Automotive

New Holland launches the world's most powerful combine harvester

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New Holland Agriculture's CR10.90 - the new horsepower heavyweight champion of the combine harvester world
SmartTrax with TerraGlide suspension - allows the CR10.90 to spread its weight out across the surface as evenly as possible
New Holland Agriculture's CR10.90 - the new horsepower heavyweight champion of the combine harvester world
New Holland Agriculture's CR10.90 - the new horsepower heavyweight champion of the combine harvester world
Wheat - grown to harvest the tiny grains at the end of each stalk. (Image: Shutterstock)
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Is there a horsepower war in the combine harvester segment? Probably not, but it's more fun if we pretend there is. New Holland Agriculture has thrown down a grainy gauntlet to Claas, John Deere and the rest of the harvesting industry by releasing the CR10.90 – the world's most powerful combine harvester with a chaff-smoking 652 horsepower (486 kW) fit to thresh the plants off the competition.

Combine harvesters have been a very significant part of the global industrial revolution. Consider that back in 1850, more than half of all American workers were farm laborers, doing tedious work like hand-cutting, threshing and winnowing wheat – and coming up with truly awful songs like this one.

Today, the US agriculture sector is exponentially more productive, while using only some 2.4 percent of the workforce, according to the University of California, Riverside.

Wheat - grown to harvest the tiny grains at the end of each stalk. (Image: Shutterstock)

The combine harvester has saved our species an awful lot of work. Its gigantic cutting head clips the grain-bearing heads off the wheat stalks and sucks them up into a threshing machine that essentially beats the heck out of the wheat ears to knock the grains out. Then it bounces and shakes the wheat around to separate the grain from the husks and fires each bit out a different hole so the grains can be collected for milling, and the chaff can be used as livestock feed or discarded.

The CR10.90 is the new Big Daddy of the combine world, with its 16-liter, six-cylinder inline diesel engine, the Cursor 16, pumping out a massive 652 horsepower (486 kW), and a 14,500 liter grain storage tank.

A machine this large and heavy could easily crush the soil beneath it to the point where growing further crops could be very difficult. So to combat this, New Holland has fitted the CR10.90 with a SmartTrax flexible track fitted with Terraglide suspension – a combination that allows the track to conform to the surface of the field as closely as possible, distributing the harvester's weight over a large, broad footprint.

SmartTrax with TerraGlide suspension - allows the CR10.90 to spread its weight out across the surface as evenly as possible

We look forward to seeing how the CR10.90 performs on the dyno and quarter mile drag strip.

Source: New Holland Agriculture

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12 comments
Mel Tisdale
It would be nice to know what the farmer gets for the extra power. I notice where I live that there is a marked difference in speed of travel of the combines between older and newer models. I assume that there is some play off between width of 'cut', speed of threshing and speed of travel, but do not know for sure. Not speaking the local language very well, it is difficult to ask.
As for the tracked 'wheels'; all the local farmers seem to automatically plough the field before replanting so I wonder if such arrangements are only meant for till-less agriculture, something that will become more popular as oil supplies diminish.
nutcase
Important details we want to know are road transport width, cut width, maximum throughput, cutter height range, fuel consumption (in litres per ton of grain in the chaser) The main advantage of tracks like the New Holland system is more ground contact per width. Current systems use double and triple tyres which make road transport awkward. The logistics of getting these things from paddock to paddock can make or break a harvest operation.
AllenH
Combine heads (grain platform or corn head) are sold separately. This unit will support up to a 45 foot wide grain platform.
Moving the combine from one field to another down a road involves removing the header and putting it on a four wheel transport.
Tracks instead of wheels do help with traction and soil compaction, especially in wetter fields.
Here is a brochure (PDF) with additional information. Of special interest to this audience would be the operator controls in the cab. Farming has changed in some incredible ways over the last number of years thanks to advances in technology.
http://agriculture.newholland.com/us/en/About-New-Holland/NewCR/Documents/NewCR_NH36145307.pdf
moreover
AllenH, thanks for the link which has some awesome photos and info. Chances are slim to none that I'll ever be invited to ride in a harvester so that's the closest I get.
bergamot69
I don't think the song was from the pre-mechanical farming days- it sounds very much like the work of the late eccentric Scottish humourist Ivor Cutler.
Not one of his better works, but if you can tune into his highly individual sense of humour, he can be very entertaining.
Bruce H. Anderson
I am betting engine torque is mildly astronomical.
Bill Bennett
No cup holders in the cab?
Jay Finke
Track vehicles are know for there efficiency, that is, harfing down fuel and gobbling power. seems New Holland needs to focus on building square balers and PTO driven hay rakes.
Slowburn
The amount of work it takes to prepare sail for planting is dependent on how compressed the soil is. The tracks save fuel by reducing the necessary number of times the tractor has to cross the field to get the soil ready for planting.
Jay Finke
Ya I'm not buying it, the maintenance alone on track vehicles is crazy expensive, dual wheels are the best way. I bet a track for this thing is about 8 grand, and I'm probably way off, it's probably twice that. Whats next walking equipment ? new Holland I think used to be new Idea or White. been awhile that I've been in a seat. tracks do work well on skid steers, in situations, like a yard where you don't want to tear up the grass. but to fully understand the amount of power consumed by tracks.. slap some on your wheeled bobcat SS and feel the big time loss of performance. And as a added bonus they need huge cooling systems, making a hard to work on vehicle even harder. I have a old 80's model 920 mustang SS with a T handle steer. no electronics no $3000 computer that needs setting the parameters before it will work ? just a little 3 cylinder Yanmar that starts every time., I love it