John Deere has rolled out three new large-frame compact track loaders and two new skid steers under its P-Tier line, replacing models in the G Series.
On this episode of The Dirt, we get a close-up look at the new P-Tier 331 and 334 skid steers and 331, 333 and 335 CTLs. Emily Pagura, Deere product marketing manager, walks us through the many changes in these new compact machines.
One of the first big changes is a new cab, redesigned to be larger and quieter. Deere added loads of technology, including a 270-degree-view camera, and optional mastless 2D grade control, like what’s offered on its dozers and motor graders.
The loaders are made for handling high-flow attachments and get a more powerful hydraulic system designed to send pressure exactly where it’s needed.
Along with the new loaders, Deere rolled out three attachments to run with them: a cold planer and two mulching heads.
So to get a close-up look at Deere’s new compact loaders, check out the latest episode of The Dirt.
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In This Episode:
- 00:00 – John Deere P-Tier CTLs & Skid Steers
- 00:29 – How Many New P-Tier Machines are There?
- 01:26 – What Has Changed?
- 03:33 – PCLS Hydraulics
- 04:14 – What New Tech is on the Machines?
- 07:03 – Grade Control: Indicate Only or Automatic?
- 07:27 – John Deere SmartGrade
- 09:00 – New Attachments
- 10:42 – Hydraulic Cooling Package
- 11:22 – Final Thoughts
00:00:00:10 - 00:00:19:18
Bryan Furnace
Hi everybody. Welcome back to Equipment World. You're watching the dirt. I'm your host, Brian. And today we're here to talk to John Deere about the roll out of the new P-tier series of compact track loaders and skid steers.
00:00:19:19 - 00:00:28:18
Bryan Furnace
And I don't have all the details. So we're going to talk to our product expert and get to the bottom of this.
00:00:28:19 - 00:00:35:00
Bryan Furnace
Can you start with just a breakdown of what P-tier machines are being brought out in this series?
00:00:35:02 - 00:00:58:18
Emily Pagura
Absolutely. So we have five new models launching with this program two skid steer. So I'll start there. We have a 332 P-tier and a 334 P-tier. So that 330 is kind of an upgraded version of what you would have previously known as the 330 G series, and then that 334 is really a brand-new class that's own purpose-built beast of a machine.
00:00:58:19 - 00:01:19:20
Emily Pagura
And then we move into the compact track loaders, the kettles. We have three models there. So the 331 and 333 P- tier. Again those are going to be upgraded versions of those 331 and 333 G series that the market knows and loves. And then we're also introducing the brand new three 335 P-tier, which again, is in a class of its own beast of a machine.
00:01:19:20 - 00:01:24:17
Emily Pagura
And that thing's got a lot of power really purpose built for some heavy-duty attachments.
00:01:24:19 - 00:01:35:05
Bryan Furnace
Awesome. So for the existing machines that are kind of moving to the P tier series, can you give us an overview of some of the modifications and changes that have happened?
00:01:35:07 - 00:01:51:19
Emily Pagura
Absolutely. To all five of these machines are going to have a brand-new cap. And I think this is the thing that I am most excited about, because you notice that the second you sit down in that machine, the cab is larger and it's also a one-piece cab, so it is sealed and pressurized. You're not going to get a lot of dust and dirt in.
00:01:51:19 - 00:02:07:17
Emily Pagura
They're only what you track in on your boots. And it's also very, very quiet. Once you get in there and you get that door shut, you get that thing going. It's kind of an almost peaceful cab.
00:02:07:19 - 00:02:26:02
Emily Pagura
It is completely redesigned from operator. Feedback is the other exciting part, right? We listened to operators, they told us what they wanted, and that's exactly what we've got here. So you see a 20% improvement in visibility, which is great. No skid steers and the compact track loaders, compact machines, they're all over the place. And being able to see out is really important.
00:02:26:02 - 00:02:47:17
Emily Pagura
On a job site. We've got people and equipment and supplies kind of everywhere. Sometimes we've got a new radio in their hands, free calling, keep in touch with people on your job site. And then we also put our larger field switch module on there. So that 25 button zoom that you see and things like our larger wheel loaders you're getting now in the compact equipment as well.
00:02:47:18 - 00:02:52:20
Bryan Furnace
Okay. So now you feel really familiar. If you're familiar with the John Deere ecosystem.
00:02:52:22 - 00:03:14:08
Emily Pagura
You do. You very much do. Yeah. the other thing is we've upgraded the hydraulic system on those machines. So the 330 and 331 both have new hydraulic valves. They're going to get more power out of that. And then that upgraded 333 as well as the 334 and 335. All have pressure compensated loads setting or pistol's hydraulics, which is an exciting upgrade.
00:03:14:08 - 00:03:33:07
Emily Pagura
And it's going to let the machine really meet the demand of whatever you're doing with it in the most efficient way possible. We also made a few updates related to attachment usage a redesigned the quick touch, thicker steel straight pins instead of tapered pins. Then we've added a couple larger hydraulic couplers on the front of those larger machines as well.
00:03:33:12 - 00:03:39:16
Bryan Furnace
So you piqued my interest a little bit with the what was it people? What was your acronym? I forgot it already.
00:03:39:18 - 00:03:45:05
Emily Pagura
PCL pressure compensated load sensing hydraulics. So let's actually.
00:03:45:10 - 00:03:46:15
Bryan Furnace
Break that down for me.
00:03:46:15 - 00:04:12:21
Emily Pagura
Yeah, yeah. Look, something is going to meet the demand of whatever it is that you are doing on the front when you're running these really high demand attachments that need high pressure, high volume, high flow of that hydraulic oil coming through, this machine is smart enough to know what you need and meet that need, instead of just relying on the RPMs of the engine to determine kind of your hydraulic power going out to that attachment.
00:04:12:23 - 00:04:30:12
Bryan Furnace
Interesting. So that actually is a perfect segue into my next question. We're starting to see more and more technology kind of coming to these machines, instead of it being the old school machines with just everything is manual and mechanical. So that being said, what sort of tech features are we going to see rolled out in the new, prettier machines?
00:05:11:14 - 00:05:39:07
Emily Pagura
Yeah, there's a couple different types of technology we're integrating in here. The first one is a surround view camera system. It's a 270-degree view with a dedicated monitor. So you've got a really good idea of what's going on around you. We've also got attachment manager. So as I talked about that pressure compensated load sensing hydraulic system attachment manager, which is in our advanced display in these new machines, is really going to take the guesswork away from the operator.
00:05:39:10 - 00:06:02:17
Emily Pagura
When you're putting on a new attachment, you're going to go in there. All of the John Deere attachment portfolio is preloaded. So you're just going to select what attachment is that you just put on the front of that machine. And the flow and pressure are going to be set automatically. And your control pattern on your right and left joysticks and all the buttons and controls on the top of those are going to be optimized for whatever type of attachment that is.
00:06:02:17 - 00:06:21:04
Emily Pagura
You're running beautiful. It's incredible. It's a really impressive system. Yeah. Thanks a lot of guesswork out of it and really helps operators when you're running some of these more intricate attachments. Right. You think a Colt planar. There's a lot going on there, a lot of different controls to automatically have your control pattern set up perfectly to run that attachment.
00:06:21:06 - 00:06:22:01
Emily Pagura
it's a game changer.
00:06:22:04 - 00:06:22:23
Bryan Furnace
Yeah.
00:06:23:00 - 00:06:41:06
Emily Pagura
And then the final big piece of technology is going to be getting into that grade management side of things. So slope indicate is going to be standard with that new advanced display on the 334 and 335, optionally other machines, of course. And that's just an indicator system to tell you the cross slope and the main fall of that machine.
00:06:41:11 - 00:07:02:11
Emily Pagura
You just kind of want to know where you're sitting or maybe which way the water is going to run if you're doing landscaping work, stuff like that. And then we can have a building block approach. So we go from there to what we call 2D slope control with smart grid ready. So slope control being kind of your 2D local type set up, which is ready to upgrade to Smart Grid, which is our 3D system and similar to what we've had on on previous models.
00:07:02:11 - 00:07:11:08
Bryan Furnace
Gotcha. And so on. The 2D system, is that going to be indicate only or is there going to be any sort of automatics associated with this?
00:07:11:10 - 00:07:25:20
Emily Pagura
It is a control system. So you can get the the 2D control. So it will hold a slope for you as you're going. You just set what you want. You can go. So there is control with that one if you want. Just the indicate you really just need that slope in the cart system.
00:07:25:22 - 00:07:34:10
Bryan Furnace
Yeah. Interesting. So for those not familiar with John Deere is kind of in the cab ecosystem. What is smart Grid. Can you break down some of the capabilities there.
00:07:34:12 - 00:08:06:11
Emily Pagura
Absolutely. So Smart Grid is John Deere's fully integrated meaning of mass list 3D grid control system. So that is a system within the machine really heavily software based. And it's going to take satellite information coming down from from a satellite network as well as data off of the machine itself. A lot of those in cylinder sensors that tell you exactly where the machine is sitting, but kind of relative to itself, right where your blade is relative to the machine, it's going to put all of that together.
00:08:06:13 - 00:08:34:10
Emily Pagura
And then as an operator, you can import your your job site plan. So exactly what your topography is and where you want to end up the machine, the system is going to take all of that and put it together. And you can then automate your blade movements of that machine to get down to whatever your site plan. It's so this technology you're going to see on motor graders and crawler dozers, and we've moved it now into our compact equipment as well.
00:08:34:10 - 00:08:43:11
Emily Pagura
So the old 333 G series had smart grid on it. And in these new machines, you'll see that on the 333 and 335 P-tiers.
00:08:43:13 - 00:09:00:18
Bryan Furnace
Awesome. It's really nice to see some of those features starting to move down into the compact equipment lineup. There's there's a lot of contractors on kind of the lower end of, of the industry that haven't really gotten to get their hands on that technology just because it's not been available. So glad to hear it's coming out on these newer machines.
00:09:00:20 - 00:09:09:21
Bryan Furnace
So that being said, I've also been reading that you guys are dropping some attachments with the P-tier series machines. Can you go into some of those attachments that are being released?
00:09:09:23 - 00:09:30:22
Emily Pagura
Absolutely. So there are three that we're bringing to market specifically with these machines, because the larger end of these machines, the three, 33, four and five have all of this extra power that we haven't had access to before. So we've got the ability to run these really powerful attachments with those new machines. So the first one is going to be the CP 40 G.
00:09:31:00 - 00:09:55:00
Emily Pagura
That is a cold planer is going to be just like the other three cold planers we launched earlier in the year, just 40 inch working with. Right. So a lot of power there. And a really cool thing about that is we've paired with the working group, one of our subsidiary companies, and we've integrated their expertise in milling into this attachment to bring it to the compact equipment world.
00:09:55:02 - 00:10:16:22
Emily Pagura
Incredibly powerful attachment. You can get a lot of work done. And again, with that attachment manager set up and a lot of the new features, it's incredibly easy and intuitive to run from the cab as well. From there, we've also got two more mulching heads that we're introducing. So the MH 72 D. It's just going to be a larger version of our existing MH 60 D.
00:10:17:00 - 00:10:33:04
Emily Pagura
And then separately, we've also got the MH 76 mulching head that has a depth control rotor on it. So it's going to kind of control how much of a bite you can take, which is going to make it great for that really dense, stringy vegetation we get in certain parts of the US and other markets. It's going to power through.
00:10:33:05 - 00:10:40:21
Emily Pagura
You're going to get a really fine, fine chip size. And again, you can just power through a lot of vegetation with that very quickly.
00:10:40:23 - 00:11:00:23
Bryan Furnace
Yeah. Excellent. Just out of curiosity, on those three attachments specific because we are talking the heavy duty, high demand attachments, are these machines geared that they're going to need a hydraulic cooling package kind of purchased to run those attachments, or is it geared to run those right out of the box?
00:11:01:01 - 00:11:21:18
Emily Pagura
It is geared to run those right out of the box. So that 334 and 335 especially I mentioned those are purpose built for this type of attachment. This is really, really where they shine. So they've got upgraded cooling packages that are coming right out of the factory. That is just part of what you're getting. They come to you perfectly specked ready to run those attachments.
00:11:21:20 - 00:11:29:21
Bryan Furnace
Awesome. That was the answer I was hoping for. Well, Emily, thank you so much for all of the information on the new P-tier units. And we'll see you back here soon.
00:11:29:23 - 00:11:31:00
Emily Pagura
Yeah. Thanks for having me.
00:11:31:02 - 00:11:44:00
Bryan Furnace
Well, thank you again for John Deere coming on the show to talk to us about the new P-tier series of kettles and skid steers and all of the fun things that go along with them. As always, I hope this helps you and your business. We'll catch you on the next episode of The Dirt.
