Mighty motor, large cab, but … small steering rams. The engine performance and roomy cab of the new top model 7R 350 (257kW/350hp rated) make a powerful impression, as does the overall rate of fuel use. She’s quite a beast. 

A new look and more power are all part of the latest generation of 7R tractors, which is topped off with the 7R 350. This is 40hp up on the previous range-topper, although the motor supplying the grunt is still a 9.0-litre, sixcylinder DPS unit. The engine now benefits from a variable geometry turbo as part of the Stage V updates, yet it’s the green-trimmed mirrors over the new boxy-shaped mudguards that make the new model stand out.

385hp — but not when parked

First stop for our steed is the test bench at the DLG. At rated speed, the needle stopped at 198.1kW/265.6hp at the pto, while the max was a modest 221.5kW/297.0hp at 1,700rpm Compare these statistics to the factory specs of 257.0kW/344.6hp rated power and even 283kW/379.5hp, and you may start to feel a little shortchanged.

John Deere limits the pto output of the 7R 330 and 7R 350 to the same level as the 7R 310 when the tractors are doing stationary pto work. This is to help prolong the life of the pto clutch pack, which is not designed to continuously push out all of the power the engine can muster. This nugget of information
is more important to users operating wood chippers, pumps or similar. However, as soon as the tractor starts rolling over 0.5km/hr, the software allows all of the power to flow.

John Deere was able to trigger the additional power with a laptop for our dyno tests, in which 223.5kW/299.7hp at rated speed and a max of 249.8kW/335.0hp arrived at the back-end. Although not record results, they are much closer to the figures you’ll find on the back pages of the brochure.

There is also a power boost that’s activated during pto work (over 0.5km/hr) or for travel at speeds over 23km/hr. At nominal speed, this increases output by about 15kW/20hp; however, the maximum power only increased by around 2.0kW/2.6hp.

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