John Deere 8000 Series foragers

Even better comfort, performance and reliability

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John Deere has announced the introduction of several new features on its 8000 Series self-propelled forage harvester range, designed to enhance operator comfort and increase productivity.

With the new Active Fill Control rear unloading function, the spout automatically fills the trailer when the tractor follows behind the forager. This mostly occurs during the opening of the field when the driver needs to concentrate on the field boundaries. This new option uses the forager’s StarFire satellite receiver to ensure a quick response during unloading. It dramatically reduces operator fatigue and avoids silage spillage, especially in high yielding crops.

New forager customers can choose between the optional 10in GS3 2630 display directly mounted on the seat armrest or the standard 7in Command Centre display. Use of the GS3 2630 reduces the number of displays in the cab and can save up to €2000.

For contractors John Deere offers a choice of connectivity packages. JDLink is standard on all 8000 Series foragers (excluding JDLink Select). The Connectivity Premium package includes guidance ready functionality, JDLink Connect, the work order management app MyJobConnect and a GreenStar 2630 display. In addition, the Connectivity Ultimate package includes a StarFire 6000 receiver and HarvestLab 3000 with constituent sensing calibrations. Both packages can be optionally upgraded with John Deere’s Ag Navigation system and the logistics app MyJobConnect Premium, in countries where these are available.

John Deere introduced Dura Line crop flow components on its forager range for the first time in 2010, and owners of these machines have experienced a dramatic reduction in the cost of wearing parts. Based on this experience, John Deere will now guarantee its Dura Line wear parts for a period of 3000 engine hours (or a maximum of five years) on all new 2018 forager sales. This guarantee will only apply to the wear parts available in Dura Line Basic, Premium or Ultimate packages, as shown in the following table:

Introduced in 2007, HarvestLab was the first NIR (near infra-red) sensing system in the industry to measure silage dry matter and enable automatic length of cut adjustments. The system was subsequently developed to analyse crude protein, starch, NDF, ADF, sugar and other silage constituents. The sensor can now be used for maize, grass and manure.

Building on this success, the new generation HarvestLab 3000 system offers further capabilities, including a more operator friendly web interface when used for stationary measurements. This latest version also requires less maintenance, can operate in a wider range of temperatures and features a much bigger data storage capacity of 2GB, compared to the previous 32MB.

John Deere is also introducing the new 490Plus 12-row drum header for selected markets in 2018. This double folding header provides better visibility during transport, and is specifically designed to feed high horsepower foragers working in high yielding crops in all harvesting conditions.

For extremely tough harvesting conditions, the 3m 639 pick-up is now optionally available with John Deere’s premium reel, which is standard on the wider 649 and 659 pick-ups. The premium reel pick-up includes a range of heavy-duty driveline and reel parts, and the main wear parts are Dura Line coated.