John Deere X9

I know this is our beloved orange site but I just had a look at this combine and it seems to me the twin rotor was pioneered by New Holland back in the '70s. Do those green folks ever not steal others ideas?? Ryan

I just remember New Holland pioneering the whole rotary idea and twin rotors. Ryan

New Holland indeed invented the "Twin Rotor" design for combines with the rotors positioned lengthwise on the chassis. These rotors threshed the crop at the front section and did separation  towards the rear as the crop moved thru the machine. Twenty five years later, Claas introduces their new design, that has a conventional cylinder taking the crop from the feederhouse , threshing the crop, and then spitting the fodder into the front of twin separating rotors. This design clearly opened the door for higher and higher bushels per hour and has been for all these years the largest capacity combine in the world. The new Deere X-9, all New Holland combines and the new AGCO Fendt Ideal combine are all using twin threshing/separating rotors quite similar to each other, but the Claas is still the only one that takes advantage of threshing the crop before entering the rotors. Time will tell if any of these new machines will out work the largest Claas, which is considered a class 11 size, while all the rest of them are class 10.

DrAllis wrote: New Holland indeed invented the "Twin Rotor" design for combines with the rotors positioned lengthwise on the chassis. These rotors threshed the crop at the front section and did separation  towards the rear as the crop moved thru the machine. Twenty five years later, Claas introduces their new design, that has a conventional cylinder taking the crop from the feederhouse , threshing the crop, and then spitting the fodder into the front of twin separating rotors. This design clearly opened the door for higher and higher bushels per hour and has been for all these years the largest capacity combine in the world. The new Deere X-9, all New Holland combines and the new AGCO Fendt Ideal combine are all using twin threshing/separating rotors quite similar to each other, but the Claas is still the only one that takes advantage of threshing the crop before entering the rotors. Time will tell if any of these new machines will out work the largest Claas, which is considered a class 11 size, while all the rest of them are class 10.

Edited by Tbone95 - 07 Sep 2021 at 7:59am

Not a big Deere fan but for all the operators who need timely service/repair- there are only 2 or 3 players and Deere is the big dog.  Their R & D budget for 2020 was $1.64 Billion.

After working around an S780 lately I can't believe the complicated mess that they are. Lot's of gear boxes! Kinda off topic but I live to bash Deere some days. 

I don't think so. The only thing might be the IH cleaning fan design in the last 20 years was somewhat based off of the transverse fan on the 1972 and newer Gleaners.

Tbone95 wrote: Lonn wrote: After working around an S780 lately I can't believe the complicated mess that they are. Lot's of gear boxes! Kinda off topic but I live to bash Deere some days.  OK, dumb question not picking on you.....How are they supposed to do it?  They used to get bashed for too many belts and twists, now it's bashed for gearboxes.  What does a Gleaner do so differently?  Hydraulic motors?  Can't see how that is that much better in the long run.  I honestly don't know, I couldn't tell you where the nearest Gleaner is to me, not a clue, especially a newer one.  Never been around a new one, haven't been around an older one since the early 80's when a neighbor did our oats for us.

Well if you’d paid any attention to the Gleaner lit or videos over the years you would know that they use mainly belts and straight through shafts. It uses one gear box and that is for the rotor. Very efficient transfer of power using belts and a very simple system.

its not the fact that they use them, because they all do,  its the quantity.   the fendt is not any better than the green or red ones.  they are all so complex, with far more moving parts.  more complexity equals more problems.  now the gleaners are not class 10 and 11 combines so maby its not a fair comparison?

On a Gleaner the engine sits sideways, as does the rotor, therefore there is no need for a gearbox anywhere on the combine to change direction of power. There is a transmission on the rotor, but that is there for changing speed ranges, not direction of power. The Gleaner combine is a good system, it will run with the best of them. Having said all of that, when conditions are at there absolute worst, none of them hold a candle to the Claas combine.

I had a chance to look the Deere x9 over at the farm progress show last week. I counted 13 belts that i could see, and most of them were big ones of course. There was one #80 roller chain driving something near the header, but it was hard to see past all the shielding. I tried to look at the Fendt combine, but it was like looking into a dark cavern behind all the shields and i just couldn't see in there well enough to count belts. Last progress show i looked the Fendt over and came away thinking it was a monstrosity, but after seeing the Deere, it did not seem that way this year. Both way more combine than we will ever need. I hear your can spend a million for the Deere including heads.

victoryallis wrote: Tbone95 wrote: Well, I DIDN'T pay attention to them, because again, there aren't any around here.   . Good heavens how many rotary combines are in Card’s, Williams, and Dick Coutler’s service areas.  A heck of a lot.  Probably as many rotaries as  conventionals.

Idk, how many? Who is Williams? The other 2 are 100 miles- ish and plus. And besides, until just a few years ago, our farm was in no need of a sizable newer combine. So excuse me, but nope, not been around them looking that way. And I said/ meant Gleaner, not rotary.

Why is this d sad some sort of argument? Being around newer/ larger Gleaner combines just isn’t an experience I have. If that’s offensive to you I’m sorry. There just isn’t any around here. Our farm up until a few years ago combined less than 100 acres a year, we were a beef farm. Have grown rather quickly since then. Oh, Lansing is over 150 miles from here, which was my point.

Feel better now? So you have a bigger farm than me, good for you.

As for “chiming in”, last I heard this is not only a public forum, but my first”chime in” was aspects that I did know something about, then asked a question. I’m sorry I thought that was allowed.

Have a good harvest.