With four tracks, the John Deere 9RX is undoubtedly gunning for the Case IH Quadtrac market. We decided to see what the 620hp titan has to offer.
John Deere now seems to have all big horsepower bases covered, with the introduction of the 9RX articulated tracked tractor joining the wheeled 9R and twin-track 9RT. Built alongside the rest of the high horsepower Deeres at its Waterloo plant in Iowa, the newcomer does have some European influence, particularly its overall 2.98m width when shod on the slimmer 762mm rubber. The 9RX means John Deere has been able to push up the power scale, as the twin-track RT was not available as a 9620. There are two other drawbacks to the RT besides its overall width of 3.4m. The first is the steering system, which every time the wheel is touched (including corrections using Auto Guidance) disconnects drive to one of the two tracks. Secondly, two tracks are more prone to crabbing when working across a slope.
Supplying the ponies in the two largest RX models is a Cummins QSX15 motor, the same as in the 9R and 9RT. In the flagship 9620RX model this is good for 456kW/620hp (97/68EC) at rated speed and 492kW/670hp at maximum from the 15-litre block. The two smaller 9RX tractors have 13.5-litre PowerTech PSS engines from Deere Power Systems — see the model line-up table in the article.
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