[rty]

After this season we're looking at picking up a used 2009 9870 STS 4wd. It might be a little early, but I'm looking for some feedback on the ProDrive system. Anyone had these out in the field yet? I read about the 24mph road speed, which I think is a big plus, also you don't lose as much speed when you switch to 4wd?

 

[Jason Hildebrand]

We will have 4 combines in the field with ProDrive come Aug. I had not heard about increased road speed which I am happy to hear. I'm looking forward to see if the "new" harvestsmart is any good.

 

[Don Boles]

http://salesmanual.deere.com/sales/sales....g&link=prodcat/
Not sure that's any faster than hydros on 800/70R38 tires?

Don

 

[rty]

I thought I read about increased road speed somewhere, either that or a dealer tried to tell me that. I plan on going to take one for a drive today so I'll let you know for sure. The way I understood it, the Prodrive was faster even with the same size tires but maybe that's wrong. We do a ridge-till system on 30" rows so we would need 20.8 42 duals.

 

[Jason Hildebrand]

We run 20.8 R38 duals, I have tried 900/65R32 and they were slightly faster. I realize that 800/70R38 are quite a bit taller so can anyone comment? How fast does a pre 2009 Deere with 800s go?

 

[jab1]

About 23 mph with 20.8 42 duals. It is alot faster in field situations. A little choppy in some situations but alot better than gear shift lever.

 

[frenchharvester]

In France we run a T660i combine with ProDrive.

With 800/70 R38 tyres we can only drive at 16 mph..

 

[rty]

The only ProDrive machine they had was in the shop getting prepped for delivery so we couldn't actually drive it, but the service manager sat in the cab and explained everything. He told us it was about 2.5 mph faster than the hydro. You can set the speed up to 25 mph with the adjuster knob.

I wonder if you could get it to run 25 mph with the 20.8x42's. In the 30 series tractors, through the computer they can change things so they all go the same speed regardless of tire size. We were actually trying to "trick" our 8230 PS into thinking it had smaller tires to get it to go faster, but we ended up trading for a 31 mph 8530 IVT before we figured it all out. Maybe that kind of tweaking can be done on a 9870?

 

[casefarmer]

back in 1996 we bought a new 2188.. and it for some reason had a 4th gear and it would go 25.... so theres a good reason why most only go 20-22 mph.

its like a car...theres a big difference in 100mph and 130.... when u finally hit a bump I bet u won't go the latter anymore... lol

 

[Don Boles]

Perhaps max speed can be programmed regardless of tire size, handy if that's correct.
800/70R38's or 1100/45R46's do go 25 on flat ground with hydro
but would slow with the slightest uphill, something ProDrive should overcome.
I also agree 25 is the max speed for rear wheel steering, if a front wheel steering vehicle goes into a skid
you turn in the direction of the skid, with rear wheel steering you...???

Don

 

[farmerleach]

pray??

 

[max690]

Hi,

we have just got a new s690i (german STS) with the ProDrive. The use the same unit in the forage harvesters with the max speed of 25mph (40kmh) with approx. 1600rpm.
Does anybody now how to chnage the max speed in the computers?

max

 

[benny]

pray??

You do the opposite and praying doesn't hurt, it is a crappy feeling sliding sideways on a rear wheel steer machine, one I hope I don't experience again anytime soon.

 

[rty]

I'd agree that you probably wouldn't want to go much over 25 mph with a machine of that size. But on a 10 mile drive it would be nice keep the 25 instead of slowing down to 22 or 23 with 20.8x42's. It may not even be possible to change, I don't know enough about the system.
My experience is that all powershift 8030 series tractors will go 26.5 mph regardless of the tire size (within reason, obviously). It does this by increasing or decreasing engine max rpm in road gear to meet the proper speed for the tire. The question is, on a 9870 with ProDrive, does the system operate at a fixed top speed or is there the capability to adjust it through the computer like the tractors? You can adjust the speed to 25 mph with the knob on the console, if the combine comes from the factory with 20.8x42's will it actually meet that 25 mph that the screen shows or will it just be wrong? Coming straight from the factory will it be programmed differently for the smaller tires?

If anyone has or has run a ProDrive machine that came with smaller tires from the factory, care to comment on this?