The baby Deutz-Fahr combine motors on

While yield reports have been good, the uncertain weather has led to a frustrating time for combine drivers. Luckily, the day the Deutz-Fahr 6040 HTS combine was on test, we only encountered one light drizzle, which impeded progress for about an hour.

The 6040 HTS is regarded as the entry-level combine by Deutz, while there is an update of this machine on the way. Deutz-Fahr has told us that the current model will remain in production due to demand and the stock of Tier 4 Interim engines at the company’s production centre.

For the test, the combine was set up to harvest cassia winter barley. Like most crops this year, it yielded well, giving a little over 4t/acre. The 6040 HTS combine was adjusted to suit the crop, with winter barley crops difficult to de-awn at times.

After adjustment to increase the fan speed, tightening the concave and a slight opening of the sieve, the grain sample was good. Inspection of the straw swath after the combine was also acceptable, with about three to four grains found on the surface area of the palm of my hand. There was virtually no grain left in the head in the swath, indicating that the tightened concave and rasping bars were threshing effectively.

Cutterbar

The width of the cutterbar on this machine was 4.8 metres (15.7ft). The Schumacher knife system was driven by an oil-immersed planetary drive, giving 1,220 cuts per minute on the knife.

The cutterbar in operation was very effective. It got a good test on the headlands with a good deal of green weeds spreading out from under the hedges, especially sticky back or cleavers. The reel on the machine is typically found on all Deutz models with flexible plastic reel tines. The combine reel adjustments from the cab were all carried out by electro-hydraulic switches, from the combine joystick and control console.

For me, the highlight of the cutterbar, even at only 4.8 metres, was the auto-contour control on the header. The movement in the header was fractional and constant as it worked tirelessly to keep the cutting height even, which takes away a lot of stress from the operator. The machine did not drag once in the corners or middle of the cutterbar. If I was in the market for a combine of this class, it is an optional extra that would definitely be top of the list.

The system works using two pressure sensors, which analyse the ground contours and send the correction signal to the terminal in the combine allowing the header to pivot on the slides, where the cutterbar is mounted to the neck of the combine.

In operation, the height was preselected on the electronic dial, and the operator can resume the same cutting height in every pass by pressing the button found on the rear of the joystick.

A button on the front of the joystick allows the operator to manually adjust the cutting height during operation. This button is also used to raise the cutterbar out of the work position on the headland turns.

Transmission

The joystick controls and the hydrostatic controls on the mono-lever worked well. The operator’s hand could rest in a comfortable position during work.

The only slight disadvantage found was in reverse; as the lever was pulled back to reverse the combine, it was hard to find the buttons on the joystick. After more time, I probably would not have to look at the location of these buttons.

The hydrostatic transmission on the combine featured a three-speed gearbox. The top speed on the road for this combine is 26km/hr and, in reverse drive, it is 14/km/hr, which I did not test.

The transmission performed well with control of the combine’s forward speed easy to regulate in heavy and light areas of crop in the field.

The parking brake is engaged on the primary shaft on the gearbox, while normal braking is carried out by using two disc brakes located on the half-shafts of the transmission.

The test combine was fitted with 650/75 R 32 tyres on the front and 405/70 R20 on the rear, which are not the standard tyres offered by Deutz-Fahr on this combine.

With the combine weighing 10,190kg, I think the standard tyres at 620/75 R 30 on the front are just not big enough for some fields in Ireland.

Threshing system

With a diameter of 600mm, the threshing drum comprises eight rasp bars bolted to five supports. The concave of the 6040 has a broad wrap angle of 121° to give more of a separating area of 0.95m², according to Deutz-Fahr.

The monolithic concave version is available in three wire spacing variants – 11, 14 and 16 metres – to suit different crops. The drum speed is adjusted electronically from the cab and the speed information displayed on the control terminal.

The drum has a speed range of between 400rpm and 1,250rpm. In operation, we had the drum speed set to 1,060rpm in winter barley, with not many cracked grains in the sample. The test combine also had the HTS turbo separator system. This increases the threshing capacity of the combine by up to 20%, according to Deutz-Fahr.

The secondary drum found behind the beaters is 590mm in diameter; the speed of this drum is relative to the speed of the primary threshing drum.

There are five settings for aggressiveness of separation on the secondary drum, which are manually selectable under the right-hand panel of the combine.

I noticed that the secondary drum broke up the straw a little more.

The combine has five straw walkers, with four steps along the incline of the walkers. The separation area on the walkers is 4.6m², which is a little less than the 6040 model without the HTS drum.

The 6040 HTS grain cleaning system features the unique Deutz-Fahr double grain return (DGR) system.

This system takes the returns to both sides of the grain preparation area (grain pan) at the rear of the combine. Deutz-Fahr claims that this system does not overload the threshing drum giving better performance.

On test, the grain preparation area and sieves did not build up with any significant amount of trash. The fan speed was adjusted upwards to 670rpm electronically in the cab. The 6040 has a turbine fan fitted, as standard, which blows air across the entire width of the combine harvester.

The turbine has a diameter of 400mm and a total of 44 blades along the length of the rotor.

Performance in the field

During the test, the moisture content of the grain changed. The first sample around the headlands came in at 20% moisture, while the last grain loads came in at 17.5% moisture.

These moisture levels did not have much of an effect on the settings of the machine. With the grain loss monitors set to a sensitivity of two, which is a very low setting (a setting of seven is the highest for grain loss), we were able to operate the combine comfortably at 4.2km/hr in a 4t/acre crop during the day.

To keep the monitors at the same level for losses, at around 10.30pm the forward speed dropped back to 3.4km/hr, with the dampness returning to the straw.

We estimate the machine’s output at 3.5 acres/hr. The combine could achieve more with side-filling and more experience in operation. The drum setting seemed to be a little tight for the volume of straw. Like most combines, the 6040 will push through the crop, if required.

The operator has a decision to make on what levels of losses are acceptable, versus the output of the machine. The decision we made on testing this machine was to have as little loss as possible from the threshing of the crop and not to concentrate on overall speed. That said, at the settings we chose in a heavy crop with no side filling in a 10-hour day, we could have achieved 35 acres of cutting.

Calculating the theoretical output of the combine relative to forward speed and the header width, the result should be 4.7 acres/hr. So, in theory, we were losing about 1.2 acres/hr. In reality, this figure is impossible to achieve.

Unfortunately, we were not able to compare fuel consumption. A rough estimate would be about 8.5 litres/hr based on the tank size and the fuel gauge relative to the field size.

The combine is powered by a Deutz Tier 4 I engine, which uses SCR technology or AdBlue. The engine has a rated power of 230hp. On test, the engine was never under excessive loading and the electronic three-speed engine setting worked well. The straw chopper fitted was not used as the hope for straw prices to increase remains.

The cab

The cab on the combine featured a combination of mechanical and electrical controls. The engagements of the threshing drum cutterbar and unloading auger are all mechanical.

The fan, drum and engine speed are electronically controlled. The control terminal is located nicely in the driver’s eye line, with electronic control dials for height and contour settings on the instrument console.

The buttons on the control module for selection of information on the display screen are a little small, but easy enough to navigate through. For night-time operation, I would have preferred if the grain loss monitor illuminated the green, amber and red guides, along with the LCD bars on the screen.

The cab itself is a little narrow and not suitable for passengers. The view to the cutterbar and to the 5-metre long top-mounted unloading auger over the trailers was excellent.

The big mirrors worked well, giving good visibility and also making it easy to reverse back to the trolley. The joystick functions were standard, raising and lowering the cutterbar and reels, movement in and out of the reel and the automatic preset height entering work.

A nice feature on the display was a light to show when the unloading auger was not turned in fully. There was a little bit of crop noise from the machine. Personally, I like this as it is a good barometer of how the machine is threshing. The cab also had air-con and a bluetooth radio. Overall, it was a comfortable place to be with electronic functions for the most worked controls in the day’s operation.

This machine will sell for €140,000 plus VAT, while there is a demonstration discount available for the machine on test.

Relatively speaking, it seems to offer a lot of combine for the money, when compared with other brands and even tractor prices. For a typical 200-acre to 300-acre tillage farmer looking at this investment, the combine has the potential to last at least 20 years relatively trouble-free. That equates to the combine costing €7,000 per year, excluding interest, repairs, running and all other associated costs. To hire a contractor to cut 200 acres costs approximately €10,000. The other associated benefit is the capital allowances available, and timely harvesting on the farm.

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