Being completely sealed off from dirt and debris, the Premium Circle available for John Deere Motor Graders helps save on maintenance time for operators.
It’s been nearly two years since John Deere launched its factory-installed Premium Circle option for all John Deere G-Series, GP-Series and Smart-Grade motor graders.
With some machines in the dirt in Australia, it’s clear that the advantages of the new system are helping to save both time and effort for its users.
Let’s start with a recap against the standard circle. On a standard circle, the circle is more exposed, leading to wear over time over the course of the machine’s operation.
Wear inserts inside a standard circle require adjustments to keep a good tight circle for accuracy, and to prevent damage to the circle before eventually needing to be replaced.
This meant users could spend valuable hours in the workshop replacing or shimming the wear inserts as opposed to being on the job, leading to increased downtime over the lifetime of the machine. In comparison, with the Premium Circle option, there are no shoes, no wear inserts or jack screws exposed, with the system completely sealed and the wear inserts being replaced with a sealed bearing.
The pinion and circle teeth are also completely sealed from dirt and debris to minimise wear.
John Deere’s design was very focused on completely sealing, rather than simply covering the circle pinion drive that can still attract and hold debris.
The option has been designed to create a more simplified maintenance process. One of the main differences is the larger gearbox, which has increased the oil change intervals to 4,000 hours.
The bearing circle has five easy access grease points: four on the table and one on the pinion. The recommended service intervals on these grease points are every 500 hours, so there is nothing to do on a daily basis here. In addition to reduced maintenance and downtime, the Premium Circle with integrated slip clutch also has improved machine productivity, with up to 15 per cent increased circle speed and up to 40 per cent increased circle torque compared to the standard option.
Customers using grade control systems will notice they no longer have to compensate for wear in the circle or to stop the machine to adjust for looseness of the circle when using the Premium Circle option, Deere says.
To find out more about John Deere’s Premium Circle option, John Deere’s fully integrated SmartGrade grade management system and the automation features that help protect the machine and simplify repetitive work, visit www.JohnDeere.com.