Some 45 years after New Holland pioneered the twin rotor combine technology, Deere will introduce its first dual-axial rotor threshing and separating units in 2020. The announcement of the new series of Deere twin rotor X9 combines was made in November at Agritechnica in Hanover, Germany.

New Assembly Line Under Construction

Construction is already underway on an assembly line for building these new combines in the Deere harvester plant in East Moline, Ill. By next summer, the company will be operating two side-by-side combine assembly lines in the plant, as Deere’s popular S700 series combines will continue to be manufactured. A limited number of the new X9 combines will be available for the 2020 harvest season.

The new X9 combine will be larger than the model S790 combine, the largest model in the Deere combine lineup. The new combine will be capable of harvesting more than 100 tons of wheat per hour while keeping grain losses under 1%.

Offering a transport width of under 11.5 feet, the new combine will feature improved crop flow, larger grain threshing and separation areas along with a larger cleaning shoe. Minimized air counter pressure and maximized air separation during grain cleaning will lead to improved airflow and more accurate residue distribution.

Good news for no-tillers who want more even residue distribution over the full width of the header is an improved chopper mechanism. The angled blades used in today’s Deere choppers will be replaced with “dented blades” that feature a so-called golf ball airflow effect. This new development will maximize air volume flow and reduce the amount of power required for full width residue distribution.

45 Years of Twin Rotor Experience

The twin rotor technology can be traced back to 1975 when the first New Holland TR70 combines rolled off the assembly line at the company’s Lexington, Neb., plant. In 2015, the company introduced the 10th generation of its twin rotor combines.

In a side note, a New Holland model CR10.90 combine in 2014 claimed the Guinness World Records title for harvesting the most wheat in 8 hours. The record 29,308 bushel harvest took place on a farm in the U.K. The world soybean record was set in Brazil in 2017 by a New Holland CR89.90 combine that harvested 16,157 bushels of soybeans in an 8 hour period.

While the twin rotor technology is being introduced by Deere for the first time in 2020, New Holland has proven the idea’s value with the production of more than 40,000 twin rotor combines since 1975.