New Holland is now offering its continuously variable transmission (CVT), referred to as ‘Auto Command’ in its T9 Series tractors.
“We’ve always had the power-shift transmission, but for the model year ’18, we’re gonna add a CVT transmission option for customers to choose from,” says Ken Paul, marketing manager with New Holland, in the video below, filmed at the 2017 Farm Progress Show in Decatur, Illinois.
The series includes eight models: five agricultural, two scrapers and one four-wheel-drive track tractor; with maximum outputs ranging from 429 to 605 boosted horsepower.
With the Auto Command system, New Holland says the models will see seamless speed changes and an infinite range of speeds. Operators can set target speeds anywhere from 65 feet per hour to 31 mph, within 0.01 mph, with three programmable speeds for each of forward and reverse.
“It all comes down to precise speed control,” says Paul. “The transmission automatically will ratio the engine power and the ground speed to perfectly match what application you’re in to make sure that we are maximizing productivity out of the system.”
In addition, the Auto Command’s Active StopStart means that the tractor will not move forward or backward when brought to a standstill, and there’s no risk of rolling back on steep inclines when powering up again.
“The CVT provides our livestock producers with the ability to pack silage pits with one-handed operation, going as fast as they choose in reverse and finely tuning forward speeds to be efficient as possible,” says Daniel Valen, Director of Product Marketing for New Holland North America. “For other customers, such as cash crop producers with grain carts, the same advantages they see today with the T6, T7, and T8 tractors with Auto Command are now available on the T9 family as well.”
According to New Holland, the intuitive design, and clutchless braking helps reduce operator fatigue, and makes for less time spent training during seasonal labour cycles.
Related: Case IH outfits articulated tractor models with CVT
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