7R

New John Deere 8R Tractors, CommandPro Joystick, & N500C Air Seeder

Sloan Implement has been sending groups of employees from the sales and product support departments to John Deere’s annual Large Ag Integrated Solutions Training in Florida in order to better serve our customers. We covered everything from soil prep to harvest again this year. The top ride and drive portions included the new CommandPro Joystick,  N500C Air Drill, and the 8RX four-track row crop tractor.

John Deere CommandPro Joystick

The CommandPro joystick is very similar to the joystick found in the current sprayer and combine cabs. It fits your hand really well and allows for a lot of functions right at your fingertips with programmable buttons. The CommandPro was first released in the 6R tractors, but it is now available in both the 7R and 8R tractors as well. John Deere has a simulator here if you would like to try it for yourself.

The new John Deere N500C CCS Air Drill was impressive in person. It will replace the 1990 air drills. John Deere made a ton of improvements to this drill that include: better cleanout (pro boxes fit below the tanks now), electric drive (same motor as ExactEmerge planters), 4 section, turn compensation, TruSet downforce from the display, relative flow blockage, easy calibrating and Industry Exclusive ActiveCal that will let you re-calibrate on the go after the initial seed calibration!

New John Deere N530C on the lot in Assumption, IL

New John Deere N530C on the lot in Assumption, IL

New John Deere N530C on the lot in Assumption, IL

New John Deere N530C on the lot in Assumption, IL

John Deere N500C CCS Air Seeder Cleanout into Pro Box

The new 8RX tractor was impressive. The visibility was great. It had a smooth ride with very little berming even when using the same path every day at this training. The 8RX will have up to 39% more ground contact vs an 8R wheeled tractor.

The new 2020 8R tractors will feature 2 times the light output, a new fan drive (chain drive), better steps on both sides of the cab, integrated Starfire 6000 receivers, a massaging seat, touchscreen radio, front and rear cameras, updated Active Seat or cab suspension, even more seat swivel and footpegs.

 

Visibility from the new John Deere 8RX Tractor

John Deere 8R250 Tractor

We also got a sneak peek look at one new Precision AG product and some other software updates that are coming soon. Stay tuned for more details on their official release!

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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How to Winterize your Final Tier 4 Engines and DEF Tanks

In Memory of Austin Shellhause

by Lucas Veale, Assumption, IL 

Canadian air has definitely arrived in central Illinois.  With this cooler air, attention is needed for the storage and care of any DEF fluid.  DEF fluid should be stored inside and at a temperature that will remain fairly constant, preferably above 40 degrees.  If you have John Deere machines that will be stored in cold storage for the winter, make sure you allow the DEF pump to stop running before you turn off the battery switch.  This allows the pump to evacuate the lines of any DEF fluid and bring it back into the tank.  DEF freezes at 12 degrees.  The tank has a coolant line running through it that will thaw the DEF out if the vehicle is needed to be operated during cold weather.  There is no provision, however, to warm the DEF lines that feed the exhaust treatment system.  This is why the pump needs to be allowed to run and evacuate the lines.  It evacuates the lines automatically when you turn the key off.  You can hear the pump running for about 45-60 seconds after the key is turned off and the pump will then shut off.  It is safe to turn off the battery switch once the pump stops running.  It is ok to leave the DEF in the vehicle tank in cold weather.  There is no need to drain it.  The coolant lines will thaw the DEF if needed.  With some basic common sense care, DEF has a good shelf life and should cause few problems.  Contamination by foreign material is the most common issue.  Failure to keep the cap on the bulk and vehicle tank and failure to maintain clean handling equipment are the most common occurrences.

4 Tips For Winterizing:

  • DEF freezes at 12° F. If your DEF is located outside move it to a warm, dry location if possible.
  • If your shop or garage does not have room to accommodate your totes, invest in a DEF shelter or heated tote blanket to prevent your DEF from freezing.
  • When DEF freezes it will expand approximately 7%. To avoid tote and drum ruptures, leave room for expansion.

Sloan Implement offers many different options to store and handle DEF fluid.  See your local Sloan parts department for pricing and options available or you can find out more online at sloans.com.

John Deere engines in large tractors and combines will burn from 3-8 gallons of DEF per fuel tank fill on average depending on the application and horsepower of the machine.  The John Deere vehicles equipped with a Cummins engine will burn substantially more DEF due to different methods used to deal with the emissions from the engine.

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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Monroe Planting & Hay Progress, 1790 Planters, & ExactEmerge report

by Joe Brunker, Monroe, WI

Most guys are wrapping up with corn. There are still plenty of soybeans to plant. Some rye has been cut. I’ve seen one field of alfalfa cut, but the windrow was pretty small. There will be a lot of hay cut here after the holiday weekend. It feels like we missed spring altogether and it finally went into summer this week. We had another productive week throughout most of the area and a lot of seed went in the ground. Some areas could actually take a nice rain again.

I had a 1790 this week where everything worked except the recording when starting the tractor each day. Set-up was perfect. Cold boot would not fix it. Unplugging the ISO and plugging it back in would let it record. Kept getting a general communication error message with no controller information on the bottom of the message and PM1 was not coming up clean in the message center. Everything else worked though. Updated all of the 7R tractor software (10 updates). Re-updated the planter controller software. Checked connections. Found row command connector (not in use) dangling down and full of water, cleaned it up, but did not fix the problem.  The GS2 already had the latest software. Did a field reprogram on the 2600 and recording works every time you start the tractor now. The communication error message is also gone. Had a similar communication message a SPFH with a GS2 last year as well. Factory reprogram fixed that one.

Had a customer call last night with the VRD motors turning and dropping seed with the planter raised. Tried to recalibrate the height sensor, but it would not let us. Found a pushed back pin on the height sensor connector.

Customers have been impressed with the high speed ExactEmerge planter in the field. Seed spacing was very good even at 12 MPH when we tested it. Everyone is interested to see what the emergence will be like and we will be watching the fields that we planted with it.

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