HARVESTER REVIEWS
unleash the beast In 2013 Jaiden Drought tested a machine he said would keep everyone happy – with a comfortable, stressfree environment and reliability, high output and low running costs.
John Deere 7550i Type
PowerTech Plus
Model
6135HZ
Displacement (L)
13.5
Cylinders
In-line six
Engine rpm/min on road 1,650 mode (three speed GB) Fuel system
Four valves + EGR + VGT
Cooling fan drive
Direct
Maximum power @ 1,900rpm/kW (hp)
458 (625)
Rated power @ 2,100rpm/kW (hp)
428 (582)
Extra power kW (hp)
30 (43)
“
Y
ou send a technician to fix the other brands but you send a blacksmith to fix the John Deere,” a contractor, who has run every other brand of forager on the market and come back to a John Deere, said to me recently. Having test driven the John Deere 7550i self-propelled forage harvester, I can see what he means. It has all the technology you need, offering some of the most high-tech crop assessment technology on the market, yet it feels like a hurricane of power is behind you. John Deere has been building choppers for 40 years, the past 20 years at its dedicated plant in Zweibrucken, Germany. In total, it has produced well over 10,000 self-propelled harvesters and, judging by this machine, it must be doing something right. Owners, operators and farmers alike will not be disappointed by this machine’s throughput.
CAB It all starts in the clean and uncluttered cab. As with all John Deere cabs, the brown tones will hide any dirty fingerprints left from getting in and out all day. Given how noisy this machine is outside, I was pleasantly surprised by how quiet it was in the cab, with John Deere claiming 74-76dB(A). All the key controls are on the CommandArm, with the majority of operating functions on the ‘hydro handle’, including programmable header position buttons, spout rotations and header height controls, feed roll direction and an emergency shut-off. Additional adjustment buttons, such as chopping length and spout speed adjustment, are on the arms console.
Machine instrumentation is on the ‘A’ pillar. The top display is devoted to machine functions, the middle panel to the performance monitor display and the lower panel shows such items as engine and cutter head speed and fuel levels. The metal detector, as well as some of the auto guidance functions, is located above your head. One thing is definitely noticeable about this chopper — it feels as if the cab has been moved back slightly and the pickup seems to be in clear view, without feeling like you are bending over. On the main joystick there are programmable header functions set up, so by pushing button ‘one’ the header is dropped, while button ‘three’ lifts the front once out of the row – simple and easy to use.
ENGINE AND DRIVE The 7550i sits at third in the six-model line-up. However, it possesses the same 13.5-litre, in-line six-cylinder engine (with the usual VGT turbo and four valves per cylinder) as the larger 7750 does. This thing is a big grunt box and I’m not surprised given all of these ponies on tap, even though the cutter heads and feed rollers are only 20mm narrower than on the larger 7750. John Deere’s engine-speed management works in conjunction with the stepless Pro-Drive hydrostatic transmission to match engine rpm and power to requirements under different conditions when running under a light load (both in work and at headlands), stationary or travelling on the road. Because this machine is the 7550i,the ‘i’ (or ‘intelligent’) management package has three modes, all aimed at maximising harvester performance while also saving fuel:
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