John Deere's 1st Tier 4 Tractors

January 1st, EPA emissions standards will take effect, and a price hike to pay for the technology required to meet those standards. John Deere has been at farm shows all summer introducing their 8r tractors that are Tier 4 compliant for 2011. Deere also says they are the “smartest row crop tractors” it has ever built. The PowerTech PSX 9.0L engine is the workhorse under the 8R series tractors hoods. They use an exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) technology to meet Tier 4 standards. EGR engines do not require additional fluids, as do Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) engines. The PowerTech PSX 9.0L engines are not only cleaner, but more powerful by 10 to 15 hp versus the 2010 models. Cody Dicken, Deere product manager says the key to the increased horsepower is heavier engine components, which allow and increase in fuel pressure. Dual series turbo chargers help boost pressure. The 8R and 8RT models are 8235R, 8260R, 8285R, 8310R, 8335R, 8360R, 8310RT, 8335RT,and 8360RT. Deere engineers put together a lot of new technologies to make the 8Rs smarter. Start with an updated JDLink feature. This wireless system lets the tractor “talk” long distance to a web-based server. I did a blog post on this called Talking Tractors