Case IH has revamped its entire self-propelled Patriot sprayer line. The previous 40 series will give way to the new 50 series, which will be available for the fall of 2022.
What’s new and different about the 50 series? “The short answer to what’s new is pretty much everything,” says Mark Burns, marketing manager for application equipment at Case IH. “From completely redesigned styling and look of the hoods to new operator environment, new armrest, some upgrades to the seat suspension, new chassis suspension, new spray systems and a whole suite of connectivity solutions. This is, kind of, starting with a clean sheet of paper. We have lots and lots of exciting things to talk about.”
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The 50 series will include three models, the 3250, 4350 and 4450.
Underneath, the new models get a completely new suspension system, abandoning the trailing link concept that had been standard equipment on Patriots for decades in favour of a four-bar linkage with airbags.
“The Patriot has utilized a trailing link suspension for going on 30 years now,” says Burns. “As the machines have become bigger, as the capacities of those tanks have increased to carry more product, which weighs more, we’re travelling at faster speeds — it became pretty evident that to provide the improved ride operators were looking for, we needed to go in a little different direction. That’s where this four-bar linkage came into play. This is coupled with an airbag suspension as well as a shock absorber.”
Under the hood and boom widths
To move them along, the 800- and 1,000-gallon machines will get a 285-horsepower diesel under their redesigned hoods. The 4350, which carries a 1,200-gallon tank, gets 335 and the flagship 4450 gets 390 to move its 1,600-gallon load.
Buyers of any Patriot model will now get a choice of five boom widths, 90, 100, 120, 132 and 135 feet.
“That’s different than in past models,” says Burns. “Typically, to get to the longer booms, you had to go to the biggest models. We’ve now made the entire offering available on all three chassis.”
And the boom designs have seen some changes as well. That includes a change to the spray tubes on the boom structures. The nozzle body outlet hole gets enlarged, which contributes to an improvement of about 21 per cent in flow capacity. However, there is no degradation to spraying even at lower rates.
“There’s been an improvement to the boom centre rack as well as some of the hydraulics,” Burns adds. “People who’ve had Patriots will notice some improvement in the boom yaw, or the amount they swing fore and aft when going through fields or climbing or descending in hilly conditions.
Nozzle pulse frequency
“Probably the lowest tech feature on the machine that will get the most attention is the nozzle wash station. On the back of the centre section we provide a wash station. It has a water outlet as well as an air nozzle to clean tips or other small parts. It’s something that people will use on a daily basis.”
The nozzle pulse frequency has also been upgraded, allowing for adjustments up to 20 hertz.
“We’ve been at 10 hertz, basically, since the inception of the technology,” Burns says. “But as things change, as we’ve been able to work with universities throughout North America, there’s been an awful lot of attention and spray studies performed that show 20 hertz actually provides the best spray pattern coverage. We’ve given operators the ability to (still) use the 10 hertz pulsing if they like that. It’s adjustable.
“We’ve added severe duty poppets, so those that spray more abrasive or corrosive material, or at higher pressures, will see a longer service life out of the nozzle body poppet.”
While underbody clearance remains relatively consistent on the smaller two Patriots, the larger 4450 actually sees an increase to 56 inches at its lowest point. Between the wheels where the frame rails are clearance is close to 60 inches.
Cab interior
Anyone with an AFS Connect Magnum or Steiger tractor will find the cab interior familiar. The basic cab on the Patriots uses the same overall design, but all of the layout is designed specifically for application work.
“Every button and switch on there are purposely designed to accommodate a sprayer application,” Burns adds. “On the armrest, there’s four buttons on there that are customizable on that layout, so operators can configure them to whatever functions mean the most to them.”
Every Patriot comes equipped with an AFS Pro 1200 monitor.
“That is the display the operator will use to interface with anything vehicle related,” Burns says. “Then the product control as well as interfacing with the auto guidance is run through the Viper. We’re also providing a five-year subscription to AFS Connect.”
Buyers who opt for the Raven Slingshot package will also get a five-year subscription to that service.
The 50 series models will be available for delivery in the third quarter of 2022.
