Two users increasing efficiency through professional remapping

Contracting service

An engine remap has reduced fuel consumption by 3-litres/hr on Chris Rodgers’ Claas Axion 810, allowing him to haul trailers at a lower rpm.

Mr Rodgers operates a contracting service around his base in Northallerton, North Yorkshire. The works involves hauling bales, grain and grass during harvest, as well as hedge cutting and verge mowing. He purchased his 2010 Claas Axion 810 on 4,200 hours.

However, although the Axion 810 was an upgrade to his previous machine, it was underpowered on certain tasks, notably when moving construction equipment on a 27t low loader trailer. He spoke to Kearsley Agri Services, who had recently become an Avon Tuning HD authorised agent for the professional engine remapping service, about increasing the tractor’s power within safe limits.

A remap was installed, increasing the power at the engine by 35hp and torque by 150Nm. The output was then tested on the dyno to ensure all software additions had taken effect and the tractor was operating as before. The additional power has been welcomed, but the biggest surprise has been the fuel saving.

“I’m using around 3-litres/hour less fuel than I was beforehand when hauling grain or grass, which is a large part of my work,” says Chris. “My fuel bill has reduced and I’m putting in less diesel every evening. I also charge some jobs on a price-per-litre, so my customers are making a saving as well.”

Mr Rodgers said that he has compared his fuel use to other tractors without remaps and his Axion has been favourable. When hauling grain alongside a Case Puma 160, the fuel use of both tractors remained similar throughout the full day. However, the Claas Axion 810 was pulling a bigger trailer, with 2–3t extra in every load, which meant the fuel saving had a greater impact.

“When I drove home after the remap I couldn’t go through the gears quick enough, it had made a big difference to the tractor’s output throughout the rpm range. It was the same when I started hauling, some of the hills that I had to drop down four or five gears in the past to get up, I would now only have to drop two.”

Arable farmer

Clayhill Farm is an 800ha arable setup in Westoning, on the outskirts of Bedford, and after taking on extra land, farm owner Nigel Barnes increased his harvesting capacity with a 2015 Claas Lexion 770 combine. However, during the first season, he felt the combine was lacking torque when presented with some heavy crops.

“The combine’s engine would be dragged down easily in heavy crops and reach 100 percent load too quickly. This meant I’d pull the lever back to reduce forward speed to allow the feed mechanisms to catch up. The result was lumpy crop flow and compromised rotary performance due to the lack of power.”

To increase the power and avoid a costly decision to trade his recent acquisition for a bigger machine after only one season, Mr Barnes contacted Avon Tuning HD about its professional engine remapping service as a cost-effective alternative for increasing work efficiencies.

“Avon Tuning HD advised me that matching the power of the larger Lexion 780 model to my machine would be safe and they had experience of doing it already. It may not sound much, but they’ve achieved a 10% increase in the engine’s output, with the gains at the early stages of the torque curve helping the combine to perform better at the point where it was originally struggling,” comments Mr Barnes.

The remapping service uses OEM engine maps from a Lexion 780 to replace the original 770 map on Mr Barnes’ combine.

This has different fuel delivery and timing characteristics among other settings, so the Avon technicians can overlay the two maps to show how the increases in torque and power will be delivered. Key figures on the 780 maps show an increase of 250Nm torque, and power from 543hp to 590hp.

“Reliability is still essential at harvest as I only run one combine, so employing a professional company to do the remapping work gave peace of mind and backup should anything go wrong,” concludes Nigel.

Stand 600, Hall 7

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