Tips & Tricks
On the 8000 Series, a PTO shaft runs forward inside the left front wheel to drive the headers. In the 3m version, the distance between the front wheel and the PTO shaft is so small that the PTO shaft protection is regularly destroyed by soil adhering to the wheel. Of course, this occurs particularly acutely during the corn harvest.
John Deere considers this PTO guard to be a "wear"-item, so the periodic repair costs are the responsibility of the machine owner.
The price for this original spare part is around €250.
These costs could easily be avoided if a very stable scraper were installed above or below this PTO shaft protection, or if a partition plate were installed in some way between the wheel and the protection. If you have found a suitable solution for this problem or have already installed it, please let us know. We would then publish it here.
Tire configuration 8000 series
The current John Deere forage harvesters are still available with an outer width of 3.0 meters, which of course entails restrictions on the possible tire sizes. The machine shown below has a very awkward configuration: at the rear wheels, the machine would be exactly 2.90 meters wide from outer flank to outer flank.
However, the axle itself measures 2.99 meters across the entire width. These rear axle tires not only increase the ground pressure completely unnecessarily, but at the same time the planetary gears are completely exposed and therefore no longer have any collision protection.
Therefore, pay attention to this fact when buying a new machine of this type.
The tire size is 500/85-30.
Protective bar on series 8000
In order to avoid damage caused by rear-end collisions when opening-up the field, a self-made bull bar was retrofitted to this 8300. It is stable and well integrated, but the hitch can still be used without restrictions.
Ejection flap series 8000/ 9000
On the 8000 and 9000 series, the end flap on the ejection chute is actuated by means of an electric linear motor.
The pivot point of this linear motor is on the one hand on the chute itself and on the other hand on the intermediate flap.
The final flap is adjusted accordingly by means of a linkage.
To stabilize the pivot point of the intermediate flap, a small stiffening made of sheet metal runs across its entire width.
To a certain extent it is normal for a very small part of the chopped material to splash backwards from the end flap and settle between the end flap and the intermediate flap. This also happens with other chopper manufacturers and in general this is not a problem.
This is also not a problem with the 8000 and 9000 John Deere, as long as the trailer to be filled drives along sides to the chopper. However, it can become a problem here if, after several hectares, you want to blow over the tractor into the trailer driving behind the harvester and have to open the flaps completely. Then it can happen that so much chopped material has been deposited in front of this stabilizing sheet metal that the flaps can no longer open far enough. At this point, the driver has no choice but to stop briefly, lower the chute completely and remove the chopped material.
If you have a solution to this problem please let us know and we will post it here.
Knife setting gauge for series 8000
From the factory, the blades for the 8000 series would be installed in such a way that the shearbar is used as a stop for each individual blade.
Although this works in principle, it is time-consuming and not very ergonomic.
It is much faster and more convenient to use a self-made knife setting gauge, which is attached to the drum housing with two screws on the side.
Measures are now taken on the shearbar with just two knives, the gauge is adjusted to these two reference knives using the slotted holes and the adjusting screws, and from then on all the remaining knives are adjusted using the gauge.
This procedure is comparable to the knife change at Mengele:
