HarvestersServicesTractorsTrust doesn’t rule out the need for an Expert Check

A recent survey in Germany showed that a large majority of farmers want pre-season machine inspec­tions. “Fifty per cent of the people asked even want to be alerted as soon as part of a vehicle presents a risk,” says Kevin Etienne, who runs John Deere Expert Check in Western Europe.

Until the auto­mated exchange of infor­ma­tion becomes wide­spread and provides alerts, how does John Deere ensure avail­ability of its equip­ment during the season?

For agri­cul­tural contrac­tors or co-oper­a­tives, pre-season machine inspec­tions outside of the contrac­tual warranty has found its place,” concedes Sylvain Autret, product support manager at the Terréa deal­er­ship in the Grand-Est region of France.

Customers have a heavy work­load and readily admit their mechan­ical and elec­tronic short­com­ings: They need an expert eye. “It is for them that we are devel­oping the Expert Check service, some­thing that will also allow us to better plan the activity of our work­shops throughout the season. And we have our mechanics to thank for it.”

Sylvain Autret of the Terréa deal­er­ship believes in the Expert Check service so that his customers, such as contractor Laurent Justin (right), can combine peace of mind with oper­a­tional savings.

A complete package for a clear quote

Each John Deere deal­er­ship can offer Expert Check with a varying range of services, but all have a common core of about 80 oper­a­tions for a tractor. This includes updating AMS compo­nents and installed soft­ware, checking fault codes, the air condi­tioning system, linkage clear­ance, hydraulic pres­sure, front-wheel drive, belts and lights.

“During the winter, Terréa adds an engine dynamometer for the trac­tors and a tyre wear check. We also put the work in in terms of labour,” Mr Autret explains. “We found that this push in labour is almost 15% greater than what would be offered by indi­vid­u­ally pricing oper­a­tions on the Expert Check list.” At the end of the inspec­tion, the tractor owner is given a diag­nosis and a quote.

“We organise dedi­cated Expert Check Days at each loca­tion at the begin­ning of the year,” explains Mr Autret. “Customers can be sure of leaving with a fully serviced tractor after 48 hours of down­time, usually very early in the season.” And this approach gets results: Terréa has planned 180 Expert Checks, a large increase compared with 2020.

During its Expert Check at Terréa in Verdun, this 8,000-hour John Deere 8520 will be closely inspected, including its front-wheel drive clear­ance.

Expert Check for three trac­tors per year

Based in Sorcy-Bauthé­mont in the heart of the Ardennes, ETA (Agri­cul­tural Contracting Company) Justin is a long-term customer of the Terréa branches in Corny and Vouziers. Laurent Justin and his wife Nathalie, who took over the company in 1997, manage a team of eight drivers. “Mechan­ical knowl­edge is essen­tial for us,” explains Mr Justin. “I never consid­ered hiring a work­shop assis­tant because my dealer has so much more exper­tise, as well as diag­nostic tools like Service Advisor.”

The busi­ness controls an impres­sive area, a large part of which is culti­vated under contract. This includes: 2,500ha of preci­sion planting, 1,700ha of sugar beet, 1,500ha of combin­able crops and 1,000ha of grain maize. In addi­tion, there is 1,000ha of maize silage and chop­ping wood, not to mention the poten­tial for biogas produc­tion.

“From May to the end of October our drivers are avail­able every weekend,” says Mr Justin. The off-season main­te­nance starts in December with a complete clean of the machines. After a month-long closure around the holi­days for a break, the major fixes are spread out over January and February. Every year, Mr Justin trusts the Terréa branch in Corny (Ardennes) to carry out a thor­ough Expert Check of three of his nine trac­tors.

Two hours wasted tinkering at a seeding site is two hours too many.

Sylvain Autret

“We appre­ciate the services they offer, and the engine dynamometer run, because it gives us a very good overview of our machine and its engine in partic­ular. John Deere’s reli­a­bility is well known, but a tractor that has racked up over 7,000 hours defi­nitely needs preven­tive main­te­nance.”

“We rely on this tractor as much as we would a newer one. Two hours wasted tinkering at a seeding site is two hours too many,” says Mr Autret. A simple axle or shaft breakage, to be expected at 8,000 hours, can lead to repair costs up to eight times higher than a preven­tive replace­ment.

Also worth consid­ering is the Expert Check 7+ option which, as the name implies, is adapted to vehi­cles more than seven years old, but whose avail­ability remains as imper­a­tive as for newer equip­ment.