Folding 8-row corn head added to John Deere harvesting equipment line-up

Corn producers operating John Deere group 6 and 7 S-Series combines will now be able to equip those harvesting units with an 8-row folding corn head.

The new 608FC corn head will help customers overcome transportation challenges in areas with narrow roads and eliminates the need for header trailers, tow vehicles and related manpower.

This will allow producers to spend more time in the field harvesting and less time in transport or having to remove or re-attach heads when moving from field to field, according to Roger Maes, senior marketing representative for the John Deere Harvester Works.

"Harvesting with a new John Deere 8-row folding corn head can lower operating costs and allow customers to harvest additional acres per move by not having to transport the head separately," Maes said. "That helps contribute to their bottom line and make them much more productive and profitable."

The 608FC is available in 30-inch row spacing with or without the stalk chopping option. For transport, the head folds quickly to a narrow 10.9-ft. width. Like all 600C corn heads, the 608FC has an improved row unit slip clutch and drive shaft interface for longer life when harvesting today's more robust hybrids.

The head folds up and unfolds with a touch of a button from inside the combine cab, thus making it extremely easy to operate.

"The 608FC is the ideal green-on-green header solution for customers that need to drive down narrow roads to access fields they need to harvest, without having to transport the head separately," says Maes. "It's a much more durable, productive and economical option than other folding 8-row headers currently available, plus it's fully supported by the extensive John Deere dealer network."

Every combine tested before it leaves the factory - Whether you equip your new John Deere combine with the folding corn head, or another piece of header equipment, the combine is subject to rigorous testing before it ever leaves the factory, according to Kevin Ripple, product marketing manager for the Harvester Works.

The goal is to minimize any downtime experienced by a new combine owner and the steps taken range from improvement in welding technologies, adding quality checkpoints during the assembly process, additional training for the workers on the assembly line and a test track where each combine will spend 45 minutes.

"Once the combine completes its time on the test track, it is brought back inside and given a 74-point inspection process,"Ripple said. "We often hear the question from a new owner: "Who put 6.1 hours on my new combine?" The answer is John Deere did."

During those 6.1 hours of testing, in addition to the 45 minutes on the outside test track, sensors detect abnormal vibrations and sounds, and a hydraulic filtration unit is connected to the combine to filter any impurities from the hydraulic system. The combine is then driven to a special bay where checks are made for any oil leaks while the combine is operated at full speed.

These measures are taken to make sure that no combine leaves the factory with an issue, no combine is approved for shipping until it is truly ready.

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