Investing in good quality second-hand machinery instead of shelling out on brand-new equipment is the favoured approach of Nigel Barnes, who believes it allows him to have full control over the machines he runs, including adding Avon Tuning’s bespoke engine remap to his combine to release some extra output.
Clayhill Farm is an 800ha setup with owned land and contract farming agreements for different customers near its base in Westoning, on the outskirts of Bedford. It relies on a variety of front-line machines that are up to two decades old to help cover the arable area. After taking on extra land last year, Mr Barnes increased his harvesting capacity by purchasing a 2015 Claas Lexion 770 combine.
After running New Holland combines for twenty years, the move to Claas came with the inevitable learning curve, and during the first season, Mr Barnes felt the combine was lacking torque when presented with some heavy crops and required extra power to maintain a consistent forward speed.
“The biggest issue was in heavy crops; the combine’s engine would become bogged down and reach 100 percent load too quickly. This meant I’d need to pull the lever back to reduce forward speed to allow the feed mechanisms to catch up. The result was lumpy crop flow and compromised rotary performance due to the lack of power.”
Extra capacity required
As well as having local Claas dealer Olivers on his doorstep, Mr Barnes did plenty of research into the make and model, alongside talking to fellow Lexion owners,
before committing to the purchase. The 40ft 770 replaced a 30ft New Holland CR9080 to allow him to keep his contract customers happy during the busy period, as he explains.
“We buy equipment that is right for the farm and Olivers had the machine when we were looking to change. We’ve never been afraid to own machinery outside of a warranty period and maintain it ourselves. For what I paid for the 770, I would be looking at the range below if I spent the same money on a new combine, which means we wouldn’t be able to handle the acreage.”
However, to increase the power and avoid a costly decision to trade his recent acquisition for a bigger machine after only one season, Mr Barnes contacted Avon Tuning about its professional engine remapping service as a cost-effective alternative for increasing work efficiencies.
“I went to see Avon Tuning at Lamma, who said that uprating combine engine capacity was becoming popular and increasing power to the next model up in the range was possible if the running gear and cooling system were compatible.
“The Lexion 770 is almost identical to its bigger sibling, the 780. There are a few changes such as a bigger grain tank and different concaves, but the engine, transmission and cooling packages are identical. Avon Tuning advised me that matching the power of the 780 model on my machine would be safe and they had experience of doing it already.”
The remapping service uses OEM engine maps from a Lexion 780 to replace the original 770 map that left the factory on Mr Barnes’ combine. As the two machines both run a Mercedes 16-litre eight-cylinder engine, it is only the engine management software that restricts the 770 from operating as a 780.
By importing the original map, which has tweaked fuel delivery and timing characteristics among other settings, the Avon technicians can overlay the two maps to show how the increase in torque and power will be delivered across the rpm range. Key figures on the 780 maps show a 250Nm torque increase (see graph) and power upped from 543hp to 590hp.
“It may not sound much, but it’s a 10 percent increase in the engine’s output, with the gains at the early stages of the torque curve helping the combine to perform better at the point where it was originally struggling,” comments Mr Barnes.
“Reliability is still essential at harvest as I only run one combine, so employing a professional company to do the remapping work gave peace of mind and backup should anything go wrong.”
Installing the map
Increasing power and torque of an engine is fundamental for boosting performance. The install is carried out on farm but making sure the machine can handle the increase before the works is more important, as Gareth Jones, from Avon Tuning explains.
“We run checks on the machine we are installing a remap onto to know if it is running the drivetrain and ancillaries to match the increase in power. We will always advise the customer if we think their machine isn’t able to handle a boost in performance.”
An install is carried out in around two hours and involves downloading the original maps from the machine’s ECU, which are saved if the customer requires them to be uploaded back onto the machine later.
“The new map, in this instance from a Lexion 780, is then downloaded from the secure website portal and uploaded via our hardware onto the machine. We can tweak maps depending on what the individual customer requires, with the majority tailored to specific needs.
“For tractor upgrades we dyno test the output to ensure the changes we have made are having the required effect, while for combines we monitor the engine characterises over several hours to check the new software has changed the output as intended and within the engine’s verified tolerances,” adds Mr Jones.
Second-hand kit
Remapping engines to reliably achieve greater output fits with Mr Barnes’ ethos of buying good second-hand equipment that can be repaired in-house and doesn’t require a dealer every time there is an issue.
“Although relying on one manufacturer and buying new machines every few years has its benefits, I believe you end up paying about the same in warranty as you do in depreciation to own older machines in the long run. The difference is we have options when it comes to breakdowns, whereas with newer machines you are tied to the main dealer,” comments Mr Barnes.
“For our tillage work, we run a 2001 Claas Challenger 95E, a 2008 Case Quadtrac 485 and a 2014 Fendt 936, which all offer reliable horsepower purchased for a fraction of the price of an equivalent new machine. We’ve reconditioned the Quadtrac’s gearbox and fitted two new tracks during our ownership, which would be like a regular finance payment on a new machine over the same period.
“It is a similar story when we want to increase engine power by remapping. There is no need for us to contact the dealer or do the remapping work behind their backs as we own the machines and won’t be invalidating any warranties. We maintain good relationships with dealers for backup, but the extra output from remapping will increase our work efficiencies.”
Harvest review
After this year’s harvest, Mr Barnes said the combine had performed much better with the remap installed and there was a noticeable power increase when combining heavy crops.
“It was clear that we had more torque available in heavy cereal crops. Previously in areas that we would have usually eased back, the engine held on longer and wasn’t easily bogged down. The increase was also evident when we were chopping and unloading at the same time, as there wasn’t a need to reduce speed to allow the engine power to be used elsewhere,” concludes Mr Barnes.