With a unique graphic on its flanks, Claas’ new Lexion 8900 Terra Trac made its North American debut on the grounds of the Ag in Motion farm show near Langham, Sask., in July. The brand celebrated a milestone in its combine production at the same time as it released the largest model it has yet offered.
“The 8900 is being released in North America,” Claas of America’s product supervisor for Canada for Claas of America, Rick Hubrich. “There’s only a handful of these with the special paint scheme on. We’re celebrating the 500,000th combine coming off the line. This is one of just a few in North America.”
Of those 500,000 Claas machines sold worldwide, about 75,000 of them have been Lexions. Claas still builds other model lines of combines as well for distribution around the globe.
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Founded as a family business in 1913, Claas has been building combines since 1936. Over the years, Claas-built combines have been sold painted in a variety of different liveries, wearing CCIL, Ford, Massey Ferguson and Cat names on their flanks.
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The new Lexion uses the same power plant as Fendt’s Ideal 10T combine, a six-cylinder, 16.2-litre MAN diesel engine.
“We’re up to 790 horsepower,” said Hubrich. “We run the MAN in several other ones as well. It’s been a very good engine.”
The big MAN engine gives the 8900 an 89 horsepower increase over the previous flagship model, the 8800.
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The brand’s Dynamic Cooling System keeps the MAN engine at normal operating temperature by pulling cleaner air from above the combine. The cooling system senses the workload of the combine and directs more power to the fan when the load is high and less when it isn’t required.
The standard Auto Lube system helps minimize daily maintenance.
Power gets routed through Claas’ own in-house CVT transmission.
The 8900 will only be available in the tracked Terra Trac version, rather than with regular tires on all four corners.
“It’s narrower,” Hubrich added. “We get way better ride out of it and more stability for the header as well, because it does have a full suspension underneath.”
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The 8900 sports a 510-bushel hopper and can unload it through a 35-foot auger that can move grain at up to 5.1 bushels per second.
Threshing and separation is handled through Claas’ APS Synflow hybrid system, which uses an accelerated pre-separation system that threshes up to 30 per cent of the grain before the crop reaches the twin rotors. The threshing and separation speeds are controlled independently.
To make things easy for the operator, the Cemos Automatic threshing system can adjust machine settings in real time, based on crop flow and changing field conditions.
“We have features like automatic cleaning, automatic separation and auto threshing,” said Hubrich. “We have Cruise Pilot, so we’re speeding up and slowing down, keeping the machine at peak performance. We have automatic crop flow, so we’re not plugging.”
Up front, headers are available as wide as 50 feet, including the Convio Flex 1530 draper, which has a flex range of nine inches.
“It’s a flex draper,” explained Hubrich, “fully automatic from the cab. “No calibrating or anything to do. With a push of a button for lower crop you’ll be in flex mode. There’s an acre counter on it as well. So we know how many hours and acres the header has done.”
The Convio flex draper also offers features that include Auto Belt Speed as well as Active Float operator assistance.
At the rear, the Pro Chop chopper can spread residue up to 50 feet to match the widest header, and it includes a wind compensation feature to maintain an even spread in most conditions.
While some components are built in Europe, final assembly of Lexions is done at the brand’s Omaha, Nebraska, facility, which was originally started as a joint venture with Caterpillar when Lexions were first introduced to North America. Cat is no longer a partner in Claas’ North American operations.
The 8900 Terra Trac models will be available in time for the 2025 growing season.
“Early order starts right away,” said Hubrich, “so we’re ready to go for spring.”
