John Deere Press Room 2009

Designed to increase harvest performance in all crops and conditions, John Deere’s new 2009 range of C, T and S Series combines are all represented at this year’s Cereals event.

Both T and C Series models are available with a choice of two optional productivity enhancing packages. The i-Series Pro combines include HarvestSmart automatic feedrate control, AutoTrac assisted steering and Harvest Doc software, together with a new ProDrive automatic transmission, as standard. These machines are aimed at contractors and farmers working on sloping land.

The i-Series Complete combines include HarvestSmart, AutoTrac and HarvestDoc as standard, and are generally more suitable for harvesting on level ground and in less demanding conditions. All i-Series combines offer an additional harvest capacity of 23 per cent compared with their non-i equivalents.

T and C Series combines also feature as standard a new electrical system with enhanced on-board diagnostics, and a new colour CommandCenter display, similar to that used in 6030 Series Premium tractors. Equipped with ‘hot keys’ on the top of the display, the CommandCenter module is designed to make it simple for the operator to navigate through the combine’s control system, and make adjustments more quickly and easily.

All top of the range S Series combines are now designated S690i, with the level land model available as standard with the i-Series Complete specification and the HillMaster model with the i-Series Pro package. S690i combines also feature a new high performance package as standard equipment. This provides increased performance through extra harvest capacity and an improved grain sample with reduced straw damage, especially in high yielding green crops.

The new ProDrive automatic transmission fully integrates with the HarvestSmart system, to allow the operator to achieve maximum performance from the combine both in the field and on the road, especially on hilly ground or in difficult harvest conditions.

Similar in design to the established John Deere self-propelled forage harvester transmission, ProDrive offers two adjustable speed ranges, with a maximum road speed of 30kph. This means the operator can, for example, use a lower range for harvesting and a faster setting for headland turns, with fully automatic changes and no need to stop to change gears.

April 2009