Uncategorized Sponsored Equipment Machinery
Sponsored: What can maintenance save you?

Many producers think of regular maintenance as a necessary evil to avoid major breakdowns at inopportune moments.

But regular, preventative maintenance doesn’t have to be a headache – and it can help producers maximize efficiencies at harvest.

Jenna Zeorian, a marketing specialist for CLAAS, says it’s important to be proactive, rather than reactive, about maintenance, so that owners can stay in control of costs and timelines – especially as machines age.

“If you schedule maintenance, you’re more in control, as opposed to when it’s a Sunday during harvest and your machine breaks down and you’re trying to get parts or service. It’s definitely better to plan for that maintenance instead of having to figure out a fix during the harvest season,” she says.

Pre-emptive service is actually better for the entire value chain: dealers have less stress on them in the winter. And in-season, producers can be charged after-hours or convenience fees if service is needed in the middle of harvest.

But Zeorian says the new 8000-7000 series of Lexion combines from CLAAS also makes maintenance easier for producers on a day-to-day basis.

“The Lexion has an automatic central lubrication system that will grease the machine for you,” she says. “With other machines, zerks have to be greased manually, some of them every day. This machine eliminates daily greasing time.”

Torey Hadland, a Canadian regional sales manager for CLAAS, says up to 74 zerks within the lubrication system are greased automatically, at the correct time with the correct amount of grease.

A Dynamic Cooling system also helps keep the air filter clean, Zeorian says, so the combine operator doesn’t have to blow it out daily.

“We’ve had the Lexion out for 20-plus years and haven’t redesigned the wheel, but we have made a lot of improvements over the years,” Hadland says. “We use a lot of belts and pulleys, which is the most efficient way to transfer power, and there’s less load on components so they last longer.”

Jason Friesen farms on 21,000 acres near Quill Lake, Sask. He says the first year his operation ran a Lexion combine, they sent it to the dealer over the winter to be serviced.

“I know guys get nervous when they lift the side panels and see the moving parts, but if you take time to understand the machine, it’s actually quite simple and designed to make maintenance easy. Now we know what we’re doing, so we do maintenance ourselves.”

The CLAAS Lexion 8000-7000 series requires, on average, roughly 20 minutes of daily maintenance time. And when it comes to repairs, the CLAAS On Your Farm Parts program lets owners customize a selection of parts to keep on the farm to minimize downtime.

It all adds up to more time in the field, faster harvest at the optimal timing, and better grain quality.