Agritechnica: the new Maxxum Multicontroller, from CASE IH, machine of the year 2018 in the medium power category
The new ActiveDrive 8, the latest version of the Maxxum Mulicontroller from Case IH, has been awarded the Machine of the Year award 2018, in the latest edition of the Agritechnica trade show. The jury, made up of journalists from the main European agricultural machinery magazines, highlighted the efficiency and cost savings that the new eight-speed transmission under load provides.
The Machine of the Year award is one of the main events on the agenda of the Agritechnica fair, in Hannover (Germany). The jury includes journalists from the German publications Agrarheute, Traction, Agrartechnik, Land & Forst, Bayerisches Landwirtschaftliches Wochenblatt and other agricultural publications of the international scope, which must select a winner for each of the 14 award-winning categories, among which are tractors divided by power, harvesting machinery and implements.
The winner of the category “mid-class” (average power), the latest generation of Maxxum, has a transmission that incorporates a whole series of functions designed to make the tractor more efficient and the driver is more relaxed
New Maxxum multicontroller.
Under the name of ActiveDrive 8, this new transmission is added to the existing transmission options on Maxxum tractors: the four-speed Semi-Powershift and the CVX continuous transmission, which are now renamed ActiveDrive 4 and CVXDrive, respectively. The ActiveDrive 8 offers a total of 24 forward and reverse speeds. For special applications, a version with super shorts is also available.
Covering speeds of up to 10.2 km / h, the first range has been designed specifically for the heaviest traction tasks. For special applications that require very low speeds, such as horticultural cultivation, ActiveDrive 8 is also available with additional ultra-low gears.
The second range, the main work range, covers almost 90% of all applications in the field, in pastures and work with the shovel, allowing the tractor to work under full load without any alteration of torque, between 1.6- 18.1 km / h
For road travel, the transmission has been designed to start in the third range, and a skip change function allows rapid progress between Powershift speeds. The automatic shift function makes it possible to adjust the tractor so that it automatically progresses between any set of eight speeds in the field, and between the 16 gears of the two top ranges on the road. The speed reduction function with the pedal can be used to cancel the automation of the transmission and reduce gear.
As for the operation of the transmission, the clutch pedal is not necessary; this means that the transmission is suitable for tasks that require a lot of power and where the impulse is important, such as cultivation or mowing with double or triple mowers. An authentic Powershuttle ensures that traction is not lost in changes of steepening direction, while the ‘clutch brake’ function improves ease of stopping and safety at road junctions or when stacking bales with a shovel. Both the change and the investor can be regulated to obtain a faster or slower response according to the task in question.
“We are proud to win the 2018 Machine of the Year title with the new Maxxum Multicontroller ActiveDrive 8,” said Andreas Klauser, president of Case IH. “Reducing the costs of inputs, costs increasingly higher, is extremely important for the farmer today. It is timely, therefore, to recognize and identify that each business has different requirements, and that, while a 4-speed transmission under load can be adjusted to certain farmers, others may require a more advanced transmission for their business. This is what we have tried to achieve by launching the new ActiveDrive 8 for the range of Maxxum Multicontroller tractors”, he added.
Source: CASE IH
