2510L

Sidedress Simpler with AutoTrac Vision for your John Deere Tractor

AutoTrac Vision Guidance for Tractors

by Jared Wheeler, Assumption, IL

AutoTrac Vision for tractors is a great new product for customers that sidedress and/or row crop cultivate.  John Deere previously released this for sprayers,  but it is now available for 7 and 8 family tractors, 30 series and newer.  The system works in row spacings from 20 up to 40-inch row crops in the early stages between 6 inches tall and 90% canopy.  The camera detects the color difference between the crop and soil and guides the tractor between the rows.

AutoTrac Vision Camera Mounted in front of the SF6000 Receiver

This new technology is ideal for customers that are in fields where they don’t have the original planting guidance lines.  It also works great for customers experiencing GPS drift or customers whose implement width doesn’t match the planter width.  We demoed this unit to a customer who planted with a 24 row planter using RTK signal and then came back and sidedressed with a 15 knife bar.  Even though the customer planted with RTK, the planter would sometimes pull to one side.  Also, the “guess” rows were occasionally off a couple inches and he would have to side shift his guidance line in the sidedress tractor to make up for it.  These additional steps are eliminated with the AutoTrac Vision system because the tractor is now automatically side-shifting for you by using the crop row as the reference point for guidance.

Gen 4 Monitor AutoTrac Vision Run Screen

I think this product would be especially beneficial for ag retailers that are custom applying because they usually don’t have the customers planting guidance lines to go off of when they are applying fertilizer.    The camera will guide them through the field with ease.  Contact us today for more info or to schedule a demo.

 

Sloan Support is written by the product support team at Sloan Implement, a 20 location John Deere dealer in Illinois and Wisconsin.  Learn more at www.sloans.com

 

 

 

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John Deere 2510L Liquid Applicator and Cuba City Home Town Fest Parade

by Bill Kletecka, Cuba City, WI 

Over the past week the Southwestern Wisconsin corn crop has progressed very quickly.  We went from being able to still apply fertilizer last week to being fully canopied in a week.  Beans are still really short, but haven’t had much in the way of stressors or insect pressure yet this year.  On June 7th we started out the first 2510L applicator that the Cuba City store had sold.  The 2510L was a 15 row with a mole knife for placing the nitrogen below the surface.  The customer was very impressed with the speed that it was able to run without having soil “blowouts” in his field, and also how accurate the rates were.  As with any nitrogen application, it is crucial to apply exactly the amount that you want to apply where you want to apply it and also at the correct time for the plant’s needs.  In addition, the applicator was very easy to set up and run due to the John Deere GS2 rate controller being ordered out of the factory.

John Deere 2510L

On June 14th, Cuba City had their annual Home Town Fest which includes two nights of tractor and truck pulls, amusement rides and also a parade.  The parade has been a crowd favorite with hundreds of spectators every year.  This year Sloan’s had a five pieces of equipment to showcase, including a 550 S-4 gator, a new R4030 sprayer, a 6170R tractor with 946 discbine, a 9360R tractor with 2720 disk ripper, and a W235 self-propelled windrower with a 995 16’ head.  Parade goers enjoyed seeing the big new green equipment, even going as far as stopping me en-route and asking what a windrower does.  It just goes to show how disconnected from agriculture people have become even in a small rural community such as Cuba City.  Everyone in agriculture needs to go the extra mile and promote all the hard work we do, and just what kind of investment and commitment it takes to keep feeding the world.  Pictures from the parade can be on Sloan’s Facebook page by clicking here.

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Central IL Planting Progress, Height Switches, & Connector Issues

by Derek Sloan, Assumption, IL

The majority of the crops have been planted in the Central IL area. A few customers are still finishing soybeans and with the current weather forecast should be finishing up with those by next week. Several customers have been side dressing with liquid and fast bars. I have seen a couple of height switches that were out of adjustment and it is always a good first place to look when having problems with product application. You can find the height switch status under the book and wrench tab in the rate controller in the readings drop down box. It will read “Switches/Status”.

I have spoken with several customers that are still having issues with section control setup and offsets. It is very important to double check your equipment offsets throughout the season and make sure that the measurements you have input are staying there every time you cycle the key when using the R series tractors. I suggest taking a picture of them with your phone or writing them down on a piece of paper you can leave in the armrest for quick reference upon start up. Hopefully this issue will be resolved soon but for now it is better to be safe than sorry.

I have also seen two instances where the connector pictured below causes problems with correct operation of equipment. Once on a 1770NT 24 row, the connector was just not pushed together enough and was causing intermittent problems on the GS3 display and not allowing proper operation of the planter. The second situation was on a new 2510L that the customer had just taken home and was preparing to use. The customer put water in the tank and attempted operation of the tool and the valves would not turn on allowing proper product application. Examination of the connector and a tug on the wires pulled the ground wire out. After proper replacement of the wire and insuring the connector was pushed together well, the tool worked just like it was supposed to. This connector is found on many John Deere machines and on the rate controller harness. The last situation was on a rate controller harness.

connector

 

 

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