New John Deere 8R & 8RX Tractors Explained | Commodity Classic 2026

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Tony Kramer: Hi, I'm Tony Kramer, your host of the Agriculture Technology Podcast, and I'm sitting down with agriculture technology and equipment experts to help you enhance your operation for today, tomorrow, and into the future.

In this episode, I talk with Michael Porter about the new lineup of John Deere 8R and 8RX tractors. With that, like I said, we're going to be talking new lineup of 8R and 8RX tractors. We got Michael Porter back on the show. We were actually talking prior to hitting the record button here. This is actually Michael's third time on the show. So welcome back, Michael. Really excited to have you again to talk more John Deere equipment. Before we dive into it, why don't you remind our listeners a little bit about who you are and where you come from?

Michael Porter: Appreciate you having me on for, yeah, the third time. So, Michael Porter — I’m the Go-To Market Manager of Large Tractors and Tillage for John Deere. So I get to help kind of launch our new products in that area as well as, you know, I work with our dealers and field teams for John Deere, preparing them for new products, open with training, incentives, pricing, a little bit of everything for all the different tractor tillage and of recent autonomy products. I live in Kansas City. I'm out of our marketing office here and I've been with John Deere All right, I had about 10 years full-time now, a couple different roles. Most of the time spent out in the field, either on the service side or helping dealers learn new products, new technology. And then I've been here in the large tractor marketing role for a little over two years now.

Tony: Wonderful. Well, welcome back again. I'm really excited to talk this new lineup of tractors. You know, we think back the other times you were on the show, we were at a commodity classic product launch, those new high horsepower 9RX tractors, those monsters that John Deere came to market with. And then last year's Commodity Classic timeframe, we talked about some autonomous tillage and that product line. And now here we are again with Commodity Classic, another launch, another new exciting lineup coming to market. Before we talk about kind of the new stuff that's coming, why don't we give a little recap or review of what the 8R and 8RX fleet looks like today, and then we'll dive in to the new exciting launch that came out.

Michael: We have our 8R lineup. We're part of our 8000 series, and it's actually been in market, you know, over 30 years now, which is crazy to think about the 8000 series machines being around for such a long time, and it's really, it's our row crop tractor. It's the bread and butter for a lot of farmers and farm operations out there, whether it be, you know, an older 8000 series or a newer 8R, and over the years, we've obviously made improvements to the machine and brought out different machine forms to kind of get it where it is today. And so today it sits in kind of three different forms. We've got obviously our 8R wheeled machines that go everywhere from 230 horsepower all the way up to our 410s of today. So quite a few different lineup or models within there, you know, 250, 280, 310, 340, 370, and then, and then the big one today being the 410 in the wheeled. And then on the two-track, we've had for quite a while as well. Starts a little bit higher in the 310 horsepower range all the way up to the 410. And then our RX is the newest, if you will, of the 8s, which is our four-track offering, really the only fixed-frame four-track offering in the market, and we're proud of that one, and that one obviously is similar. So the, kind of on the top end of that, up to 410 horsepower. So 30 years roughly of the, a little over now, of the 8000 series, again, that's kind of our, for the farmer wants to pull a tractor, pull some tillage tools, grain cart, a little bit of do-it-all for a farm out there. Our 8 series has really been that key piece of that for the last 30 years.

Tony: Yeah, I think back to when the 8000 series, those ought series, 8100s, 8200s, back in the mid to late 90s. I remember I was a kid on the farm back home, and it was awesome to see those tractors, and they've been such a staple, such a piece on every single farm, whether it's the early 8000s or the 10 series, 20 series, 30 series, and then moving into the Rs. It is just so cool to see those machines, and one of the things that you mentioned too is you talked about the the newest addition to that lineup was the 8RX that, that fixed frame four track machine it brings me back to when John Deere launched the 9RX And John Deere being the only ones in the industry offering that wheeled machine, the two-track machine, and the four-track machine. So in that 8,000 series, 8 series lineup, you know, there's really a tractor for anybody in any situation.

Michael: Oh yeah, absolutely. And you know, I think that's a, that's an important call, it's like we're going to talk some of the new ones today and it's great to see these new higher horsepower lineup, but some of the features and stuff we'll talk about, we'll go back through all those other machines as well. And so whether the customer needs maybe this new big offering or they're happy with what they have, we have something new for all of them, which we're really proud of. And again, that legacy of the 8000 is really important to Deere. And so we definitely take our time and we don't take that lightly when we talk about bringing something new to the 8000 series. It's got a legacy that it's got to stand and make sure that we're proud of putting that eight on the hood.

Tony: Absolutely. And you teased it right there. New tractors, new offerings, new features. Let's dive into it. What is this big new release that John Deere is coming to us with in the 8R, 8RX lineup?

Michael: Yeah, we're proud to really introduce 6 new machines, three of them being 8R wheeled machines and three of them being our four-track 8RX machines. And for both lineups, the 8R and the 8RX, we're introducing 3 new models, the 8RX and 8R 440, the 490 and the new 540. So those numbers are the rated horsepower for each of these new offerings, but this is a completely new machine, ground up, comes off of a brand new line in Waterloo, Iowa. Bigger engine than what's in our 8Rs today, and then just a ton of new features and technology packed into a form of a fixed frame row crop tractor that everyone loves and everyone's been begging for to be a little bit bigger.

Tony: So this is going to be similar then to the rebuild of those 9RXs. It was the rebuild from the ground up, not just taking a bigger engine, anything like that. Those high horsepower 9RXs were a complete redesign and it sounds like this is kind of following those same footsteps.

Michael: Yeah, absolutely. It's the three horsepower offerings, very similar. You have new frame, bigger. So like we said, it's not just, you know, putting a different engine or a bigger engine in the same We build the whole machine with this new design, not just building around the horsepower, trying to make it hold up to maybe this higher horsepower. It's completely new, and with it comes a lot of new features and a lot of new capabilities, because the use case is going to be slightly different, too, for some of these. They're definitely going to be pulling bigger implements. We're getting into the horsepower range of the 9 Series. If you think about what some of those things we're doing with tankers and big tillage tools and things like that, it's got to be able to do everything a 9 Series can do, or at least a lot of what the 9 Series can do in that horsepower range, but then also do everything that a customer wants with their 8 Series today as well.

Tony: Why don't you tell us about these new features, whether it's the frame, the engine and everything that is to come with these three new sizes?

Michael: There's a ton in here, so we'll maybe start and just talk about kind of maybe the machine concept and the frame and some of those things. So, you know, one of the really important things when we started this project that we held close to the chest was we cannot have this machine not feel and drive like an 8000 series, an 8R. Our customers love the way the machines turn, the tight turning radius, just how they overall operate and feel. So that was something we weren't going to compromise on. We wanted the feel of an 8 with the power of the 9s, and I think we've really done a good job of incorporating that into it. So, like I kind of started off with, it's got a new engine. So, it's got the engine from the 9 series. It's a JD14, which is a 13.6-liter engine. With that, though, some changes to it does have engine braking. We'll talk about that. That's a big deal for some of our customers in the transport market and the tankers and some other things. So it does have a JD14. This machine is going to come with a beefed up EVT transmission, so the electronic variable transmission only. So no IVT, no power shift, no E23. This is an EVT only. And what that EVT brings with it is we've talked for a lot of years about the future ability of an EVT and what it can do. And this is really going to be the first offering that's going to start to take advantage of all those. When we designed this tractor, we designed it in mind to be the ultimate planting tractor. And with that comes the ability to actually power those planters right from the tractor. So we're able to plug in a single power cord to the back of that tractor to run all the electronic row units. So no more hydraulic generators or PTO generators if a customer doesn't want them. The ability to plug in a cord and power those planters. So again, really keeping what the use case of this tractor in mind going to some of these bigger high-speed planters. Along with that, I can run through, but bigger hydraulics up to 110 gallons per minute. New steering system with reactive command steering, so return the center type steering, able to adjust the sensitivity and the feel of that steering. And that pairs really well with our new ILS system with these. And that ILS system has been beefed up to handle the increased weight and the power this tractor is doing. And with that on the wheeled machines, we have the option to go up to 60 kilometers an hour now. So our 410s and below today, 50K has been the top speed of those. We know customers are going to want to pull big manure tankers and things. And so we've built this machine to not only be the ultimate planting tractor, but also be able to do what customers have been asking for in that space and do it faster and still feel really confident going down the road at 60 kilometers an hour. So the reactive command steering, new steering system with the ILS all kind of comes together and we have the ability to go to group 50 tires now. So again, bigger, bigger, taller tires, the machine is larger, it sits a little higher and those tires to really help get the power to the ground and also carry some of the weight that we're going to talk about when it comes to big DV planters that we haven't been able to pull with 8R series before. That's maybe some of the, call it the tractor side of things. I can keep going. There's, there's front hitch and there's, uh, you know, all those things.

But maybe the next big part of this tractor is, it's the first one with the new, what we call the new John Deere operating experience. So this is a completely redesigned command arm and cab. that's going to start proliferating through all John Deere products, not just the tractor. This is the first machine to get this new operator experience. We want a consistent feel for all our machines across the board, and so this is really the first one to get this. But what that John Deere operator experiences is really that new command arm. It has the same Gen. 5 display, but now a second display called our convenience display underneath it that replaces a lot of the maybe manual controls for things like radio and some hitch and some SCVs and all those things that we have individual buttons for in today's cab. We've moved into a nice display right underneath that gives you quick access, but also declutters some of the armrests of today. And so it's got new that new convenience display. The whole armrest is independently controlled, electronically adjustable. So up, down, you can really customize this armrest in this seat and controls to the operator. And just like maybe you might have in a vehicle at home, you actually be able to save those and have different drivers or operators and have pre-saved settings for each of them. So maybe you like to operate one way and you want to set up your transmission controls and your seat and all those things to you – you’re able to save that and then have someone else have their own so you're not constantly having to overwrite and change things up. With that new operator experience, there's some other, you know, what I'd call creature comforts that includes a wireless phone charger that goes right next to your display. Customers have been asking for that. And then the cab itself, you know, is upgraded with, um, now door cinched, something we've had on the combines, that's an option on these tractors. And for the 8RX specifically, it's getting that same cab from the high horsepower 9RX. So the CommandView 4+ cab, which has got more floor space, more window space, um, than what we've had on the 8RXs up until this point. So I warned you before we started, there's a whole lot to unpack with this.

And so again, there's the machine itself, then there's the operator experience, and then maybe the third piece of this is, is the drive strategy. And this is one that's a whole shift for John Deere, which is We haven't really touched how we operate these machines and how we control them. We've introduced some new ones and we've had, you know, Command Pro and some things like that, but we're going to three drive levers. for really all tractors coming soon, and this is the first machine to get those three. And so we have these new drive strategies called Command X, Command X Plus, and Command X Pro. So regardless of what transmission you have, you're going to have one of those three drive levers, and they're all very, very similar. Command X's are more basic because maybe less customization, less programmable buttons and things like that. Then you step up to Command X Plus, which introduces the ability to have the foot pedal control with a couple More programmable buttons, and then finally, Command X Pro, which is the most customizable operating experience we've got. And this is the first machine to get that, but it's going to be coming to all 8000 series in model year 27. This is really the first step. And then to all tractors over the next few years and other parts of our large ag self-propelled strategy. So it's really cool to see this. It's very similar and looks to the Command Pro. but then drives maybe more like the IVTs and the EVTs that customers like with a left-hand reverser. So no matter what tractor you get into, to initiate motion and to do those things is the same whether you're in a Command X. or Command X Pro, whether you're in an EVT or an E23, that, that overall how to initiate motion and how to drive them is going to be the same, which is something we've really been striving for when customers say they want to get out of their one tractor into another, have consistency, and then even take that into things like sprayers and combines in the future. There's a ton.

Tony: Yeah, you weren't lying when you said that, I mean, this, they really are redesigned from the ground up. It's not just a bigger engine, bigger horsepower, like, take what we have and just crank it up. You guys, oh man, John Deere has really outdone themselves with this new launch, these new machines with all of this stuff. And I go back to when you were talking about the JD-14 engine coupled with that beefed-up EVT and off-boarding power to the planter. Michael, you don't know how excited I am to hear you say off-boarding power to the planter. We've had it for a little while, not to the planter, but we've had the ability for a couple implements out there in the industry to offboard power to, but now we're bringing it to those electro-drive planters. That is awesome.

Michael: Yeah, absolutely. And it's one of the things when we made this, it wasn't just how do we make a new 8R, right? That's not how we thought about it. It's more of how do we, you know, we think in production steps and how do we make a solution that we're bringing to market that's not just the tractor, but again, we don't, I used the term before, probably on this podcast, so we don't go tractoring, right? We're doing something with these tractors. We're hooked to a potato harvester. We're hooked to a planter or a tanker or something. And so how do we build in some of that to make this the ultimate planting tractor? And that electrical outboard came to the front, you know? Being able to just one plug, control that, and not have to run PTO powergens and hydraulic powergens. And again, they're a great offering and we're going to keep them around for quite a long time, but how do we make this just easier for customers to plug a tractor into a planter? And this tractor will remember the planter, remember how you had settings set up. It has all of those things, so that way hooking up and unhooking isn't as big of a deal as maybe it used to be. We definitely thought about what's this tractor going to be used for, and one of the biggest ones is obviously high-speed, large planters. So how do we make that easier? This is one of the ways to do it.

Tony: Yeah, and that you kind of answered my next question, but let's dive into that a little bit deeper. So whether it be that ultimate planter tractor or you're pulling big manure tanks or something like that, when you guys sat down and said, okay, we need to make a bigger tractor, but we're going to add all these features, creature comforts, all of this stuff, what is the market we're going after? Where do we see, along with being the ultimate planter tractor, where do we see these 8R, 8RX units being used in the ag industry?

Michael: Yeah, absolutely. And the ultimate planting tractor, when we think about something like that, we're really actually even narrowing into the 8RX area where you talk about being able to carry fertilizer and one of the features we brought is front fill, something that customers have had on sprayers. We're bringing that to this high horsepower 8RX so that our customer can keep unfolding and fill up liquid. So that's just another example of when we thought about that solution. But I'd say when you think about where the opportunities are, we call it the ultimate planting tractor. I also may be calling the Swiss Army knife, it's going to be used in a lot of different areas. So let's maybe run through a couple that come to mind, the first one being planting, so 24 row plus high-speed planters. To be honest, the main one, you know, the one that we've been targeting here is a DB90. This tractor, especially the 8RX with liquid, but even the wheel, is capable of doing 1200 acres a day. That's, you know, going to bed at night. That's not even running 24 hours a day. But we have the ability with this tractor to pull up to a DB90 planter, high speed, in the hills, 24 row plus, and not ever have to compromise speed because you don't have the power to get it there. You know, we have customers today that are doing that, maybe with some 9Rs and 9RXs, but the machine form, being able to turn so tight, the ride and the creature comforts that come with the 8R customers have been asking is, I love my 8R, I need the power of the 9. I want a planting tractor that I don't ever have to slow down to get over that hill or to get through a tough spot in the field. So that's obviously, you know, one of the, call it target priorities of solving customer problems is we wanted to solve the problems our row crop customers had with these bigger planters.

Let's get into maybe a couple of the other ones. So when we think about big grain carts, you know, small grains country and row crop, you know, 2,500 bushel grain cart is no issue for these tractors. So, you know, grain carts can get bigger and bigger every year. It's unbelievable. And customers, you know, that have this tractor in the spring to plant want to be able to utilize it in the fall to pull grain carts in And again, it seems like these grain carts keep getting bigger, and we're probably pushing the limits on what they could pull with maybe a 410 of the day. So now being able to pull those big grain carts that may have been reserved only for some 9R tractors, you can definitely do. Potato harvesters, we talked about a little bit, electrical offboarding, some of those there. And then I'd say the transport hauling, manure, that market is another target of this one. I talked about being able to go 60K. And I mentioned engine braking. This is an aggressive engine brake and we've been testing with some customers that have some 14,000 gallon tankers and the ability to slow that tractor down from transport speeds to field speeds and never touch the brake, or have to, you know, downshift. Granted, these are EVTs, so maybe it's not the traditional downshift, but not having to touch the brakes to slow this down with the engine, with the engine braking. So those are just, you know, maybe a few of the, probably the most common examples that we can think of. But then again, making it a full season tractor, tillage, you know, high speed tillage is growing HSDs, field cultivators, and even nine-shank rippers. You know, here at the Commodity Classic show, we're showing a wheeled 540 hooked to a nine-shank 2730. And this is showing its autonomy. We're showcasing autonomy on rippers and this tractor is autonomy ready from the factory. So being able to use this tractor to pull a 24-row planter in the spring and hook it up and do deep ripping in the fall and have one tractor do all of that is really what the target's been for this unit.

Tony: You mentioned a whole bunch of them there. I mean, just even like grain carts, you talk about them keep getting bigger and bigger. I know there's one brand on the market. I think they're over 3,000 bushels now in a grain cart. So there's just so many different ways that the customers can use it. And I go back to it being the ultimate planter tractor. I mean, now today, I talk to many customers with ExactEmerge™ planters and they want to use the planter to its fullest capabilities and they want to be able to pull fast, but they're often horsepower limited with 370s and even 410s out there. So then we start putting on those 9RX tractors just to get more speed, more horsepower. And you said it best, Michael, just being able to have the creature comforts and the drivability of the 8R, 8RX platform back on that planter just kind of opens up some of those doors. Now, that's not saying that you can't still run 9RX on your planter, but this gives more options, more opportunities, more horsepower, and just beyond the horsepower. I mean, 440, 490, and 540, I mean, that's awesome in itself, but we talked about all those different features, the new engine, the new transmission, that 110 gallon per minute hydraulic capacity, and then all of those creature comforts in that cab with that new CommandView™ 4 Cab with the same as the big high horsepower 9RXs. There's just so much to these new tractors, whether it be the 8R or the 8RX. So a lot of different use cases for it, a lot of excitement. I am just so pumped that you guys brought this launch here to Commodity Classic, and we are going to get these out into the hands of customers. The last thing I want to ask you, Michael, is what is one thing you are most excited about with these new tractors, whether it be the features, the sizes, what is the one thing that makes you the most excited about this product launch?

Michael: Yeah, that is a tough one. You know, I definitely, you know, when we think about the ultimate planting side and some of the little things they thought about, you know, those come to mind. I'd say in general, it's What really excites me is when we brought this is we didn't compromise on what made the 8000 series so great, which was the versatility and the nimbleness. And so, you know, one of the things that I think will just amaze people when they see this tractor and they get it out in the field, especially the wheeled units, is it turns within a few feet of turning radius as today's eights with all this power. And I think that's a little bit unbelievable for people to actually see when they get into the field to have this much power in a, in a form, in a form that's really the size of today's 8s, just a little bit beefier and be able to turn and maneuver around the farm just like their 8s do today. It's really what I think makes this tractor so special is it, it feels like an 8R 410 today when you're driving it, but then you've got the power of, of a, of a 9R series tractor. And one of the things we didn't even maybe scratch the surface of is we talked about those rated horsepowers and with this new engine comes something we call peak power IPM, which is the next generation of intelligent power management. So maybe just to kind of give you a range that the 540, um, a base 540 machine is, is, you know, 594 horsepower. But with our new peak power IPM system, this tractor is actually capable of 634 horsepower in a row crop, in a row crop tractor. So it's just crazy to see and when we were out testing and pulling DB planters and pulling them to the absolute max. You know, I'm really excited for customers to get what I truly do think is the ultimate planting tractor, but it's also just an amazing tractor. And I think no matter if a customer is going to use it for tillage or is going to use it for maybe specialty crop or planting, there's a ton of features for every one of those customers. And there's just a lot of customers looking for something like this. And that's what really excites me is I think everyone's going to have maybe a slightly different favorite feature, but I'm just really proud of the feel of the tractor and that we didn't compromise on things like turning radius and comfort and all those for customers who've been, who just love the 8 Series today.

Tony: Yeah, that's unreal, that peak horsepower on that 540, that is just, those are crazy numbers coming out of that 8 series platform. But again, that looking back to 1995, the launch of that, you know, 8000 series tractor and something that has become a staple on all John Deere farms across the world, it is so awesome to see and this just adds another piece to that mountain of the 8R tractors and the 8R series lineup. So cool to hear about this. So excited to get these machines out in the field in the customer's hands. This product launch here at Commodity Classic was one for the record books, that's for sure. Now, if somebody wants to learn more about these new tractors, the new lineup, Michael, where can they go? Who can they talk to learn a little bit more?

Michael: First things first, you know, local John Dealer's going to be, you know, your best starting point. But, you know, if you just want to go look, see, learn a little bit more about it, deere.com is always a great option as well. Or obviously stop by, you know, it'll be at the Commodity Classic for the rest of the show and it'll be hitting, you know, the show circuit here over the next, the next few months and summer and, you know, and then we'll have demo units in our first kind of builds out all summer all across the U.S. and Canada. So we're really excited, but, you know, start to reach out to your local John Deere dealer, talk to RDO here and hopefully find out some more information if you're interested.

Tony: I just want to thank you, Michael, for taking the time out of your busy, busy days here at Commodity Classic to talk to me about the new launch of the 8Rs and 8RX tractors. Very exciting stuff. Crazy awesome features, functionality, horsepower, all of that stuff. So, great launch. Kudos to you guys at John Deere, and thanks again for doing this.

Michael: No, thanks for having me on for the third time, and I hope we get the opportunity to come on again, although it'll be tough to maybe top this one, but always appreciate getting to talk to you guys.

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