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25 years of TERRA TRAC
by CLAAS UK
The origins of the renowned TERRA TRAC crawler system began 35 years ago. Officially launched 10 years later, full scale production began and in the last 25 years over 35,000 units have been manufactured.
The introduction of the TERRA TRAC system for the LEXION in 1997 marked a milestone in combine harvesting technology. The friction crawler track system continued to develop and was extensively tested by CLAAS Industrietechnik (CIT) in Paderborn, setting a standard benchmark in the industry.
RAPID DEVELOPMENT
In 2004, driving comfort was significantly improved by the introduction of rubber shock absorbers on the axles of the running gear. The development of hydro pneumatic suspension in 2011 still provides excellent comfort characteristics today. This enabled significantly improved ground tracking, and a driving speed of 40 km/h on the road could be achieved for the first time.
Initially only 10% of combines were fitted with TERRA TRAC crawler track systems, but today it is more than 50 percent for the LEXION alone. In North America, more than 70 percent of LEXION combines are delivered with crawler track systems, while in the UK it’s more than 90 percent.
The TERRA TRAC drive system continues to be developed and expanded onto other CLAAS machines. In addition to being available on the LEXION 8000/7000/6000/5000 and more recently the new TRION, in 2019 series production of the AXION TERRA TRAC commenced. The AXION is still the only full-suspension half-track tractor on the market. At the end of 2018, CLAAS also added two JAGUAR forage harvesters with integrated crawler track systems to its product portfolio. These are fitted with drives that incorporate a patented headland protection system allowing the contact area of the drives to be reduced when turning at the headland, bringing the benefits of TERRA TRAC to grassland and other sensitive areas.
TERRA TRAC NOT JUST FOR CLAAS
But it is not only on CLAAS machines where TERRA TRAC is fitted. Other manufacturers have also recognised the soil compaction benefits they provide and TERRA TRAC is now to be found on a wide range of machines such as self-propelled beet harvesters, vegetable and potato harvesters and slurry application equipment.