18 PowerShift trans-mission with Efficiency Manager has been strengthened to handle the

Meeting Tier 4 final regulations was one of the biggest drivers behind John Deere’s redesign of its self-propelled forage harvesters (SPFH),

but looking under the rear panels of the new 8000 Series reveals more than just an engine swap. The company said more than 5000 part numbers have been changed.

“The 8000 Series builds upon the best features of our popular 7000 Series self-propelled forage harvesters,” said Shaun Fritchey, marketing representative, John Deere Ottumwa Works, Ottumwa, Iowa. “This new series inte-grates cutting-edge crop analysis and documentation with an innovative machine design to provide superior efficiency, reliability and crop quality.”

Growers work to get the most high-quality forage out of the field as possible with the least amount of time and expense. The crop handling sections of the machine use Dura-Drum cutterheads with knives that are hardened for longer life and precise cutting, the company said, and KernelStar processor technology that is based on a pat-ented bevel disc design that smashes kernels for silage processing. The AutoLOC (automatic length of cut) system allows the operator to dial in the precise cutting length based on forage conditions, Fritchey said.

Two cutterhead widths that are matched to engine horsepower are available, and new header solutions and crop-flow layouts increase flexibility among different crops and provide better performance in wet or dry conditions.

“The 8000 Series is designed from the bottom up to help producers maximize harvest efficiency and crop quality,” Fritchey said. “Repeated field research has documented consistent chopping quality in all crops. And, more machine productivity coupled with increased fuel efficiency per ton in all crops makes the 8000 Series a top choice for custom operators or dairy and feedlot operations.”

The new models are all single-engine machines. Models

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increased horsepower and it now has three modes of operation including an automatic mode. Hydraulic flow has also been increased to 115 gpm to handle large implements. “Big air seeders need more than 100 gpm

of flow, so now we have an industry leading 115 gpm flow rate,” Griffith said. “Having that much flow means growers can run at a lower engine rpm and still have right flow for the job while saving diesel fuel.”

In order to mitigate power hop and road lope, John Deere has given the 9520R, 9570R and 9620R mod-els a new suspension system. The HydraCushion suspension system is


The John Deere 9570RT is a twin-track version that uses the Cummins QSX15 15 L diesel engine rated 570 hp. A 620 hp version is not available in tracks.

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available as base equipment on the 9620R and as a deductible option on the 9570R and 9520R.

“Power hop is a repetitive bounc-ing of the tractor that has plagued four-wheel drive customers since the introduction of radial tires,” said Kevin Juhl, senior marketing representative, John Deere. “We can control it today.”

In the past, the common procedure was to increase tire air pressures and/or add ballast. However, “power hop is negative and the way we con-trolled it was also negative,” Juhl said.

“When you increase tire pressure it takes away traction and increases compaction. Adding ballast takes a lot of weight, requires more set up time and created compaction, which is a leading yield killer.”

Based on the front axle, the system mitigates power hop and road lope to ensure tractors get all of their horse-power to the ground. Two hydraulic cylinders separate the axle from the front frame of the tractor while three nitrogen-filled accumulators smooth out the shocks as the tractor tries

to get into a power hop rhythm. An electronic control box and valves help keep the tractor from getting into a power hop. The operator can optimize the setting of the suspension from the cab with regards to firmness and maximum tractive effort.

The CommandView III cab pro-vides increased operator comfort and ease of operation with a redesigned CommandArm, with a John Deere 4600 CommandCenter display to control tractor functions. The operator seat swivels 40° to reduce strain when


have gotten bigger to the point where we had a ten-row head that’s sitting way out in front because it worked better in tall corn,” said Tim Meister, product line manager – Self Propelled Forage Harvester, John Deere Ottumwa Works. “As we did that we kept adding ballast out further to bal-ance the weight of the machine.

“We had the kernel processor in the middle and weights in the back. We wanted to give it better balance so now the entire engine is 100% behind the rear axle. The engine weighs about 4000 lb., so to push it from in front of the axle to behind shifted the weight tremendously.

“This layout helps with braking, too, keeping the rear wheels on the ground. We went from 5600 lb. of ballast to 1600 lb. with a 10-row head and we were able to put some of that weight savings into final Tier 4 components.”

When suitcase weights are required, such as with corn, the weights go on the rear bumper.

The main belt is positioned on the left-hand side of the machine to allow for unobstructed access to the crop path for better serviceability and accessibility of the kernel pro-cessor and blower area. The major crop engaging compo-nents, such as the kernel processor and the cutterhead, are driven via the main belt while the feedrolls and header are hydraulically driven.

Customers can choose between an electric-shift, three-speed transmission with standard hydrostatic control or the ProDrive ground-propulsion system where an automat-ically shifting transmission works with an electronic hydro-stat. The base transmission available on the 8000 Series is the push-button shift transmission (PBST) ground-drive propulsion with three different speed settings from 12 to 19 mph. The transmission is based on the three-speed trans-mission of the 7080 Series but with an integrated elec-trohydraulic actuated park brake. The optional ProDrive transmission allows for speeds up to 25 mph.

Inside the cab, comfort has been improved including better visibility. Operators get the GreenStar 2630 with

The most obvious change to the driveline on the 8000 Series forage harvesters is the engine, which now sits behind the rear axle to help with weight distribution. The cooling system sits in the middle of the machine.

touchscreen display and all functions conveniently in the CommandARM, remote display access and AutoTrac with RowSense. Technologies such as Harvest Lab, HarvestDoc, and other software applications as part of the John Deere FarmSight platform provide access to equipment and agro-nomic information.

The new forage harvesters are built by John Deere Werke Zweibrücken in Germany, which has been the com-pany’s primary European harvesting equipment site since the 1960s. dp

www.johndeere.com/ag

continued from page 66

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viewing rear-mounted implements. Optional Active Command Steering on the articulated 4x4 tractors provide an improved line hold and steering feel at high speeds (26 mph transport speed) and reduces steering effort in the field, the company said.

John Deere FarmSight is integrated at the factory on the 9R/9RT Series tractors to give operators the lat-est technology solutions and dealer value-added services and support. “It’s a complete package designed to help customers maximize equip-ment performance and uptime while giving them access to the machine and agronomic information they need to better manage their operations,” Griffith said.

Production is expected to start at the factory in Waterloo, Iowa, in November with tractors shipping to dealers and customers the first of December. dp

www.johndeere.com/ag

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Little is known about this machine, including its anticipated availability. But this prototype 9RX four-track tractor has generated plenty of buzz this summer. There was a leaked photo on social media and now dealers got to see the actual machine in August, when the tractor was driven past the grandstands during an event in Milwaukee, Wis.

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deere makes the bigger stronger · tractors, and the company unveiled the new lineup during a...

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