Using all of her 320 ponies!

Our friend Wayne texted that he was running his John Deere 8320R to pull his Krause Dominator disc ripper yesterday morning.  After getting Skyler a quick bite to eat, we were off.  It was snowing off and on, but oh so toasty in the climate controlled Command View cab!  This is a brand new tractor, only showing 32 hours on the meter.  We were pulling in 9th gear, engine lugged down to 1700 RPM, (from a rated 2100 rpm) and pulling 122% of the rated 320 horsepower!  After an hour or so, Wayne handed over the wheel to me and I made a few rounds.  Basically, I just raised and lowered the Dominator and disengaged and re-engaged the autosteer (GPS).  We probably would have lasted at least another hour, but Skyler was starting to fall asleep on Wayne's lap.  Something about a cab and a kid, there's no fighting the sleepiness!

First pass.  Notice the sea gulls.  Skyler was thrilled by them.

Front duals clawing for traction.

Gloomy day.  Nice inside though.

Nice and straight!

LED light next to the oil drum sized exhaust.  This tractor is EPA final Tier 4.  Meaning that the air leaving the exhaust is cleaner than the air entering the intake.

Antelope came over to see what we were doing.

And then walked back.

What a beauty!

Off he goes!  These new tractors don't even smoke under load!

Hard to believe that this is right in the Salt Lake valley.

"Bye Wayne!"  Skyler shouted as we drove away.  :)

Because we didn't last until it got dark, these next few pics Wayne sent us.  The new tractor has all LED lights on it and it is BRIGHT!

After we left, it was time to change ripper points.  The points were still hot when we pulled the tillage tool out and walked back to inspect them!

Lights on!

Wow!

They really do turn night into day!  Look at that!

360 degree illumination!  The new Command Center screen is reflection in the rear window.  Apple helped Deere design it.  Talk about perfection, Apple and John Deere, like a dream come true!