Near Intersection of I-35 & I-90 Southern Mn. | I agree with the above posts and add my personal experience which may or may not be helpful
Will you be able to use some type of converter or adapter to use an InCommand with the Trimble Nav II? This would be very handy and allow you to make good use of what you currently have. Unfortunately No. I wish that was the case since I have a tractor in which I would like to do exactly that.
Will you be able to use the Trimble "box" that informed the Trimble system as far as which direction the wheels are pointing? This is a small silver box with a stub wire on it that is mounted on the steering axle or articulation point of the tractor? No, that plus the Trimble Nav II will need to be replaced with the Ag Leader equivalent. One exception might be if the Trimble system was using a wheel angle position sensor that came with the tractor then that device might still work for the Ag Leader system.
Will you be able to at least reuse the external hydraulic valve that was used with the Trimble system? In my experience, Yes.
My first auto steer system was on a Deere 8120 tractor. The tractor did NOT come with a auto steer valve from the factory. This meant an external steering valve was needed. At that point in time, Trimble was pretty much the only game in town for an after market auto steer system. Ag Leader had an agreement with Trimble which allowed an Ag Leader Insight to be used with a Trimble Nav II, Trimble wheel angle sensor and an external steering valve. This combination worked fine.
Later in history the agreement between the two companies broke off. The steering continued to work fine for those of us already in the game, but it was no longer possible to purchase the unlock that allowed an Insight or any future Ag Leader display to work with the Trimble system.
I also had a bit older Deere 8310 that had no auto steer components either from the factory. A Trimble CFX 750, Trimble Nav II, Trimble wheel position sensor and external valve were installed in that tractor. The steering was 100% Trimble.
Later still, Ag Leader came out with a Trade-Up program. This was a program to encourage customers like me to upgrade. They allowed me to trade in a display, Trimble Nav II's, Auto sense wheel angle sensor and GPS system toward an Ag Leader InCommand 1200, Steer Command controller, Ag Leader GPS 6500 wheel angle sensor and wiring. I was able to continue to use the previous external steering valves that had been used with the former Trimble systems.
This meant that both of these tractors that formerly had Trimble Nav II's, some type of display and an external steering valve were converted to an Ag Leader InCommand 1200, Ag Leader Steer Command, Ag Leader GPS, etc. Both these tractors work fine with the Ag Leader Steer Command and the previously installed external valves.
So with that experience I would say you could remove the CFX-750 which contains the GPS engine, your GPS antenna, the wheel angle sensor if it is an add on but keep the steering valve. It could be replaced with your InCommand 1200, an Ag Leader steering controller module (SCM) either the legacy Steer Command or the current Steer Command Z2, some type of wheel angle position sensor and associated wiring. This would result in a very nice combination that could handle your auto steering tasks and provide the capability for controlling/monitoring various application situations. The InCommand could be moved to a combine for harvest.
Personally I have an older STX-450 Quad tractor that I purchased on a retirement sale. A previous owner had a Trimble Steering system installed on it which came with the tractor purchase at the auction.
I have considered doing a switch around such as this. The reason being that I do not like the Trimble CFX 750 although it does work. In my case, the InCommand 1200 and Ag Leader steering is no longer being used in the Deere 8120 and could be moved to the STX tractor. I should have all the major necessary pieces and should be able to reuse the external steering valve on the STX mated with the Ag Leader equivalents. The steering angle position sensor would need to be refashioned. Although this should be possible without a lot of expense, I don't plan on doing this since the old Quad is just used for primary and secondary tillage. The CFX-750/Nav II is acceptable for that. If I had any other use for the tractor such as application rate control, auto swath etc., I would have switched long ago.
In your case having the InCommand in the tractor for some type of application control with the Trimble beside it for steering would be possible and workable although it would be much more desirable to have the InCommand do it all.
A bit of clarification in your description. You mention that you have a GNSS receiver. Not to be critical but what you have is just the Antenna portion on the roof. The CFX-750 has the GPS "engine" or circuitry in its enclosure. The Ag Leader InCommand and most other Ag Leader displays do not have a GPS engine built in them. This means that the GPS circuitry or brains plus the antenna are all within the enclosure on top of the cab.
Edited by tedbear 3/12/2024 04:28
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Ag Leader Trimble compatability
