A FAITHFUL 373kW (500hp) 4WD tractor left the north Cunderdin Fulwood family farm this year.
No big deal really. It had recorded 4000 hours and was still going strong.
But Greg Fulwood and his son Cody decided they wanted a more versatile tractor, employed for a range of tasks.
So this year the "old girl" was traded on a new John Deere 8360R front-wheel assist, bought from Ag Implements Cunderdin.
Rated at 269kW (360hp), these models usually are used for chasing at harvest, spreading, spraying and front-end loader work, if required.
But there has been a trend in recent years, to add tillage work to the resume of such tractors, where normally a 4WD tractor would be used.
Cody said the family decision to downgrade horsepower made sense to use the 8360R as a chase and spreader tractor ("we have a self-propelled sprayer"), but was genuinely toey about using it to pull the seeding rig.
"We've got a 40 foot (12.2m) DBS bar linked to a 12,000 litre capacity Multistream air seeder and we generally are digging between five and six inches (12.5-15cm)," Cody said. "So it did cross my mind whether we actually had enough horsepower to get the job done at seeding."
But after 200 hours in the saddle, Cody's thoughts have evaporated, with the 8360R easily achieving the task with the engine averaging 1800rpm, an indication it is not being loaded up, even when dry sowing in hard clay, travelling at 8km/h.
"I was surprised how well the 8360R performed," Cody said. "In some of our sandier country we were using about 3.5 litres of fuel a hectare with an average between 4.5 litres and six litres.
"The wheel slip of 10 per cent was acceptable and you could tell we were getting the power to the ground."
The 8360R is shoed with front and rear duals with minimum front suitcase weights (400kg) to balance the tractor because the independent link front (ILS) suspension does a lot of the work.
According to Deere, the ILS gives you 25cm (10in) of suspension travel to keep front duals in contact with the ground.
The John Deere PowerTech PSX 9.0L engine is the most powerful employed by John Deere in row crop tractors and is designed with an Engine Control Unit, which senses engine speed and load changes at a rate of 100 times a second.
This system allows the engine to instantly adjust fuel quantity and injection timing, air-to-fuel ratio, multiple fuel injections and the amount of cooled exhaust gas recirculation.
Greg and Cody opted for the Infinitely Variable Transmission, which Cody said was like driving a car.
You simply select your operating speed, choose from one of three operating modes, and the IVT automatically maintains the engine speed - even under changing load conditions.
"It's a very smooth transmission and it's one less thing to think about, particularly in changing operating conditions," Cody said. "The other noticeable feature is the smooth ride from the front suspension."
The office, or cab, is a lot bigger than the previous prime mover with most of the fruits easily controlled via the CommandARM, which features a simple set of soft-keys arranged with the most frequently used keys up front, while cab-environment controls are at the back.
The console contains gear and throttle levers; controls for the hitch, PTO, and SCVs and switches to activate iTEC PRO sequences and to resume AutoTrac hands-free steering.
The cab is designed with a passive noise-reduction system and is fitted with HID lights which provide more than adequate lighting for night work.
And there's ample storage space behind the seat for coolers and insulated-beverage containers.
Greg and Cody run RTK guidance via a dealer share base station on their property and also have opted for itecPRO auto headland turning.
This module coordinates vehicle and implement functions with end-of-row turns.
By automating these functions it allows the implement to be raised while turning and tractor functions to be performed consistently on the headlands or internal boundaries as well as positions the machine correctly for the next pass.
On-road, the 8360R is capable of speeds up to 50km/h
The heavy-duty hydraulic system boasts plenty of reserve capacity to operate large hydraulic motors, even at reduced engine speeds.
Closed-centre pressure and flow-compensated hydraulics are standard equipment and are used for all steering, brake, hitch, and SCV functions.
You can choose three to six SCVs at the rear of the tractor to meet your needs. Simple hydraulic control lets you easily adjust flow and time detents for each hydraulic coupler.
An optional Category 4N/3 hitch on wheel models has a lift capacity of 8482 kg.
A fully independent 1000rpm PTO is standard equipment, designed with a 20-spline shaft to handle high power, heavy PTO loads that require full horsepower.
According to Deere, PTO engagements are automatically modulated for smooth starts to help protect your implement from high-torque overloads.
