They are going to put them into production?

 

Tribine at FPS and HHD

Yes, they are being built in Newton. "Limited availability" for 2017.... expect around 10 units for 2017. It might become a Kubota Tribine. Prototypes are painted Orange and Black, as Kubota colors. Kubota recently bought Kansas based Great Plains / Land Pride product line. This would help Kubota expand their Ag line in North America. Kubota also has several other aggressive projects related to Ag markets. The Versatile Tractors and Combine are not their only option.

 

Kubota being involved might be interesting. Isn't the base for the Tribine a S series gleaner? Or has that changed? I wonder how Agco would respond?

 

Apparently this is not the case, though it was for the first prototype.

The production Tribine was engineered to be their own machine from the ground up. Big single axial rotor, completely custom cab, two engines (one on either side of the rotor). Interestingly they have decided to not use a steering wheel, but rather two control stocks.

 

I'm surprised at the single point articulation joint, a lot of forces there!

 

Sure hope production units look different in this respect.
We had a saying at one shop I worked at once and my thoughts when I saw unit in Kansas City --- "M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S -E"

 

Saw some youtube vids on those. hope they get some thrashing capacity out of the newer ones. The 8row corn head at 3mph is not very impressive.

 

So the chopper just pounds straw/product at the grain tank all day? I can imagine what that will look like after a couple hundred hours not to mention several years. Why so complicated? They could get the same maneuverability if they axed the articulated steering and just make it four wheel steer. Giant hunk of iron for class 7 capacity isn't gonna cut it in todays world.

 

Yeah wow, this thing is antiquated before it left the factory.

 

Maybe we just need a general combine category to post it. I doubt the Tribine will really generate that much discussion on its own, at least enough to warrant its own sub-forum. Even Versatile doesn't really generate much traffic on that sub forum. Tends to mostly be posts about versatile tractors, which is kind off-topic there.

 

Maybe we just need a general combine category to post it...

Good point, maybe turn the Versatile forum into an, Other Combines category.

 

Versatile is putting a new cab on theirs next year I heard and working on a feeder chain to replace those beaters that sometimes limited capacity. They are making very real improvements and might demand some serious attention if they continue at current pace.

The Tribine does not appeal to me in the least. There was a thread some time ago that basically ripped this concept to shreds. I still haven't seen a video of it unloading on the go yet, and this has been SOP for decades!!!

I would take a wait-and-see approach on this one. Maybe it has a fit somewhere that I am not aware of...

 

The Versatile upgrades to new cab and a feederhouse chain will help them. I am still very certain that they will need to change to a Co-Rotation concave to gain the benefits of a bi-rotor configuration. They should also adopt the better concave mounting, similar to expired US patent 5779542 Nylatron Support Bearing for a cage concave. That would get rid of the problematic front roller supports.

The Tribine does have good market potential... there is value in moving the graintank from high in the air...... to the down low position behind the combine... Improves stability, especially with larger headers...
They have relocated the unloading auger forward to the hinge area to improve visibility while unloading... Eventually this unloading process will become autonomous.

 

And from a distance, it still looks like it will break in the middle!!

But you sure have to give them credit for what they have done in a short period of time!

 

https://www.realagriculture.com/2016/09/ben-dillons-tribine-dream-becomes-reality/

 

It's people like this designing stuff that intrigues me. I won't knock the concept of an articulating combine, because until I actually see it in action I can't fault it. The last thing that would happen I would assume would be for it to break in half. You wouldn't go head on investing that kind of money to make a weak point off crack. As far as grain and straw hitting the grain tank I would imagine that doesn't happen. It likely distributes straw on either side. The holding capacity and elimination of the need for a grain cart on large fields has to account for something as well. Every man, and equipment to go with it, lowers the cost of operating a combine in the field which likely more than offsets the 2 engine system. The 2 engine design would have to be robust and bullet proof before many would jump at purchasing one. A 6.7 cummins is bullet proof in trucks so likely not an issue in a combine but time will tell. A set of tracks on this would lower even more compaction. Likely just waiting for the concept to get accepted before that move. It should turn sharp I believe which has advantages over long combines made today. One engine using it's power solely for thrashing is not affected by hills or soft conditions and a full tank. It's capacity would remain consistent regardless the situation. It looks complicated by a picture but doesn't necessarily mean it is. Time will tell and I wish them good luck in thinking outside the box. Cost of operating per acre with one less set of equipment could account for a lot. 2 trucks with one operator alternating in the field with one combine is justifiable. It's not always acres/hr that matters. Your cost/acre is important.

 

20 years ago i was thinking an articulated frame design would be the future as this would move the clean grain tank to the rear. My thinking was a lot of compromises were being made with layout of engine, cooling and locations of clean grain drives and many other drives in relation to other components in order to accommodate the tank mid frame. I always thought of ways to make things easier to access and work on.

The only draw back i see to the articulated design is evenly spreading residue, the rest of the mechanics seem easily solved and the new found space on the front section could perhaps be used to house a second cleaning fan or something such to aid seperation. I dont think a 1000 bu is necessary, perhaps 500 and use the extra space on the back for a low slung powertrain engine and fuel tank.

While i dont like the way the Tribine was executed, i will be curious to see if the articulated design gets adapted in the future as a means to make more room available to implement new ideas.

 

I don't get the model that this combine eliminates a grain cart. Isn't the whole point of a grain cart to keep the combine from stopping?

 

True the combine still has to stop but not near as often and you could make 2 miles easily on a half section of bly running a 100 bushel and make it to the truck on the headland without being in the middle of the field somewhere. If it unloads like a grain cart quickly I can't see it being that big of a deal. Does it always warrant having a extra wage and 2 more pieces of equipment to purchase and maintain? It wont be a combine for everyone but it has its place. To me grain carts are an expensive convenience if you have one combine. Not everyone has 6000+ acres. A 2500 acre farmer could only need one combine and one driver.

 

Getting that stuck right full would be expensive I imagine..

 

Agree needs twice as much rubber right off the start. All it does is FILL the cart with one unload, saves nothing.

 

Let's think 250 bu corn in an I state for a second witch it doesn't take a large combine for massive capacity or let's think Australia for a min where fields can literally go on for miles, in fact there are plenty of places in the US that have extremely large fields, I know a retired harvester that use to cut in Texas and he claims he has cut fields well over a thousand acres

While this machine doesn't have a place on my farm it does on others

 

There is fields in western Canada all over that are over a 1000 AC. And I've been in fields in the states that were over 2000 AC when on a harvest run.