Brought my 6080 to the 21st Century
Printed From: Unofficial Allis
Category: Allis Chalmers
Forum Name: Farm Equipment
Forum Description: everything about Allis-Chalmers farm equipment
URL: https://www.allischalmers.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=206532
Printed Date: 24 Jun 2025 at 1:00am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.10 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Brought my 6080 to the 21st Century
Posted By: 977.3Ford
Subject: Brought my 6080 to the 21st Century
Date Posted: 01 May 2025 at 6:55pm
One of the many projects i worked on this winter was building some complete RTK autosteer systems for my Allis's. The 6080 is finished, and the 8050 is 90%. Its functional, but still needs a few brackets finished up. I'm using AgOpenGPS which is a free opensource software/community developed project where everybody shares their files and designs. The steering gears and mounts are 3D printed here in my garage with a mix of my own and others designs, the PCB's and electronics are sourced from China, $200 Panasonic tablet, the steering angle sensor is for a Land Rover, the steering motor is a $70 24v motor, and a lot of hours spent soldering and wiring it all together. Total cost is around $1200, obviously not including my time involved.  For those that aren't familiar with GPS, RTK means repeatable sub-inch accuracy through the field. In theory if i have everything working perfect and dialed in i can plant with my 8050 and 6 row planter, and then sidedress with my 6080 and 12 row applicator and never have to manually steer it. In all reality my biggest thing is i have very little time to actually sit in a tractor seat, so with my small equipment its all about efficiency and ease of operation. This software can drive on boundary curves, automatic u-turns at your headlands, skip lines if you're using a small implement, and can also do rate and section control for planter/sprayer/whatever. I run a 60ft Hardi behind my 6080 and it will have auto section control this year. If you were to go buy all this from mother Deere or Ag Leader you could blow past $10k pretty easy and still have subscriptions and unlocks to deal with. Heres a couple videos from spreading fertilizer the other night. All i had to was run the hydraulic remote to turn the spreader drive on and off, the tractor handled all the steering on its own. http://youtube.com/shorts/EV7bhFbwZ5c?si=Rvrp2i2sEwhZkfVr" rel="nofollow - http://youtube.com/shorts/4jo8pHO7uaA?si=_cnM0JFH17O7vYZA" rel="nofollow - https://youtube.com/shorts/4jo8pHO7uaA?si=_cnM0JFH17O7vYZA https://youtube.com/shorts/EV7bhFbwZ5c?si=Rvrp2i2sEwhZkfVr   ------------- Jimmy 1982 8050 Powershift 1982 6080 1992 R52 Gleaner |
Replies:
Posted By: Lynn Marshall
Date Posted: 01 May 2025 at 8:11pm
Very impressive. 
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Posted By: plummerscarin
Date Posted: 01 May 2025 at 8:57pm
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Posted By: SteveM C/IL
Date Posted: 01 May 2025 at 9:07pm
| I'm jealous and incapable to understand what it would take to repeat that project. |
Posted By: AC7060IL
Date Posted: 02 May 2025 at 6:13am
| Awesome technology implanted into your 1980s AC tractors! Congratulations 977.3Ford. |
Posted By: Allis dave
Date Posted: 02 May 2025 at 6:47am
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Interesting, I haven't seen one wiht the conneciton to the tie rod. I sometimes side dress wiht GPS behind the planter. If the fild is flat, it works well, but if you get onto small or large side hills it doesn't. The planter drifts downhill just a little so the tractor is correct, but the planter is a little off. Enough that side dressing can tear out some corn. |
Posted By: Les Kerf
Date Posted: 02 May 2025 at 7:46am
Cool!  |
Posted By: AC7060IL
Date Posted: 02 May 2025 at 10:09am
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An actual crop row’s “whisker arm/switch” mounted on a cornhead, sidedress applicator, row cultivator, etc,,, can add fine tuning adjustments to the tractors/combine/sprayers’ GPS. When whisker is activated(rubs corn stalks) it can signal an intermittent over-ride of the GPS antenna & allow equipment an actual trailing for contouring etc. On some flat fields with straight planted GPS rows, a combination of WASP & whisker can usually auto steer an 1/8 mile (660’) before a quick manual correction is necessary? |
Posted By: 977.3Ford
Date Posted: 02 May 2025 at 6:06pm
The wheel angle sensor is what really makes the steering smooth and precise, all factory auto steer tractors have it and you have to have one for the aftermarket hydraulic steering systems. The newer Ag Leader electric systems have it built into the assembly that goes over the steering wheel. I had an Ag Leader OnTrac2 previously and it would struggle to drive in a straight line because it never knew where the wheels were actually turning in relation to where the tractor was heading and would constantly oversteer the line instead of just going straight. As for drift when side dressing it could be a problem, i do have buttons to nudge the line in either direction. In all reality i'll probably just handsteer sidedressing, but think it will be real handy running the sprayer for pre-emerge corn and in beans. If somebody was smart enough you could write the code to make it steer with row feelers like a corn head. ------------- Jimmy 1982 8050 Powershift 1982 6080 1992 R52 Gleaner |
Allis dave wrote:Posted By: DougG
Date Posted: 02 May 2025 at 6:18pm
| Curious on how many acres you plant ? |
Posted By: 977.3Ford
Date Posted: 02 May 2025 at 7:29pm
Right now under 100, obviously not many acres but between working 50-60 hours a week at my town job, dealing with cattle, making 40 acres of hay, and trying to do tillage/spray/fertilize/plant mostly by myself it makes for some long nights. Also trying to get more into cover crops where markers don't work. Last year i planted 15 acres of 30" beans into 4-5ft tall rye, after spending a couple hours with a sawzall and knife trying to cut the ball of rye off the markers i decided i had to do something different which led to this. I'm also going to swap this system over to my R52 which is where i think my biggest advantage will be. I do about 110 acres of custom bean/wheat harvest with a 20ft head, so being able to steer the combine on RTK and use every inch of the head while i can pay attention to what the rest of the machine is doing or looking for rocks will make my life a lot easier. ------------- Jimmy 1982 8050 Powershift 1982 6080 1992 R52 Gleaner |
Posted By: Rhoadesy_65
Date Posted: 23 Jun 2025 at 8:02am
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I just posted a topic asking for GPS advice from people, and I'm now seeing this post from you which I am finding very interesting. I have an Electrical Engineering degree and work as an Electrical Technician, so I'm kind of intrigued by the idea of building my own system. How has this system worked for you this year? We have a 6080, 7010, 8010 and R42, all very similar in control layout. Curious what sort of resources you used to guide your building process (youtube, Forums, etc.) ------------- Farmin' with 1981 7010 PD, 1983 6080, 1983 8010, Gleaner R42 in Darke County OH |
Posted By: Ray54
Date Posted: 23 Jun 2025 at 11:11am
Are you familiar with Open GPS, no that is not right but Open is part of name. It is a build it yourself GPS. The originator started the discussion on The Combine forum, but move on and is not there anymore. I have stumbled across it in the last months, so guy is still around.
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Posted By: Rhoadesy_65
Date Posted: 23 Jun 2025 at 11:27am
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I have found the "AgOpenGPS" forums, I am very interested now as it seems like it could be an affordable way for someone like me to really customize something that would fit my needs. ------------- Farmin' with 1981 7010 PD, 1983 6080, 1983 8010, Gleaner R42 in Darke County OH |